Pointers On Your Zen Journey

  1. The Zen journey is your personal journey. No one else can do it for you. But you will have help, support and guidance along the way.

  2. The world we see through our ordinary eyes is unsatisfactory, a delusion - like a house of cards. Buddha called it "Dependent origination" or "Conditioned". It is made seemingly real by our dualistic, discriminating reasoning. This is because we have not seen the world of emptiness, the true nature of our existence. This is the source of our suffering.

  3. But we forget! This life is so entertaining that we forget it is impermanent. That all that we take as real are assumptions. When we die, the reality will be exposed. All we hold true and dear, what we think are right or wrong, will be of inconsequence as your 'self' disappears. What then is the truth? The ancients ask us to 'Die while still alive' to find out.

  4. What is my life span? How many years more do I have left? No one knows. Friends, there is no time to lose. We should practice now, like 'our hair on fire'. We need to transcend life and death before we die.

  5. What can we do about it? Buddha showed the way. He attained 'enlightenment' and has left footsteps for us to follow. Following them to attain the exact same experience and realization as Buddhahood is our aim in Zen. The Way remains bright and clear. Many have walked and many are still walking it today. You are not alone.

  6. When one gets enlightened, one realizes that the whole of existence, including oneself, was already enlightened – you just couldn't see that before. Sentient and non-sentient beings such as mountains, trees, solar systems, and truly, all universes, were originally so. This is the 'just this' world you have been living in all along. Buddha called this, his world, 'Unborn'. Unborn, it is vast, void and timeless like the cosmological 'black hole' – nothing, not even light exists. But, at the same time, you and I and all things exist simultaneously, freely. This is what you find out. Buddha's four immeasurables – metta (loving kindness), compassion, joy and equanimity is the fabric of this world. Your vow to save all sentient beings will be fulfilled.

  7. Enlightenment is a process of throwing away delusions accumulated from many life times, not one of learning new things, to come back to your original self – it will take a lot of effort. You will need a strong aspiration; that you will not rest until you achieve Buddha's enlightenment, however long it takes. From pure aspiration comes deep resolve and great determination. All our ancestors who succeeded worked hard and sacrificed much, following their aspiration. If they could succeed, so can you.

  8. The Sangha is one of the three jewels we take refuge in. It is all our teachers, brothers, sisters and benefactors who accompany and help us in our journey. Through the Sangha, we get sustenance, comfort and guidance every step of the way. But to be more accurate, Sangha is much more profound than this. It includes you, all beings, sentient or insentient, heaven and earth, the whole of existence - this is your true Sangha. Thus, Sangha is this one vast, void, boundless you - there is no gap between you and others in the Sangha. Supporting the Sangha through any means, whether financial, material or by effort, is helping oneself. It generates merit and helps our practice.

  9. Thus, this is our one journey, the singular purpose of this life!

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An Introduction to Zen