Zenshin Florence Caplow: The Joys and Pitfalls of Helping: Lingzhao & Layman P’ang

Zenshin Florence Caplow’s dharma talk discusses Lingzhao’s helping, a koan from The Sayings of Layman P’ang which has served as our source text for the Spring Practice Period. In this beloved story, Lingzhao demonstrates a form of helping that is at once unconventional, tender, and hilarious. Expounding on this story, Zenshin discusses both the joys and the pitfalls we may find in helping. She provides numerous stories to show how these pitfalls are commonly rooted in dualistic helping. How often, Zenshin asks, do we attempt to help out of a sense of separateness, conceiving of ourselves in the role of “helper” and the other in the role of “helped?” Yet when we act out of our own discomforts or to conceive of ourselves as “helpers,” we run the risk of developing resentment or burnout. Lingzhao shows us that another way is possible. We can act beyond “fixing” or “helping” and meet each other on the ground, finding deep connection, tenderness, and even humor.