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What is Zen?

By Practice

Zen is the living experience of Buddha’s enlightenment, which realises in the practice of Zazen through Zazen and continues to have an effect on all aspects of our human life. The word “Zen” designs the clarity of the unrestricted, infinite mind, in which all dualistic categories of the discriminating consciousness are removed: I and the world, mind and matter, form and essence, existence and time. Zazen is the meditative posture in which the Buddha understood the origin of sufferance and freed himself from it.

Zazen means to just sit, it is just sitting in the posture of the Buddha, concentrating on the body, the breathing, and to open oneself up to the undivided reality of the present moment. Every detail of the posture has a deep meaning: sitting in the right balance, unmoveable, without looking for anything or running away from anything, the mind stays totally present in the pure, infinite presence of being. Not remaining attached to anything, our human being finds back into the experience of fundamental oneness and into the original peace. All naturally, wisdom, energy and true compassion unfold, beyond all entanglements and opposites, in harmony with the Cosmic Order.

Zen is neither theory nor learning a certain method – it is nothing else than to come back to the normal, original state of body and mind, the realisation of the original balance of our existence. Although Zen developed within one of the oldest traditions of humanity, Buddhism, the essence of its message is of universal meaning. Free from any dogmas, not attached to any cultural or historic context, it aims directly and immediately at the human being’s heart, who becomes deeply acquainted with himself, with his true nature during the stillness of Zazen, hence revealing more and more the true, deep inner freedom and happiness of his or her life.

Zazen

By Practice

Zazen is the adult form of our life.

Mokudo Taisen Deshimaru

From the Fukanzazengi by Master Dogen

A quiet room is recommended for zazen. Eat and drink moderately. Reject every obligation and give up every thing. Do not think: “This is good, that is bad.” Do not take sides, neither for nor against. Stop all movements of the conscious mind. Do not judge thoughts and perspectives. Have no desire to become a Buddha. Zazen has absolutely nothing to do with sitting or lying down… The zazen I am talking about is not the learning of meditation, it is nothing other than the dharma of peace and happiness, the practice-realisation of perfect awakening. Zazen is the expression of the ultimate reality. The traps and the nets can never reach it. Once you have grasped its heart, you are like the dragon when it dives into the water, or like the tiger that returns to its deep forest… This means that it hardly matters whether you are intelligent or not. There is no difference between the clever and the stupid. The effort to concentrate with a single mind is in itself mastering the path. Practice-realisation is pure in nature. Moving forward is a matter of ordinariness… I beg you, dear Zen students, who have long been accustomed to feeling the elephant in the dark, do not fear the true dragon… Your treasure vault will open by itself, and you will be able to make use of it as you please.

The Posture

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The Mind

By Practice

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The Breathe

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Kinhin

By Practice

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Kesa

By Practice

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Sesshin

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Sangha

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Tenzo

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Genmai

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Oryoki

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