“You don’t need to fix your mind. Just leave it alone as if you never had it. Awakening comes when you dissolve in the presence of that which is experiencing you.”
At the heart of this book are five Dharma talks given by Yoshin David Radin during a meditation retreat at Rinzai-ji, his teacher Joshu Sasaki Roshi’s home temple. Interwoven with Yoshin’s writings and selected insights from Sasaki Roshi, these teachings form a living expression of Zen—rooted in the Buddha’s wisdom, sharpened by his teacher’s profound clarity, and illuminated by Yoshin’s humor and warmth.
“What you call the self—the thinking mind, the body—is an object being witnessed. Awakening begins when we recognize that our true self is the awareness, not the form.”
More than a book, The Placeless Abode is an invitation to step beyond the mind’s noise and rest in the stillness of existence. For newcomers, it offers an accessible yet profound introduction to Zen; for seasoned practitioners, a reminder of the simplicity and depth of the path.
Copies available for purchase here.
“Each one of us will one day experience a day that has no tomorrow. Each one of us will experience an out-breath that is not followed by an in-breath. Each one of us will experience a night going to sleep that has no morning. Or we will experience one day a morning that has no evening. This is the human condition that is referred to as impermanence. To live with a deep acceptance of impermanence is to be a follower of the Buddha wisdom. Given that this is the human condition, how do you greet your last morning? How do you greet your last meeting with a friend? How do you greet your last sunset?”
In this collection of talks, Yoshin David Radin points us toward a more direct experience of our deeper nature, and does so with a warm heart and penetrating insight. The core of the teachings is that there is no access to the blessings of life in external objects, and that happiness and freedom arise only in realizing the true structure of the present moment. In that freedom lies the original state of blessedness and peace. And because it is the true nature of every being, it can be realized by everyone.
“The path to become aware of the inner illumination will always be in the present moment. It will always be when “I” stops. Society devalues moments of stopping. But these are actually the great moments. When thinking mind is not present, the song of a bird is wonderful, and something smiles on you. You experience the all-pervading goodness of your own being when it is not being tormented by the obsession with personal affairs.”
“How extraordinary, how blessed, how wonderful, to have met the teachings that free us from suffering when in difficult places.”
Available at a bookseller near you.
“Ever since I met you
I’ve tried to write you a perfect love song
A perfect scripture
That would describe you so clearly
That those who read it
Would know you and awaken from their dream of existence as other than you”
– from Ever Since I Met You
“Truth and Beauty before you; Wisdom, arising from the Stillness. A precious gift here, a subtle shift into the mystery of that which is worth knowing – or just another spiritual hustle? You’ll know. Now and then someone arises, thank you bro.” – Leonard Cohen
“…its morsels provide such practical instructions for living—especially for Westerners not born to its traditions—its endless enigmas spark creative inspiration, and, in Yoshin David Radin’s case, gratitude.” – Rick Chatenever