Zen Wisdom for Your Everyday Life

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Not realizing who we truly are, we constantly struggle to prove our worth. One activity and relationship after another is used to feel good about ourselves, to attain a meaningful identity. And this identity that we work so hard to fulfill goes through endless success and failure. Up and down, back and forth. Ultimately as this go on, despair sets in. Many feel they can never be good enough. But where does this identity come from? Who created it? And have you stopped a moment, gotten off the merry go round and realized that you are already fully and simply who you are. What's wrong with that? Who you really are Cannot Fail.  Have you even made acquaintance with that person?  Why the constant compulsion to reject ourselves and become something more? Come listen and find out.

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A well known saying in Zen is, "When they come, we welcome, when they go, we do not pursue." This beautiful teaching is in itself the heartbeat of our practice.  As we sit in zazen and do not move, we stop grabbing for what we want, or pushing away what is troubling. Instead we  see it all, embrace it, become the space in which everything arises and then departs. When there is no clinging to what is here at the moment, there is no pain when it goes its way. Instead we realize that something else always arises, stays awhile and leaves. This is the very nature of our lives itself, and when we can embrace it, see the beauty of it, experience the freshness and delight, the deep sense of loss and grief we live with departs as well.  And we are finally able to "Hold the Whole World In The Palm of Our Hand."

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We live most of our lives in thoughts, images,  dreams and expectations. When something comes to an end, or when we feel lost and confused, the question comes, "Where is the next step?" There is always somewhere we are headed, a new turn in the road to take. When we consult our thoughts, seeking an answer, it's easy to go around and around. Focusing upon images, rather than their actual life, many feel lost and betrayed. The sun may be shining, the sky is clear blue, and yet many are living in a fog. Zen practice comes to turn all of this around. The answer to questions that haunt us are always simple. The next step is right under your feet. Take it. Nowhere to go. Wherever you are is perfect right now. Just be there fully. Be there without complaining,  with attention, and even gratitude. Then the next step becomes very clear. It's right under your feet once again.

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Our lives are guided by our hopes for either the past or future. We hope to change or hold onto people and events in the past, or gain something new and important in the future. This focus often blinds us to so much that is going on now. What we actually have and what we do and do not need. Not only do our hopes filter out what's going on now, but cause huge struggle and upset when our wishes aren't met. An incredible question arises, however, to question this way of life.  "Do you have the right to hope for that?" This itself is a koan. Of course the feeling of hope arises naturally. The question asks however, to look at what is here now and see what the particular hope we are clinging to is doing to our life. Is it a denial of reality, a refusal to let go? It is something that will ultimately be harmful to ourselves or others.  Plunging into dreams it's easy to forget and deny this moment and all that is waiting for us, right here, right now.

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Many of us become so disappointed in ourselves, thinking of all the times we've messed up. Of course, we hide it, pretend it's not happening, and judge ourselves and others harshly.  We focus on all we've done wrong in our lives, rather than what the outcome of our errors could be. . However, from the Zen point of view, everything is needed. All times of confusion, error, sorrow and other  unwanted experiences are the mud of our life. But without the mud, a flower cannot bloom. All trees, flowers, bushes, have deep roots in the mud, which nourish them.  In the same way, the hard times in our lives and our mistakes can fertilize the wonderful growth and compassion we are capable. When we see how the mud and lotus flower are interconnected, a new horizon opens wide. No need to hate or blame ourselves or others. Just see what we can learn from the mud under our feet, how it can support real growth, love and wisdom.  

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Most of our lives feel like a journey, where we go from here to there, focusing upon our destination, hoping it will be wonderful when we arrive.  There's a direction we're headed in and without a direction we can feel lost. The world  can seem anchorless or even meaningless and chaotic.   Zen practice goes a different way. The circle is a a deep expression of Zen, where at every point we are just where we belong.  Even though it may look as though we are going around and around in circles, Life itself has a greater intelligence and pattern which works itself through us.  No need to come and go frantically. Life places us just where we belong. As we sit still in the midst of all wanderings, no only do we become planted, but all of a sudden can see where we're truly headed and where we've come from.  

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No matter how wonderful an experience we are having is,  usually we want more and more. It's never enough. In fact, the better something is, the emptier we feel when it is over and the deeper the desire for more. This itself is the cause of so much craving craving, loneliness and suffering. It is a great art to be able to say, Thank you, This Suffices. This is more than enough."
How can we arrive at that state of mind? What is needed in order to feel full and complete, even grateful for what we've received? The entire practice of zen is the path towards this condition. Each step taking fully, one hundred per cent, is the direction. In fact, there is no destination or outcome we are after. The moment itself is full in itself. It suffices. When we stop taking each moment as just a step on the way, and instead, enter it fully, incredible happiness and satisfaction arises, for no reason at all.

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We are all longing for freedom, freedom to be who we are.  Throughout the centuries, over and over the cry comes in so many forms.  So many practices are dedicated to becoming free, emotionally, spiritually, socially.  Many dedicate their lives and work to this goal. But what is it that is constraining us? What is freedom exactly, and how is it truly experienced? Zen practice asks us to stop our race, pause a moment and really see where we are not free? What is it that is confining us, trapping us? Where is it? Zen asks us to Return to simplicity, to our breath, our life, each step we take. When we Return and  take our attention off the endless voices, memories and beliefs that storm us, then we are able to encounter that which is open, loving, available and freedom itself, in every step we take.

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So much of the time we struggle for happiness, thinking it is in our control. First we need the right answers, plans, friends, directions.  And yet even when we have all that, happiness is often elusive. It does not arise as a result of man made plans.  It does not arise because we demand it. Yet happiness is inherent in our being and every step we take in truth. 
The way to invite happiness into our lives, however, is counter-intuitive. First we must stop chasing it, wanting it, figuring ways to grab it.  Happiness cannot be demanded or grabbed. It also cannot be bought.
Happiness arises naturally, instead, when we learn to stop, to take a great pause and make room  in our lives for it to appear. We must also make room for ourselves to appreciate it, welcome it, not be fixated on everything else.  When we learn to go in the right direction, happiness is only a step away.

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All day long we find something to complain about that doesn't suit our needs or likes. Whether we voice our complaints out loud or repeat them to ourselves in our mind,  there's no end to them. We think that by complaining, we're actually doing something about what's wrong.  Not so. Complaining is simply an addiction that makes everything worse. We're using our precious energy  to reject, fight and judge whatever comes. This blocks out the beauty of the day, the new possibilities and the chance we have for starting fresh. Complaining makes a new day old and tired, and does the same to us as well. Listen for a new look at this old habit.

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