Our True Nature

Zen is about an active life, an involved life. When we know our minds well and the emotions that our thinking creates, we tend to see better what our lives are about and what needs to be done, which is generally just the next task under our nose. Zen is about a life of action, not a life of passively doing nothing. But our actions must be based on

Practicing Buddhism, practicing meditation is for us to be serene and happy, understanding and loving. In that way we work for the peace and happiness of our family and our society.

The aim of this meditation is to awaken a felt-sense of what it means to live a life that will stop. To deepen the question, the following reflections may help.

Once we have that insight, we must sustain it. If not, restlessness and agitation will take over, and we’ll forget. We’ll no longer cherish the miracle of being alive. So we need to sustain and nurture this insight in every moment. It takes concentration. But it’s not hard to do. While we walk, while we work, while we eat, we bring our awareness to

Venerable monks, time is very precious. You should stop the mind, which is always wandering around, running to the neighbor’s house to study Zen, to learn the Way, looking for a sentence, looking for words, seeking the masters, seeking the Buddha, seeking a good spiritual friend. Do not take this mistaken direction.