Zen Lessons
Zen is a particular branch of Buddhism that originating in India, was formalized in China and then spread to Japan and established there in the 13th century. In its essence, Zen practice intends to create enlightenment by the practice of meditation (Zen means meditation). Attaining the understanding of the true nature of the mind and the universe, free of intellect or ego. Zen principles include the notion that noting is permanent, is constantly changing, and is interconnected. Attachment is the source of all suffering and human perception is misleading and inaccurate.
While enlightenment may not be the objective for most, the immediate benefits of practice include an increased abillity to regulate attention and a growing sense of well-being and a peaceful state-of mind. Unlike mindfulness meditation where the practice focuses on one object (usually breath), Zen practice includes broader awareness.
Principle to Zen practice is the use of Koans as a subject of meditation. Koans are fables, paradoxical riddles and stories. An ancient case studies if you will about the nature of everything. Zen teachers would use Koans as a way of creating reflection topics for practicing monks.
The monks listen to a Koan and then instructed to meditate about its meaning. Koans however are paradoxical. They have no one meaning or a defined answer. The power of intellect or logic alone cannot yield a “satisfying” solution, revealing a more intuitive understanding that reality is elusive. A deeper understanding of the real nature of things as they actually exist, as opposed to what we believe and hold-on too.
One of these Koans tells the story of a man chased by a tiger to the edge of a cliff. In his despair, the man jumps into the Abyss, catching on his way down the root of a vine, stopping his fall. Hanging on by a thread, he looks down and notices yet a second tiger at the bottom, waiting for the prey. A black and white mice then appears behind the rocks, heading to the vine, gnawing at it with determination. The monk then notices a red ripe strawberry; he holds-on to the vine with one hand and with the other reaches out and eats it, delighted by its sweetness.
That is it!
It is one of my favorites because for me it illuminates the power of awareness and presence. Often I can get caught-up in worries about the future. Become overwhelmed with anxiety about things I cannot control (and that often are not even real). Other times I reflect on the past with nostalgia, or ruminating about what I should or could have done differently. All too often, when I let my mind drift between future and past, the presence can feel like hanging-on to a vine gnawed by metaphorical mice that for me are the not-so-important details of day-to-day.
But if quite my mind, become genuinely curious about the nature of thinking, I grow my awareness, able to accept presence as it is. When my mind is not clouded-by unnecessary things, I am receptive and appreciative, able see clearly and reach for the sweet ripe strawberries growing wild all around me.
Have you ever felt troubled and anxious by worries about the future? Do you get caught-up in rumination about the past?
What would you make of this Koan?
Whom are the hungry tigers chasing after you? What do they stand for?
Are mice gnawing fiercely at your dreams, believes, and anything you might hold dear?
Where are the strawberries in your life?
The English Philosopher Alan Watts said:
“The art of living...is neither careless drifting on the one hand nor fearful clinging to the past on the other. It consists in being sensitive to each moment, in regarding it as utterly new and unique, in having the mind open and wholly receptive.”
Have a wonderful weekend,
Daniel