A Zen koan goes, “Who is hearing the sounds of the world?” We are in a time of flowers, mayhem, young people speaking up and calling B.S. There is shame, excitement, wild fire in the public world and alchemical fire inside us. The necessary and important thing to do in such a time is deep practice.

The Heart Sutra is about your own heart and about the nature of the reality that’s right here in front of you and also in you. When we enter its world we find a release from any beliefs about not being good enough to meet the moment we are in. It shows the surprising Zen move in which you throw something away and then you grow happier and the universe gives you more. The mystery is something that you can enter yourself, and in retreat, we all enter it together.

We are happy to announce that the third issue of Uncertainty Club, our online magazine of Zen and the arts, has been launched into the universe. In the conversational spirit of PZI, the issue will be open for three months to new, lively, creative responses to the koan – Dongchan’s answer to a simple question, “How do you mend?”