A Conversation with Busshō Lahn - Singing and Dancing are the Voice of the Law

SDI Encounters

Busshō Lahn is a Zen student and teacher, and the guiding teacher of Flying Cloud Zen Spiritual Practice Community. He’s also a popular speaker, retreat leader, spiritual director, author, and a Senior Priest at Minnesota Zen Meditation Center.

Busshō has just published his first Zen book, Singing and Dancing are the Voice of the Law, by Monkfish Publications.

In this episode we discuss this book and its exploration of the Zen poem, The Song of Zazen, and other things such as how we first connected at SDI, persevering with ideas we feel called to create and make, paradoxes such as giving up safety in order to find Safety, the Nature of the Universe – you know, the things we commonly talk about here on this podcast. Bussho is a friend and a lively conversationalist and deeply contemplative - I hope you enjoy the conversation.

Singing and Dancing Are the Voice of the Law introduces us to one of the great works of Zen literature, “The Song of Zazen.” Zen teacher Busshō Lahn illuminates Hakuin’s enigmatic poem in plain language, unpacking it and applying it to contemporary life. His book offers a wealth of information on the context and content of this eighteenth-century work, clearly evoking its themes of abiding wisdom, meditation, compassionate self-regard, and our own everyday life’s potential to express deep spiritual truth.

Learn more about the book, and purchase links, here: Singing and Dancing Are the Voice of the Law - Monkfish (monkfishpublishing.com)

Busshō first came to Soto Zen Buddhism in 1993, was ordained as a novice in 2009, and received Dharma Transmission (authorization to carry the lineage and teach independently) in 2015. Busshō remains rooted in his Zen tradition but cultivates an openness to the beauty and wisdom of other faiths. Through appreciatively understanding other paths, he feels that he becomes a better Buddhist.