“If you have some pain or difficulty, it is a good chance for you…if you have no pain, it is rather difficult to appreciate the power of Zen.”

- Shunryu Suzuki, 2 December 1967

Our human lives are filled with difficult challenges:  illness, loss, disappointment. Personally, there is sadness and loneliness and physical pain.  However, our life is also shot through with a special energy of life. So joy, love and lightness are available too, even amid challenges. Great beauty can be there.

We want our life to be easy, without understanding what our difficult moments really are. Could they be special opportunities? A special power of Zen?

Our life is a gift beyond our understanding.  Each one has a special creative gift to offer the world, but it is easily lost in the confusion and chaos of daily life.

How do we access this special energy? And how do…