A special transmission outside the scriptures.
No dependency on words and letters.
Pointing directly to the human mind.
Seeing into one’s nature and attaining Buddhahood.
~BODHIDHARMA
Zen is both a practice that we do and an expression of who we are. At its heart, Zen is the direct experience of reality as it is in each moment. It points us over and over to this moment, inviting us to become intimate with our lives and the world around us. When we empty ourselves of our preferences and our ideas of how things should be, innate wisdom, compassion, joy and creativity simply emerge as our natural response.
In Zen, there is nothing to do or achieve - we are already fundamentally free, whole and interdependent with all things. And yet, as Shunryu Suzuki said, “Each of you is perfect the way you are ... and you can use a little improvement.” Through practice, we awaken to who we really are, and we awaken to the desire to serve others and respond to the suffering in the world.
“To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things.”
The primary practice in the Zen tradition is zazen or seated meditation. We simply sit down with our spines upright and pay attention to the rhythm of the breath, becoming present, alert and relaxed. It is through returning to our cushions over and over that insights begin to filter through our habitual patterns, thoughts and behaviours.
This simple practice of just sitting is a powerful tool of self-inquiry, boundless in its ability to reveal the true nature of being. Slowly, we realign with our inherent luminous nature, and we begin to respond naturally to our lives with wisdom and compassion.
