![]() Thirdly, the Sangha is our community of fellow-sitters. Koans – anecdotes about the sayings and doings of the Zen masters – are an exceptional teaching method for clarifying and deepening our insight into our own true nature. In our lineage, we generally begin our meditation with breath-work, then move on either to the open awareness practice of shikantaza (“just sitting”), or to koan study. Through waking up to what this existence truly is and releasing the layers of delusion that obscure it, we can all become more wakeful, loving and content people.ĭharma refers to the teachings of Buddha and the Zen masters. The word “Buddha” refers not only to the historical man, but also to what he realized – the absolute fact of our existence. It was Buddha himself who originally used zazen (“sitting meditation”) to resolve the “great matter” of human life, accomplishing the task with his great awakening at the age of thirty-five. Often referred to as the three treasures, they form the foundation of our practice and correspond, more or less, to our sitting practice, our understanding of the teachings, and our sitting together as a group. Three elements have long been considered integral and indispensable to Zen training – Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Let your ego and your unconscious mind melt away, merge with the universe. Focus just on your Zazen posture and your breathing. In the silence of the dojo, simply sit down, stop moving, and let go your thoughts. It is so simple, in fact, that it’s very difficult to grasp. Zen also rejects metaphysical theories and rituals, and focuses entirely on the practice of Zazen. It is not a belief, a dogma, or a religion…” “Zen is not a theory, an idea, or a piece of knowledge. A true spiritual path does not tell people what to believe in, rather it shows them how to think or, in the case of Zen- what not to think. Zen is not a moral teaching, and as it is without dogma, it does not require one to believe in anything. We cannot intellectually grasp Zen, because human intelligence and wisdom is too limited- the dojo (the hall where Zazen is practiced) is different from the university. It is not a belief, a dogma, or a religion but rather, it is a practical experience. Zen is not a theory, an idea, or a piece of knowledge. Zazen is an attitude of spiritual awakening, which when practiced, can become the source from which all the actions of daily life flow- eating, sleeping, breathing, walking, working, talking, thinking, and so on. ![]() It is the experience of living from moment to moment, in the here and now. That is, it is a way of vigilance and self-discovery which is practiced while sitting on a cushion. Zen is Zazen or Zen meditation (za meaning sitting, and Zen meaning meditation in Japanese), or seated meditation. Zen is, first and foremost, a practice that was uninterruptedly transmitted from master to disciple, and that goes back to the spiritual awakening (Satori in Japanese) of a man named Siddharta Gautama (Shakyamuni Gotama in Japanese) – The Buddha- 2500 years ago in India. The information that we’ll give here won’t cover all of what of Zen is, but is a starting point to the Zen experience. The same goes with Zen, because Zen is a practice that needs to be experienced, not a concept that you can intellectualize or understand with your brain. ![]() However, honey is honey! As long as you have not tasted it, you are in the illusion of what honey is. You can try to explain the texture and scent of honey, or you can try to compare and correlate it with similar foods. Instead, it freezes Zen in time and space, thereby weakening its meaning.ĭefining Zen is like trying to describe the taste of honey to someone who has never tasted it before. Trying to explain or define Zen, by reducing it to a book, to a few definitions, or to a website is illusion.
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