The Art of Zen
I’m not a Zen-Buddhist know-it-all. I can’t tell you I’ve read a hundred books on the topic or even attended a seminar or two. After having some very serious conversations about zen with friends, all I can tell you is what it means to me.
Zen is a multi-dimensional concept to me. I think it’s the manner in which you look at the world—uninhibited by societal standards and other 'noise'. It’s the way you arrange the clothes and shoes in your closet to be more efficient when you get up in the morning. It’s knowing that you must consistently cleanse your living and work space of things that accumulate which have no meaning.
I think that finding zen or peace or purpose or whatever you personally call it is important because it requires you to step outside yourself and place yourself on an examining table. Looking at yourself objectively will give you clarity.
I was discussing this with a good friend of mine and we both agreed that the concept of ‘sight’ was a perfect analogy for zen. Maybe most people have a narrow range of perception where they can see one thing at a time. Once you’ve acquired zen, the range of vision is completely open. Limitless options exist and you could gravitate toward anything you see fit to.
Even simple things like getting a massage is zen to me--putting yourself in a dark room with serene music as you let your body go lifeless as someone focuses their energy onto you. You are experiencing something extraordinary because you’re temporarily taking yourself out of a world filled with fire engine sirens, noisy crowds and barking dogs. The only task you have it to make sure your breathing.
Letting go is the perfect way to say to yourself just how much control you have.
As I mentioned to some people today, Zen isn’t about having some Home-Medics water fountain from Linens N Things in your room next to your bamboo plant. It’s surrounding yourself with the things that have the most meaning to you.
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By the way, if you're living in the Boston area and you like sushi, check out this place
Oishi Sushi Restaurant
http://www.oishiisushi.com/frame_english.html
There's one in Chestnut Hill and Sudbury. I went there tonight and it was certainly an experience! The place was voted one of the top 10 Restaurants in the country.
Zen is a multi-dimensional concept to me. I think it’s the manner in which you look at the world—uninhibited by societal standards and other 'noise'. It’s the way you arrange the clothes and shoes in your closet to be more efficient when you get up in the morning. It’s knowing that you must consistently cleanse your living and work space of things that accumulate which have no meaning.
I think that finding zen or peace or purpose or whatever you personally call it is important because it requires you to step outside yourself and place yourself on an examining table. Looking at yourself objectively will give you clarity.
I was discussing this with a good friend of mine and we both agreed that the concept of ‘sight’ was a perfect analogy for zen. Maybe most people have a narrow range of perception where they can see one thing at a time. Once you’ve acquired zen, the range of vision is completely open. Limitless options exist and you could gravitate toward anything you see fit to.
Even simple things like getting a massage is zen to me--putting yourself in a dark room with serene music as you let your body go lifeless as someone focuses their energy onto you. You are experiencing something extraordinary because you’re temporarily taking yourself out of a world filled with fire engine sirens, noisy crowds and barking dogs. The only task you have it to make sure your breathing.
Letting go is the perfect way to say to yourself just how much control you have.
As I mentioned to some people today, Zen isn’t about having some Home-Medics water fountain from Linens N Things in your room next to your bamboo plant. It’s surrounding yourself with the things that have the most meaning to you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the way, if you're living in the Boston area and you like sushi, check out this place
Oishi Sushi Restaurant
http://www.oishiisushi.com/frame_english.html
There's one in Chestnut Hill and Sudbury. I went there tonight and it was certainly an experience! The place was voted one of the top 10 Restaurants in the country.
posted by Kitxana at 1:12 AM
10 Comments:
I've been exploring the "way" or the "path" of zen for quite awhile. I used to be that preadolescent scouring the new age sections for books on meditation, zen, auras, etc. When a freshman in college doing an anthropology term paper on buddhist philosophy I suddenly had that mind awakening, which has been referred to some as the ah haas. All this focus on religions where we are these automatic beings repeating and not actually feeling or aware. Zen or other eastern precepts focus on awareness of every moment. Bringing awareness to drinking your coffee in the morning can be zen. This awareness makes us truly alive and more compassionate living beings. And I choose to be alive!
Seems like you and I are on the same track. I think that's great you've been enlightened! :)
It's so refreshing to hear thoughts like those. I don't feel that I have actually reached or attained enlightenment, although I will continue to seek it and hope that I am on my way. I can appreciate colors in the sky, the cool temperature of the air outside, the faint smell of my own shampoo, the warmth of my coat, a thought of the last thing that made me laugh. Trust me I'm not on Zoloft; I'm also aware of the occasional erratic driver but I definitely "take time to smell the roses" when appropriate. I'll share thoughts as I have them from time to time and its also nice to hear when someone else notices the aroma outside a bakery because even if in a small way, I feel they are "on their way" too.
What about the zen sandbox that comes with mini lawn chairs and golf clubs from Target? That takes me to a magical place.
I had the privilege leaning a little bit about Zen while studying and practing martial arts some years ago. I also boast being a guru on the subject, but I'll contrinute what little I know. Zen is the pursuit of full self understanding "enlightenment" that comes only after forgeting everything you think you know about yourself and only knowing that you "don't know yourself." After you have shed what your own life experience has taught you, you should then be able to to rely on your true self nature to guide your actions. Zen in martial arts is fighting without thinking. Your mind and body work flawlessly together because there is no interference between your actions and your thoughts. Zen is not actually looking at yourself from the outside, but rather questioning yourself until you run out of answers. True Zen is fostered through deep meditation and study of its principles. Instead of walking through the city and thinking about what you are going to do, instead realize that your skin is touching your clothes, you are pulling cold air into your lungs and your feet are touching the ground. Something we used to do during meditation was deeply focus on each part of the body, almost scanning your entire being. You don't really think about what the back of your calf feels like until you pay attention to. And similarly to that, you don't realize how much of life you miss, simply because you are not used to absorbing it as such. I do not "believe" that Oishi was good. It was good just as I know that I have hands. There is no thought, no belief. Oh, and yeah, Oishi be da Bombs. Sashimi deluxe and a ceramic jug of fine Sake make me drunken style happy.
My kingdom for an edit button...
I also boast being a guru on the subject, but I'll contrinute what little I know.
Should say "I also don't boast being a guru on the subject, but I'll contribute what little I know."
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