Ep98: Hidden Zen - Meido Roshi

In this interview I am joined by Meido Roshi, Rinzai Zen Abbot of Korinji Monastery, Wisconsin, and author of ‘Hidden Zen: Practices for Sudden Awakening and Embodied Realisation’.

In this episode we discuss how childhood existential panic set Meido Roshi on a quest for spiritual meaning, travelling Asia to meet famous meditation masters such as Shri Munindra, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, & Sheng Yen before finally finding a home in the practice of Zen.

Meido Roshi details his years of rigorous training, his subsequent awakening, and critiques the shortcomings of today’s American Zen lineages.

Meido Roshi reveals the Rinzai Zen principle of ‘Ba’, how to cultivate spiritual charisma and use it to impact others, and offers a comparison of the different flavours of spiritual charisma possessed by the masters that he has met.

…

https://www.guruviking.com/ep98-meido...

Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’.

…

Topics include:

00:00 - Intro
00:56 - Childhood existential panic and religious personality
05:42 - Attraction to the Catholic priesthood
07:27 - Encounters with Anagarika Shri Munindra, Chokyi Nyima, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, & Sheng Yen
10:29 - Meeting Tenzan Toyoda Rokoji, Meido’s first teacher
12:19 - Comparing the spiritual charisma of various enlightened masters
15:37 - Meido Roshi’s view on perennialism
17:46 - Deficiencies and shortcomings of Western Zen
26:18 - Conflation of Zen and psychotherapy
27:48 - What can be changed in Zen?
32:40 - Is Meido Roshi’s critique of American Zen inconsistent with his own modifications to the tradition?
38:00 - Why have the techniques in ‘Hidden Zen’ been unknown by scholars and practitioners?
41:18 - 7 years of intense apprenticeship with Tenzan Toyoda Rokoji
44:02 - How Tenzan Toyoda Rokoji burned through Meido’s cloudiness
47:11 - Acknowledged by Tenzan Toyoda Rokoji
48:27 - Hard training or abuse?
51:42 - Traditional martial arts training
54:19 - 15 years with Hosokawa Roshi
57:05 - Training with So'zan Miller Roshi
59:10 - The progression of the Zen path towards and beyond Kensho
1:04:08 - Profound states of Samadhi + shattering vs distraction
1:07:41 - Prerequisites and obstacles to profound Samadhi
1:10:29 - Individualism and bad habits in meditators
1:14:08 - Spiritual charisma as a teaching tool
1:20:22 - How to train spiritual charisma in Rinzai Zen
1:23:55 - How Meido Roshi uses spiritual charisma with students
1:25:57 - Developing Siddhi and special powers
1:31:23 - Siddhi in Meido Roshi’s teachers
1:34:59 - Meido Roshi’s own Kensho experiences