Wendy Dainin Lau, MD: Taming this wild horse: listen, study, practice

As a doctor, Wendy Dainin Lau realized her medical practice was missing something when she began to experience “compassion fatigue”. To deepen her practice in compassion, she ordained as a Zen priest at Upaya. In this talk and in her new book The Inner Practice of Medicine, Wendy explores the meaning of practice in medicine and in Zen. She highlights the four elements of Buddhist practice (listen, study, practice, and verify) as a guide to live more openly and earnestly. We listen to the dharma and allow things to be as they are, we study and apply our intellect as a tool to nourish wholesome thoughts, we practice and apply effort to manifest the teachings in our daily lives, and we verify the dharma as our whole life. By practicing in this way with deep care, we correct our mistakes for the benefit of others.