In this talk, Gyodo Sensei share a passage from Hongzhi's Cultivating the Empty Field titled “ The Practice of True Reality.” The practice of true reality is to be present with true reality, even when we face hardship or adversity. To throw ourself so completely into our experience, into our hardship, that hardship disappears.

When we resist adversity, we end up reinforcing that adversity — and we also reinforce a fixed sense of self in opposition to adversity. Our Zen path embraces meditation as the front door for shifting our relationship with ourself and our hardships. To practice true reality, vulnerable and open, tender and unhindered.