Responding to those who come to Zen practice to pursue a career as a spiritual teacher, or to have a psychedelic experience, Nyogen Roshi offers a corrective to some common misunderstandings. “The hard work of transcending the egocentric self can only be done through sitting practice, through zazen,” Roshi says. “And there’s only one reason for the practice of Buddha-dharma: It’s the issue of life and death.”
