Zen is ... Zen Buddhism

What is Zen? This is at the same time what a person is, his true essence, expressed outside the moment after moment, and what he does, the practice of self-discipline, through which it becomes possible to experience the joy of existence. This is not a system of beliefs to be adopted. In this spiritual practice there are no dogmas and doctrines. Zen is the direct experience of what is sometimes called the highest reality or absolute, and yet it can not be separated from the ordinary, the relative. This direct experience is accessible to everyone by birth. Practice "zazen" - meditation - allows you to realize the unambiguous, bright, hidden from the worldly eyes the complex nature of all life.

The origin of Buddhism

It was this path to awareness that was demonstrated to people over two and a half thousand years ago by the Indian prince Siddhartha Gautama, who became famous under the name Buddha Shakyamuni. The word "buddha" has the simplest meaning - "awakened". The great teaching of the Indian prince is that everyone is able to awaken, that fundamentally all are Buddhas - Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Islamic, secular.

With this flexible and non-contradictory attitude to different cultures and beliefs, Buddhism embraced all Asian countries on its way. In China, it merged with Taoism and evolved into "chan", the Chinese concept of meditation, which turned into "Zen" in Japanese. Over the past decades, Zen Buddhism has also integrated into Western culture. As the famous historian Arnold Toynbee said, one of the most significant events of the twentieth century was the journey of Zen Buddhism from east to west.

Unique world view

Zen Buddhism is a purposeful and consistent spiritual practice through which a person has the opportunity to realize: his "I" and all other people are one, the conditional and unconditional happen simultaneously, the absolute and the relative are one and the same. From this awareness, natural sympathy and wisdom are born, a peace-loving and intuitively correct reaction to any external circumstances. Zen is not a phenomenon, Buddhists do not even consider it a religion. When the Dalai Lama answered the question about what Buddhism is, he simply called his kindness a religion.

The state of zen

And yet, the state of Zen - what is it? Stop it. Stop trying to comprehend by reason what can not be understood intellectually - simply because rational depths are not available to rational thinking. Just make a fully conscious breath. Feel it to taste. Feel grateful for the fact that you are able to breathe. Now exhale slowly, with understanding. Let go of all the air, feel "nothing". Inhale with gratitude, exhale with love. Receiving and donating - that's what we do with every breath and exhalation. Zen is a transforming practice, consisting of breathing with full awareness of each moment, having a regular basis.

Know yourself

This simple but surprisingly profound spiritual practice allows you to free yourself from the shackles of the past and the future, as well as from prohibitions and barriers that people have laid for themselves. The main mistake of most of the townsfolk is that they consider these artificial limitations to be the essence of their personality and invariable individuality.

And in fact: who do you think you are? If you think about this question thoroughly, it will turn into a koan - a meaningless phrase that promotes immersion in meditation and sounds like "who am I?". You will find that the conditional views and compulsive features that society is accustomed to consider individuality do not have a fixed substance.

Through a consistent zazen, one is able to free himself from the self-given individuality and gain the true self-an open and confident being, unrestrained by any obstacles, flowing with everything at every single moment. That is why it is absolutely natural for all people to take care of the environment, starting with their own actions: preventing the waste of precious resources of the planet, realizing that every action entails consequences. This awareness intuitively extends to the entire surrounding world. Zen Buddhists tend to live with attention to each, integrity, reality; They want to free all living beings from suffering.

The four noble truths

Renouncing worldly life and sitting under a tree to meditate, the Buddha attained enlightenment. He formalized the Zen teachings with an accessible language in the form of four principles, or four noble truths.

The first truth: life means suffering

Until the age of 29, Prince Siddhartha remained imprisoned in the four walls of his father's castle. For the first time on the street, he saw four spectacles that left a deep imprint on his tender and naive soul. They were a newborn baby, an old cripple, a sick man and a dead man.

Prince, who grew up in luxury and did not suspect the existence of death and grief outside the palace, was struck by what he saw.

During meditation, he realized that life means suffering, because people are imperfect. The world inhabited by people, respectively, is also far from ideal. To comprehend Zen, this statement must be accepted.

Buddha realized that throughout life, every person has to endure a lot of suffering - both physical and psychological - in the form of aging, illness, separation from loved ones, deprivation, unpleasant situations and people, grief and pain.

All these misfortunes persecute a person simply because he is subject to desires. If you manage to get the object of lust, you can experience joy or satisfaction, but these emotions are very fleeting and quickly disappear. If the pleasure lasts too long, it becomes monotonous and sooner or later bothers.

Three truths about desires

The second noble truth: the root of suffering is attachment.

To avoid suffering, you need to realize what is their root cause. As Buddha claimed, the main reason for psychoemotional experiences is attachment to desires to possess (craving, thirst) and not to possess (rejection, aversion).

All people tend to have desires. Since it is impossible to satisfy them all, people become irritated and angry, thereby only confirming their susceptibility to suffering.

The third noble truth: you can achieve the end of suffering.

According to the Buddha, the end of suffering can be achieved if one regularly practices the lack of attachment to desires. Liberation from pain clears the mind of anxiety and anxiety. In Sanskrit this condition is called nirvana.

The fourth noble truth: it is necessary to go the way to the end of suffering.

Nirvana can be achieved if we live a balanced life. For this, it is necessary to follow the Eightfold Path, which is a gradual self-improvement.

Zen is the first step on the Eightfold Path.