Emotional Avoidance in Zen - Jogen, Sensei

Zen Community of Oregon Dharma Talks · May 11, 2026 · 39m · transcript

In this talk, Jogen Sensei makes a distinction between detachment (checking out), non-attachment (neither clinging nor pulling away), and fearless intimacy (meeting experience without any strategy at all), arguing that the ideal of the serene, unruffled practitioner can seduce people into using practice to avoid their emotions rather than meet them. The talk closes by noting that psychological inquiry and meditation practice aren't opposites — sometimes a recurring feeling needs honest examination, and the goal isn't a sanitized, emotion-free self but something more like becoming a conductor…