Zen Living

Zen is not a religion. There is Zen Buddhism but there can also be Zen Catholicism as well. There is no morality or ethics in Zen; for morality or ethics you will have to look elsewhere like Buddhism or Catholicism. Zen is a way of looking and confronting events, circumstances and life.

You don´t need to be a Zen Buddhist to experience Zen Living; everyone can benefit from a more Zen approach to life, whether it´s banishing clutter and excess or learning how to appreciate everyday objects and experiences. These are the gifts of Zen and the way to harmony, simplicity, serenity, and peace. Zen is about principles and contrasts: asymmetry and symmetry, form and emptiness, stillness and fluidity.

Living the Zen Way

A famous Zen expression: "Wash out your mouth before you speak of Zen"?  Zen brings each of us to full self-reliance.  It teaches us how to walk upon this beautiful earth on our own two feet, to eat when we are hungry, to sleep when we are tired, to enjoy the wind upon our faces, and to trust the truth of who we are.

So What Is Zen?  Zen is a practice - True Zen is to be found in our everyday living.  Zen is in everything we do; we just need to awaken our consciousness to that very fact.  The key is awakening to that fact, being present and aware that each thing we do, every thought we think, and every word we speak – all is considered our truth – Zen right in front of our eyes. We just need to open our eyes and see it!  Remember this, life is simple and stop looking for complex solutions to simple problems.

To make Zen a part of our lives, it is necessary to spend some time each day in Zen meditation (zazen).  A few minutes each day is enough. Little by little, you extend this mediation time - again no rush, let nature takes its course.  If you are able, go to a Zendo, a place where Zen is practiced with others.

How to do the zazen? 

• Sit down.
• Once the sitting begins, do not move.  Keep your eyes open.  Don't close your eyes, or else you may fall asleep!
• Practice counting your breath from one to ten while sitting. When you reach ten, go back to one. Repeat. Keep your attention focused on your breath. If you lose count, start back at one.
• No matter what thoughts come to you, let them come and let them go.
• At the end (about 10 minutes), stand up slowly and perform kinhin and then repeat the zazen once more time.

Kinhin is a walking meditation.  Look down and begin to walk slowly, paying attention only to the bottoms of your feet.  Walk in this manner for five minutes or more.

One of the greatest pains in life comes from our need to be in control. Trying to gain control over our lives and other people, very offen lead to frustraton.  The problem here is that most of the time We live with the notion that we must plan every moment and be in charge of how everything happens and how everyone responds to us.  There is a high price to pay when it comes to controlling. Expectations and control go hand in hand and can only lead to disappointment.   Life becomes infinitely easier when one releases the need to control.

If you really need to control something, try controlling your wandering mind when you’re meditating.

By staying with our own breath, as it rises and falls, we take our attention away from the many things that accost us: thoughts, fears, doubts, pains, sorrows, and irritations of all kinds. We are giving up our need to fight and resist them - to be in control. We let them come and we let them go.

Meditation Activity:

Prepare a place to practice meditation. Make it clean, clear, and simple. Remove all clutter.  Using the instructions given in the lecture, meditate for 10 minutes or more. (If 10 minutes is too difficult, try 5).  When the sitting period is over, do at least 5 minutes of walking meditation (kinhin) as described in the lesson. And then another 10 minutes of sitting mediation again.

Questions to think about Meditation:

• How long did you meditate?  Did you enjoy it?  Do you wish to do it again?
• How did you handle the different thoughts that came and went?
• What did you notice about your day or how you felt after your meditation? Did you see things differently? Did it affect the way you reacted to the world?

Further Reading on Zen:

• An Introduction to Zen Buddhism by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, foreword by Carl Gustav Jung.
• Zen Miracles (Finding Peace In An Insane World) by By Brenda Shoshanna, Ph.D.
• Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice by Shunryu Suzuki, Trudy Dixon (Editor).
• Emotional Alchemy: How the Mind Can Heal the Heart by Tara Bennett-Goleman, foreword by Dalai Lama
• The Way of Zen by Alan W. Watts
• Everyday Zen: Love and Work by Charlotte Joko Beck, Steve Smith (Editor)
• Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Online Zen Resources:

• The Zen Studies Society