Zen in English: The Koan of Just Sitting and the Womb of Light

Bernd Bender, Dharma talk on August 23rd 2025 on the occasion Kagyü Mönlam, The Great Prayer Festival, at Bodhicharya, BerlinIn his dharma talk at Bodhicharya Berlin, Bernd speaks about the peculiarities of Zen-Buddhist culture and the practice of „Just Sitting.“ In the second part, Bernd offers what he calls a meditation experiment, in which one of the very brief and poetic Zen teachings is explored as a meditation instruction. In this case it is Keizan Zenji‘s „To sit Zazen is to sit in the womb of light.“ This teaching evokes a positive, motherly, nurturing energy, and a sense of being guarded, held and safe. When you rest in the immediate presence of your experience, can you sense these qualities? Like the child in the womb, life is given to us moment after moment. From this, gratitude arises naturally.Support the show