About this Talk

In this lecture, Koshin uses a UFC cage match and America’s 250th anniversary as a starting point to discuss outrage, attention, and hyper-masculinity, then contrasts this with an American ideal rooted in human dignity, cooperation, and well-being. He also turns to Buddhism and Zen, focusing on the Buddha’s transformation of the wheel symbol into the wheel of Dharma and the shift from domination toward wisdom, compassion, and non-violence.

A major theme is the mind’s tendency to divide the world into good and bad, us and them, which he connects to psychology, family systems theory, social media, and political thinking. He presents zazen and samadhi as practices that help unify the mind, and argues that meaningful power and change come from self-cultivation and connected action rather than control over others.