By Tim Lott — 2012
Forget about learning from the past and applying those lessons to the future: reclaim and expand the present moment.
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CLEAR ALL
The word “Zen” is tossed around so carelessly in the commercial world, the human potential world, the world of design, and in popular culture in general, that for someone new to it as an authentic spiritual tradition, it has become too vague to have much meaning.
Zen is the Japanese name for a Buddhist tradition practiced by millions of people across the world. Historically, Zen practice originated in China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, and later came to in the West.
At the core of the Zen Buddhist tradition is a formal practice called zazen, which is the name for Zen meditation or sitting Zen.
Today does not become yesterday, and Dōgen-zenji states that today does not become tomorrow. Each day is its own past and future and has its own absolute value.
Buddha’s teaching put the emphasis on selflessness. Buddhism is not a special cultural heritage.
We practice zazen because that is the only way to go beyond thinking mind—emotional activity.
When you can sit with your whole body and mind, and with the oneness of your mind and body under the control of the universal mind, you can easily attain this kind of right understanding. Your everyday life will be renewed without being attached to an old erroneous interpretation of life.
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities. In the expert’s mind there are few.” — Shunryu Suzuki
Our effort in Zen is to observe everything as-it-is. Yet even though we say so, we are not necessarily observing everything as-it-is.
A Zen Master’s Lessons for Living a Life that Matters