ZEN 禅

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What is Zen

 

Zen is not a collection of concepts about reality and truth. The word “Zen” refers to the real thing itself—what is real now, in actual fact. What is the real thing itself? It’s the meow when meow is meow. The actual meow itself—not the memory’s re-creation of meow after it has gone. 

 

When there is woof, the real thing is the actual woof itself. When there is “good morning,” it is “good morning” itself. When the eyes turn to ○, what is real in actual fact is ○.  When something is touched, what is real is the actual sensation itself. When salt touches the tongue, the saltiness is what is real. Try putting a bit of salt on your tongue and confirm that the actual taste itself and the thought of saltiness are different. If the nose itches, the itchiness is what is real. When there is the smell of a rose, what is real is the fragrance itself. When you think, “I'm hungry,” what is real is, “I'm hungry.” When you feel sad, the feeling of sadness itself is what is real. In this way, what is real is not a concept.

　

The above explains the way we are. By no effort of your own, when there is meow, meow is the way it is. And the real thing itself can only be what is actually real, itself, now.

 

Simply reading and understanding still limits you to concepts. So please actually say anything in quotation marks aloud to help you actually know what the real thing is beyond conceptual understanding. 

 

Please say, “ah.” When you say, “ah,” it’s “ah.” It is only “ah.” Now try saying, “dee.” When saying “dee,” it’s ”dee” and only “dee.” Say, “ee.”

 When saying “ee,” it’s is only “ee” and not anything else.

 

Now let’s try with vision. Face forward with your eyes open. There is what we call the content of vision itself. Turn to the right, and what is real is the content of vision on the right.

 

As for thoughts and things we give names, if you think I’m hungry, then what is real? It’s I’m hungry. If you think, what should I eat, then, what should I eat  is what is real. The thought itself is the real thing—not its meaning.

 

If you think, what is enlightenment?, the real thing is, what is enlightenment? If you think, what is Zen, it’s what is Zen.

This is the way what is real is.

 

What is actually real is the content of now as “ef” when it’s “ef.” So we can understand that in reality, a string or flow of thoughts cannot exist, and repeating thoughts cannot exist. To think they do is a result of memory.

 

If we examine memory, we can see that what we call a memory is also the content of thought. It rained yesterday is it rained yesterday itself. The prediction, it may clear up tomorrow is also the content of the current prediction, it may clear up tomorrow.  

 

Thus, what is actually real is always only what actually exists now itself. This is a natural law. This is why words like “dharma” or “the Way” are used. 

 

At the beginning of Fukanzazengi, Zen Master Dogen says, "doumotoenzuu," which basically means, “there is only the Way.” He says that the Way itself is Zen and the content of Zen practice. And this is why he also says that the Way is not something to be learned and implemented. He tells us it is not something that we learn, remember, and then put into action. 

 

Without trying to see, we see—and we do not create the content in the field of vision. Without trying to hear, we hear—we do not create the content of hearing. Without trying, thoughts happen. This is the way it is. “Gee” is “gee.” What is real is not a concept. “Gee” cannot be known through understanding. So it’s no use contemplating to become convinced about “gee.” Zen is not about gaining a lot of knowledge to understand meow. There is, therefore, no need to learn a lot about Zen and build on that understanding. To the contrary, doing so creates the delusion that you understand one thing and not understand another, leading to unnecessary difficulty.

 

 

Be careful about mistaking concepts for what is real

 

It is very easy to unknowingly conceptualize what is real and then mistake those concepts for reality, so please be careful.

 

Zen is ☆ when there is ☆. The actual ☆ itself.  However, please check to make sure that you are not mistaking reality for concepts such as, now is all there is; or what is real now is all there is; or everything is constantly changing. It is common for people to unknowingly substitute what is actually real with a common interpretation (concept) about what is real. This is delusion.

 

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The real thing ☆彡 is ☆彡itself

☆彡 is not a shared understanding or concept. If you place importance on the interpretation, you will start observing and conceptualizing what you see while sitting in zazen, even unknowingly. You may begin observing things through a conceptual idea, thinking something like, ahh, everything is what actually is, itself.  Please be careful not to fall into this trap.

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Next Section:  Zazen (sitting Zen)