Paul C. Cooper

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About Paul C. Cooper
Seiso Paul Cooper, Sensei is a dynamic and engaging speaker and teacher; Ordained Zen Priest and Psychoanalyst; Co-founder, Director: Two Rivers Zen Community in Narrowsburg, N.Y..; Former Dean of Training: National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis; Award-winning author and poet: The Zen Impulse and the Psychoanalytic Encounter (2010), Into the Mountain Stream: Psychotherapy and Buddhist Experience (2007); Recent Articles: “Zen Meditation, Reverie and Psychoanalytic Listening,” (2014), "Zen Musings on Bion's O and K" (2016); Poetry: Solitary Moon: New Waka (2017), A French edition of his collection of haiku, Still Standing, is currently in production. Seiso works with individuals and couples in Manhattan and in Narrowsburg, N.Y. and he has presented his work on Buddhism & Psychoanalysis internationally. He is available to lead retreats, facilitate workshops and participate in conferences. He also works with individuals and groups through video conferencing. Website: https://realizationalstudies.com/
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Author Updates
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Blog postIn reply to Ankyo Pat Chaffee.
Dear Ankyo,
Beautiful expression in response to Hongzhi’s teaching on Silent Illumination.
For me the last line resonates in the non-duality of both ending and beginning
as the three bells return to silence and the cleared minds sink into the samadhi
of zazen.
Thank you,
Seiso Sensei
6 years ago Read more -
Blog postBefore Dawn
A priest in a Buddhist temple lifts,
between his palms, a stick of incense
to his forehead, holds it there
for just a moment before he inclines his head.
Another monk receives the stick
and lights it.
A thin swirl of jasmine rises
to the bronze Buddha. It spreads
throughout the zendo, clearing minds
of clutter, raising emptiness. The fragrance
fades. Resonance of chant lingers.
The singing bowl is struck.6 years ago Read more -
Blog postIn reply to Sam M.
Isn’t it just beautiful how such absract and often enigmatic teachings can have such practical lived value?
Thanks,Sam, for sharing
6 years ago Read more -
Blog postIn reply to Kyoshin Lohr.
ps . . . I see your “questions” as insights that can challenge us to further introspection
Thank you
Bows
~S
6 years ago Read more -
Blog postIn reply to <a href="https://tworiverszen.org/zen-ways-sanga-discussion/comment-page-1/#comment-717">Kyoshin Lohr</a>. Great questions! I imagine that you answered them from reflecting on your own experience. Have you noticed that enzo's are also empty on the drawn part? Take a close look at the one in the zendo.6 years ago Read more
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Blog post“The way wanders in the empty middle of the circle, reaching the vacancy where appearances are forgotten. The pure ultimate self blazes, brilliant simply from inherent illumination. Facing the boundary of the object world without yet creating the sense gates, realize the subtlety of how to eliminate the effects of the swirling flow of arising and extinction!”
Ok …. so I look at a circle … I just drew an enso …. in the circle is emptiness ….. I grok that …. I don’t know what “ultimate6 years ago Read more -
Blog postIn reply to Mike M.
Hi Mike,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings regarding Hongzhi’s teachings. I’m glad they inspire and benefit you and your practice. I agree: A strong catalyst.
For All Beings
Seiso
6 years ago Read more -
Blog postThank you for sharing these insightful writings. I find them to be inspirational for meditation – a focal point to be absorbed. Words that express that which cannot be expressed. A catalyst of sorts.
6 years ago Read more
Titles By Paul C. Cooper
Although psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism derive from theoretical and philosophical assumptions worlds apart, both experientially-based traditions share at their heart a desire for the understanding, development, and growth of the human experience. Paul Cooper utilizes detailed clinical vignettes to contextualize the implications of Zen Buddhism in the therapeutic setting to demonstrate how its practices and beliefs inform, relate to, and enhance transformative psychoanalytic practice.
The basic concepts of Zen, such as the identity of the relative and the absolute and the foundational principles of emptiness and dependent-arising, are given special attention as they relate to the psychoanalytic concepts of the unconscious and its processes, transference and countertransference, formulations of self, and more. In addition, through an analysis of apophasis, a unique style of discourse that serves as a basic structure for mystical languages, he provides insight into the structure of the seemingly irrational Zen koan in order to demonstrate its function as a pedagogical and psychological tool.
Though mindful of their differences, Cooper’s intent throughout is to illustrate how the practices of both Zen and psychoanalysis become internalized by the individual who engages in them and can, in turn, inform one another in mutually beneficial ways in an effort to comprehend the ramifications of an individual or collective expanding vision.