Jose Palma

"...I got drunk one day after a gathering with my colleagues from work and when I woke up, I was at home in a terrible state. I realized that I had driven my car home, but I didn’t remember how I got there. I had lost my cell phone and my wallet was empty. I looked in the mirror and I was disgusted. That’s when I woke up and decided to change. I thought, “If I continue like this, I will kill myself."...

I was accepted as a Dharma student. Sunim told me: “Don’t put off what is good. Always do it even if you’re not sure. Since it is good, you won’t be harmed. But always postpone what is bad.”..

I returned to Mexico and broke up with my girlfriend. It was painful, but I had to do it. “Something” told me I had to leave. I didn’t know anything about my future... I saw the image of a family: husband, wife, son. They were happy with their life and their new baby... “I could have had this,” but I also thought - renounce a small happiness in view of the great happiness...

“I’ve left too many things behind, I’ve sacrificed too much to continue being the same and to continue cultivating the same old habits... I came here to change, to be better, not to be the same.” With this I got up and did my practice, unconcerned with the conditions in which I found myself. One of the greatest satisfactions in my life is to wake, go outside to run, and to see the parking lot and the pines covered with snow in the winter.

Now my life is completely dedicated to the Dharma. My training will never cease for I am always cultivating beginner’s mind, each day fresh and new. We are constantly renovating the temple. It is beautiful to see the sangha working together with one goal, leaving behind individual interest for the sake of all beings."

“Humor is the base of life, Not to take anything too seriously. To  dismantle what we call ‘the self.’ Humor helps us do that.”...“When you are upset, when you have something you are struggling with, look at yourself in a mirror. And then let the emotions come out and you will see it. And you will see how pointless it is to be holding on, and there is going to be a release. First thing, I am laughing at myself. You create another persona, to see… the emptiness of such a feeling or situation… It’s gone. It was last week.”
(translated from Spanish)

~ Jose Shinzan Palma was born in Veracruz, Mexico, He is a zen priest and Dharma Successor of Roshi Joan Halifax. His vision involves creating a interconnected Hispanic Zen community in the US and Mexico.

Joan Halifax Roshi is a Buddhist teacher, Zen priest, anthropologist, and author. She is Founder, Abbot, and Head Teacher of Upaya Zen Center, a Buddhist monastery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.