Everyday Zen: Love and Work (Plus)

when we stew in our own juices we can maintain ourselves as the artificial center of the universe. We love our drama. We like to complain and agonize and moan. “Isn’t it terrible! I’m so lonely! Nobody loves me.”

we’re expecting something (in this case Zen practice) to give us satisfaction and safety.

each moment is exactly what each moment is. Our practice, our aspiration, is to be that moment and let it be what it is. If you are afraid, just be fear, and right there you are fearless.

It’s very difficult for us to conceive of someone just standing and doing nothing because we are always frantically trying to get somewhere to do something.

the unreality of our self-centered thoughts. Then we can remain dispassionate and fundamentally unaffected by them.

So the first phase of practice should be to move from unhappiness to happiness, and the early years of zazen are mostly about this movement.

What are you looking for outside of yourself? What is it that you think is going to do it?

simply return to the moment without worrying or getting excited.

Anything of which we’re unaware will have its fruits in our life, one way or another.

Meditation is not about some state, but about the meditator.