The Unmoored Mind | Koshin Paley Ellison

"A boat without a rudder drifts with the current, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, but always away from the true shore."

In this recent dharma talk, Koshin Sensei invites us to reflect deeply on what it means to “not lose sight of true dharma.”

Drawing from Shakyamuni Buddha’s final teachings and Dogen Zenji’s commentary, Koshin reminds us that vigilance and effort are not punishments but the armor and encampment that protect us from distraction, defensiveness, and the pull of the senses.

With humor and tenderness, he shows us how forgetting is simply the natural drift of an unmoored mind, and how remembering, again and again, brings us back to clarity, presence, and freedom.