We need each other: Audio Dharma Talk with Jefre Cantu (11/9/2024)

·27 min·2 clips

Jeffrey opens his first Dharma talk after the election by inviting everyone to sit, breathe, and see each other.

Jeffrey begins by introducing himself as the head student for a 90-day practice period with the theme of healing at Brooklyn Zen Center. He expresses gratitude to his teachers, Kosen Sensei and Tia, and notes the timing of his first Dharma talk after the election. He offers two invitations: to sit and breathe together, and to turn to someone nearby to share names and see each other, emphasizing that we are not alone. Jeffrey explains that gathering in Sangha creates a vessel that can hold pain, fear, and anxiety without being shaken, referencing his personal experience of seeking solace by a river after the election. He introduces the concept of the poly-crisis, a multitude of crises created by communities, and argues that healing must happen through community grounded in non-separateness. The talk critiques how dominant culture trains us to see ourselves as separate, leading to a politics of domination. Jeffrey references Buddhist teachings, including the future Buddha Maitreya and Thich Nhat Hanh's idea that the Sangha itself is the Buddha of the future. He describes Zen practices like bowing and chanting as training to be present and care for what's in front of us, which builds compassion for meeting harder realities like violence. Using a personal anecdote, he shares how music, particularly Prince's '1999' and Indian classical music, served as a refuge, and draws a metaphor from string instruments where plucked strings cause others to resonate, illustrating how personal actions affect the collective. Jeffrey discusses healing as not limited to the present, but as caring for past ancestors and future generations, resonating across time. He emphasizes that how we care for our minds and wounds becomes medicine for the world, allowing us to meet anger, grief, and domination without perpetuating them. The talk concludes with a vow to be intentional in actions and a poem by Thich Nhat Hanh from 1965, which prays for compassion and brotherhood during the Vietnam War, tying historical conflict to current themes. Throughout, Jeffrey reiterates that we need each other and are fundamentally interconnected.

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