"Have No Preferences" Dharma Talk by Rev. Diane Myogetsu Becjek

In this talk given at Zen Life and Meditation Center (ZLMC) on June 14, 2026, Reverend Diane Miyugetsu Becjek discusses the core teachings of the Shin Jin Mei (Verses on the Faith Mind or The Mind of Absolute Trust). We are traped by attachments, aversions, fears, and delusions, she reminds us. But Miyugetsu clarifies that "having no preferences" does not mean being an automatic "Zen robot" incapable of making choices. Instead, it means relaxing the grasping, controlling mind and avoiding entanglements with our likes and dislikes. By cultivating the middle way of equanimity, we can remain fluid like water, experience true reality, and settle the mind into its natural state of peace and clarity. Reverend Myogetsu reminds us that having no preferences means avoiding the endless entanglments, traps and grasping of our strong likes and dislikes (attachment and aversion). as human beings we frequently become upset or entangled because the invisible ego gets caught in four specific areas: likes, dislikes, fears, or delusions. Investigating what is catching or gripping the mind in moments of distress is crucial to reducing the ego's hold. to move past attachment and aversion, a practitioner must stand in the center of life's storms through cultivating equanimity which alongside loving-kindness, compassion, and joy, equanimity forms the "Four Immeasurables,". These can act as direct relational remedies to the darkness, shutting down, or detachment of the mind.