Spin Cycle for the Logical Mind

In this Wednesday Night Dharma Talk, Sensei Wendy Dainin Lau explores the Diamond Sutra’s challenging and often paradoxical  teachings and the importance of the Bodhisattva vows in cultivating an upright presence during uncertain times. She highlights an aspect of vow by describing Buddha engaged in ordinary activities—collecting food, eating, washing his feet—setting the stage for “the sacredness in the mundane” and showing that Bodhisattva practice is grounded in humanness rather than rarefied existence. Drawing from her journey from investment banking to medicine to Zen practice, she examines how the sutra’s challenging “antilogic” disrupts our conventional thinking about self and reality. Dainin shares how even noble intentions can become near enemies when they contain notions of separate self, and offers a practical approach to arousing Bodhicitta by connecting with genuine compassion for others’ suffering. She concludes by emphasizing that wisdom and compassion emerge not in abstract realms but through embodied practice within our current context of societal upheaval.