Kathie Fischer & Shinzan Palma & Monshin Nannette Overley: Sesshin: The Day of Emergence (Spring Practice Period 2022)

The day of emergence. This is what Sensei Kathie Fischer calls the final day of Upaya’s Spring Practice Period 2022 sesshin. She compares the process of sesshin to that of a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. “We come together in this unusual setting, and sit and eat in this unusual way, and something happens that we can’t control. And at some point the chrysalis starts to split open and we start to emerge.” And until we emerge we really don’t know what we’ll be. But we know, Kathie assures us, that we can trust the emerging; and we can trust that the emerging will have an effect on ourselves and others. It is a “strange gift” that we will give to the world, human and non-human alike. Sensei Shinzan Palma follows Sensei Kathie with a talk about his relationship with Zen ritual and ceremony, from his days practicing Korean Zen in Mexico City and Canada, to his years at Upaya. And, with the final word of Upaya’s Spring Practice Period, Sensei Monshin Nannette Overley reminds us that when we’re struggling through a sesshin, when we’re feeling angry, or depressed, or regretful, or are bodies are hurting, and we are hanging on by just a thread, there’s only one solution: let go of the thread. Stop resisting and allow the form of sesshin to do its work. To access the resources page for this program, please sign up by clicking here. For Program/Series description and to access the entire series, please click on the link below: Upaya Podcast Series: SPRING PRACTICE PERIOD 2022: Making Visible the Invisible – An Exploration of Zen Liturgy