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In this episode I am joined by Muho, Sōtō Zen teacher, Youtuber, and previous abbot of Antai-Ji monastery in Japan.
Muho recalls the death of his mother when he was 6 years old, his childhood behavioural problems and time in boarding school, and initial contact with meditation.
Muho shares what he describes as his narcissism, which arose from the death of his mother and a subsequent yearning to be seen; how his desire to be seen has caused difficulties for those around him; and how his thirty years of discipleship under a Zen master in a Japanese monastery collided with these patterns.
Muho also observes that there is something missing in American Zen teachers, disambiguates good and bad reasons for teaching Zen, and explains why he believes sitting meditation is actually good for nothing.
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Video version: guruviking.com/podcast/ep357-zen-is-good-for-n…
Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’.
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Topics include:
- Intro
- Death of Muho’s mother and the beginning of questioning
- Sent to boarding school
- First meditation at 16 years old
- Discovering a connection to the body
- Reading about Zen Buddhism
- Studying Japanese and moving to Japan
- Being the class clown
- Muho’s narcissism
- Trouble from describing himself as a narcissist
- Others’ suffering from Muho’s narcissism
- How Zen practice affected narcissism
- “It’s not about you”
- Vertical and horizontal axis of enlightenment
- Achieving Buddhahood
- Should you try to improve yourself?
- Student projections and exposing the teacher’s flaws
- Guru as father figure
- Looking for the perfect leader
- What is the role of the Zen teacher?
- Muho’s teaching activities
- The problem with American Zen teachers
- What example should a teacher set?
- Real teachers do not promote their enlightenment
- Using your teacher to promote yourself
- A teacher must first be a student
- Spiritual businessmen and teacher trainings
- 3 reasons to teach
- What is missing in Western teachers?
- Teaching as an expression of gratitude
- Minimum time before becoming a teacher
- Signs to become a teacher
- Tragedy of premature teaching
- Muho’s advice for shallow teachers
- Zen has become a game
- Zen is good for nothing
- Techniques, states, and stages
- Play a different game
- Is Zen true or just another method?
- Taking the result as the path
- Do other practices miss the point?
- From samsara to nirvana
- Muho’s Youtube channels
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To find our more about Muho, visit:
- youtube.com/@muho
- youtube.com/@MuhoZen
For more interviews, videos, and more visit:
- guruviking.com
Music ‘Deva Dasi’ by Steve James
