Before You React, There Is a Space | A Zen Teaching on Impulse & Right Action

There is a moment between impulse and action that is easy to miss. In this Dharma talk, Roshi Tony Bonnici explores the difference between reacting and responding, and how the practice of zazen can help us recognize what is happening before fear, habit, or the need to have the right answer takes over. Drawing from his years as a competitive judoka, entrepreneur, Zen practitioner, husband, and teacher, Tony explores how reactivity shows up in conversation, relationships, business, physical training, and even in the simple decision to sit down and meditate. In judo, an opponent’s reaction can create an opening. In life, our own reactions can reveal something equally important. We can begin to notice the impulse to speak, defend ourselves, grab the phone, avoid what matters, or fill an uncomfortable silence. Zazen gives us a place to practice staying with that moment. When we become quiet enough to feel what is happening in the body, the space between impulse and action becomes more visible. We do not have to immediately follow everything the mind tells us to do. Sometimes the deeper connection with another person happens when we stop trying to find the right words and allow silence itself to become part of the conversation. This is a teaching about reaction and response, fear and love, impulse and right action, and learning to live from a deeper relationship with the hara and heart. DojoX Meditation Sangha meets Tuesdays from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. HST, in person and online. Learn more and join us at DojoX.co.