Zencare Podcast Practicing with the Dissenters | Koshin Paley Ellison
Nov 18, 2025
A reflective talk on the Lotus Sutra and why thousands walked away from a teaching. Topics include the messy middle of practice, masks we wear, and how arrogance or guilt can drive withdrawal. There is focus on attentive listening, dialoguing with inner dissenters, and what it means to stay and care within a sangha.
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Teachings Are For Everyone
- The Lotus Sutra's opening assembly shows the teachings are for everyone, including demons and snakes, emphasizing universal inclusion.
- Koshin Paley Ellison uses this image to argue sangha practice asks us to drop opinions so we can connect to what's true in the moment.
Ask Three Times Then Listen Carefully
- The Buddha agrees to teach only after Shariputra asks three times and requests that listeners 'attentively and carefully ponder.'
- Koshin highlights that listening fully is different from filtering teachings through our preconceptions.
Five Thousand Monks Walk Out
- In the Lotus Sutra a group of 5,000 monks rise, bow, and leave just as the Buddha begins to speak.
- Koshin shares his own experience of 'showing up' but mentally leaving out of embarrassment and resistance.
