Heart Touching Heart — Joseph Goldstein

One of the most memorable experiences in my meditation practice occurred quite a few years ago. I was doing a Zen sesshin— an intensive meditation retreat— with Joshu Sasaki Roshi, a very fierce old Zen master. Roshi worked with the koan method. A koan can be a question the master gives you that does not have a rational answer. One of the most famous koans is “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” The idea is to penetrate the essential meaning, and then to demonstrate your understanding in your response to the teacher.In this sesshin, we all met with Roshi four times a day to give him the answer to our koan. … Heart Touching Heart