Talk by Ryugin “Who Are You Waiting for to Give You Permission?”

When Dr. Doctor coughs, everyone on the bus coughs. When he sneezes, everyone sneezes. Beginning with this humorous koan from The Book of Householder Koans, senior student Ryugin reflects on our complicated relationship to authority, from spiritual teachers and inherited traditions to the growing influence of AI. Moving between personal reflections on Zen lineage, the history of Buddhism in China and Japan, and Gary Snyder's poem Axe Handles, this talk considers what it means to receive what has been handed down while remaining free to respond in our own way.