12. On Lonliness, Attachment, War in the Ukraine, Awakening, Laziness etc.

These are questions and topics that Claude AnShin Thomas - fully ordained Zen Buddhist Monk in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition - reflects on. He reminds the listener of how to stay awake to life and how to understand the trappings of a deluded mind more deeply. This episode was recorded during a zoom questions&response session with a German-speaking audience. For more interesting information: https://zaltho.org/ If you want to ask a question: [email protected] Want to read up on this topic? Book recommendations: -       Bringing Meditation to Life - 108 Teachings on the Path of Zen Practice (Oakwood Publishing 2021) -       AT HELL'S GATE - A Soldier's Journey from War to Peace (Shambhala Publications 2003) https://zaltho.org/en/media/books.html TIME STAMPS   0:52: What to do when all the people around me tell me I speak too softly but a Zen teacher tells me that I need to speak softer and more gently?   02:15 You mention you trust science. How do you deal with science that is killing living beings to reach conclusions?   07:48 How can I deal with the feeling of loneliness that drives me to cling or hang on to the ones I love. How can I surrender to the reality of my loneliness without suffering?     11:48 How can practice inform me about anything other than practice if all I do is focus on the essential point?   16:37 Amnesty International has criticized the Ukraine for strategically using human beings in its warfare. Is it ok to criticize the Ukraine?   19:07 How do I deal emotionally with the fact that in war there are not good people (right side, wrong side)?   21:40 Do you sometimes feel lazy, and if so, how do you deal with the sensation of laziness?   23:10 When you speak of awakening and the essential point, you create a sense of security for me. Is this sense of security something you always had or was there a certain point when it started?   27:30 What is the transfer from teacher to student? What is transferred and how does it work?   30:30 At the retreat you just completed, there was a meditation teacher. What did they offer?   32:38 How has the vow "creations are numberless, I vow to free them," unfolded for you?   36:55 Do you sometimes have a hard time to focus, and if you do, what do you do with that?   41:55 Claude AnShin adds a more appropriate response to the question regarding science and doing harm.