About this Talk
This talk reflects on freedom from both a civic and a Zen perspective, beginning with gratitude for constitutional liberties such as speech, assembly, and religion. It then contrasts ordinary “horizontal” freedom with a “vertical” spiritual freedom in Zen, which is described as arising through stillness, discipline, and constraint in practice.
Koshin discusses retreat life, ritual forms, and examples such as Angulimala to illustrate “deep stopping” and the value of limiting ordinary activity. The talk also uses the book Flatland as a way to describe broadening one’s understanding of experience, and ends by emphasizing that the freedom gained through practice should be carried back into daily life in service to others.