Too Important to Take Seriously: Humor in Zen, Online 1/16

The Zoom link to participate in this event will be provided at least 24 hours before it begins. Please call 415-354-0360 if you have any questions.

Saturday, January 16, 10:00–11:30 am PT

Monk: “During my travels, I have never struck anyone with my staff.”
Joshu: “That proves that the staff you were carrying was too short.”
— Transmission of the Lamp

Monk: "What is the ultimate meaning of Zen?"
Kyorin: "Sitting for a long time becomes tiring."
— Blue Cliff Record

“What we are doing here is so important, we better not take it too seriously.” 
— Suzuki Roshi

Despite its reputation for serious and exacting discipline, Zen is arguably the funniest spiritual tradition on the planet. From mondos to koans to the iconoclastic antics of teachers and ancestors, Zen literature and lore extols the values of wit, irony, nonsense, and subversive play.

In this workshop, Zen teacher Kokyo Henkel, in conversation with Erik Davis, will explore this rich and undersung dimension of the practice.

• What are the different kinds of humor and comedy at play in Zen discourse? 
• What might the dynamics of “the punchline” have to do with turning words, or Dharma combat, even with realization itself? 
• What debt does American Zen owe to the great tradition of Jewish humor? Why is the great matter of life and death sometimes just ridiculous and absurd?

Beyond the Zen tradition, we will explore the role that humor plays in a vital spiritual and everyday life, and how the lack of laughs may be the ultimate sign of delusion—despite (or maybe precisely because of?) the terrible gravity of the situation.

Recordings:
All course sessions will be recorded, and registered participants will receive temporary access to the recordings for later viewing.