Another benefit of Zen is the chance to get to know yourself.
Many people would love the luxury of self-examination but rarely get to
indulge in it. When they do, they may feel just a little guilty. „How selfish,
to spend this much time thinking about myself!“ Some people pay therapists lots
of money to be able to have one hour of self-consideration. Many of the Earth’s
people are just looking for a way to survive, much less reach self-awareness!
Zen is free to everyone, regardless of what country you live in or what your condition in life is. And although it doesn’t provide a professional to help you interpret yourself, practicing Zen does provide you a space in which you can learn to see and know yourself more clearly, completely free from interpretation. Your zazen time is your time to be with yourself, not actively thinking, „Who am I?“ or, „What am I doing?“ or, „Where have I gone wrong?“ but to just be, just you, with no confusion or complicated issues.
Zen gives you that opportunity to find yourself—the real you, not the one you try to be at work or at home or in your relationships, not the one people tell you is you, not the one you tell yourself you can someday become, but the you of right now.
ONE HAND CLAPPING
What is Zen? Zen means doing anything perfectly, making mistakes perfectly, being defeated perfectly, hesitating perfectly, doing anything perfectly or imperfectly, perfectly. What is the meaning of this perfectly? How does it differ from perfectly? Perfectly is in the will; perfectly is in the activity. Perfectly means that at each moment of the activity there is no egoism in it …. Our pain is not only our own pain; it is the pain of the universe. The joy of the universe is also our joy. Our failure and misjudgment is that of nature, which never hopes or despairs, but keeps on trying.
—R. H. Blyth, Zen and Zen Classics
PAYING ATTENTION
One of Zen’s most dramatic benefits is the way it teaches you to pay attention. Living life on automatic pilot may seem more efficient at times, but it is certainly less beautiful. Learning to live in the moment, to be present in the now, means paying attention to everything you do as if you’ve never done it before. Everything is new and wonderful: doing laundry, talking to a friend, sweating through your exercise routine, filing, walking the dog, petting the cat, sitting through a staff meeting, tasting your morning toast and coffee, completing a project, and so on. Zen teaches you to pay attention to every detail, immersing yourself in your activity to such a degree that you become the activity. You may surprise yourself at what you are able to accomplish when you pay attention.
Zen is free to everyone, regardless of what country you live in or what your condition in life is. And although it doesn’t provide a professional to help you interpret yourself, practicing Zen does provide you a space in which you can learn to see and know yourself more clearly, completely free from interpretation. Your zazen time is your time to be with yourself, not actively thinking, „Who am I?“ or, „What am I doing?“ or, „Where have I gone wrong?“ but to just be, just you, with no confusion or complicated issues.
Zen gives you that opportunity to find yourself—the real you, not the one you try to be at work or at home or in your relationships, not the one people tell you is you, not the one you tell yourself you can someday become, but the you of right now.
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And that is really the only you there is, the only you there ever will be.
Your external circumstances, appearance, reputation will probably change as the
years go by, but as long as you exist, you will always exist only in the
present moment. You, now. That’s all. Kind of a relief, isn’t it?ONE HAND CLAPPING
What is Zen? Zen means doing anything perfectly, making mistakes perfectly, being defeated perfectly, hesitating perfectly, doing anything perfectly or imperfectly, perfectly. What is the meaning of this perfectly? How does it differ from perfectly? Perfectly is in the will; perfectly is in the activity. Perfectly means that at each moment of the activity there is no egoism in it …. Our pain is not only our own pain; it is the pain of the universe. The joy of the universe is also our joy. Our failure and misjudgment is that of nature, which never hopes or despairs, but keeps on trying.
—R. H. Blyth, Zen and Zen Classics
PAYING ATTENTION
One of Zen’s most dramatic benefits is the way it teaches you to pay attention. Living life on automatic pilot may seem more efficient at times, but it is certainly less beautiful. Learning to live in the moment, to be present in the now, means paying attention to everything you do as if you’ve never done it before. Everything is new and wonderful: doing laundry, talking to a friend, sweating through your exercise routine, filing, walking the dog, petting the cat, sitting through a staff meeting, tasting your morning toast and coffee, completing a project, and so on. Zen teaches you to pay attention to every detail, immersing yourself in your activity to such a degree that you become the activity. You may surprise yourself at what you are able to accomplish when you pay attention.
