Stop trying.
That's the advice I keep giving myself.
One reason I am so anti-intellectual when it comes to Zen, is that humans tend to be far too intellectual to begin with, and while there is a place in Zen for intellect, it is not at the forefront anymore than it is in the background.
To constantly analyze Zen and Buddhist scriptures is to defeat the purpose altogether, just as it is a waste of time and energy to constantly pray, sit for hours on end every day, closely study the sutras as though they were laws to live by, or consider any precept a commandment and live your life according to what has been preached or written. This will help you about as much as slamming your head into a door to get through it.
I can't speak for the East, but I know in the West we're constantly taught to try harder, work harder, and be the best we can be. This competitive attitude has further disrupted the balance between intellect and spirit or vital emotion. This approach leads children to believe they are only good enough when they beat others, and these children grow into adults who often maintain that perspective, and life becomes a competition as opposed to a gift of experience.
When people begin to write books about how you should behave, how you should think, how you should act, and what else you should be reading, it's time to stop paying them mind. They are feeding that competitive fire, in that they are pushing that you can achieve something in Zen.
You can't.
There is nothing to achieve.
If you are thinking in terms of becoming enlightened within this lifetime, you are looking to achieve it. To make it a desired result at all is to create a challenge for yourself, thereby competing against the very force you will never win against: nature.
So the idea is to stop trying. Act as naturally as you can. But how do you know if you are acting naturally and your behavior is not contrived?
Sit.
Zazen helps clear the brush from the path.
You can't "figure out" enlightenment from what I understand, so why try? And if you do attain enlightenment, you are still going to be moving through life as you are now, with responsibilities, ailments, laughter, need for nourishment, a place to lay your head...
I feel that, if your practice becomes your life, living is no longer your practice. To me, Zen is about living, not trying to live.
So try not to try.
This is my opinion on the matter, which shouldn't mean anything to you anyway; unless it does.
That's the advice I keep giving myself.
One reason I am so anti-intellectual when it comes to Zen, is that humans tend to be far too intellectual to begin with, and while there is a place in Zen for intellect, it is not at the forefront anymore than it is in the background.
To constantly analyze Zen and Buddhist scriptures is to defeat the purpose altogether, just as it is a waste of time and energy to constantly pray, sit for hours on end every day, closely study the sutras as though they were laws to live by, or consider any precept a commandment and live your life according to what has been preached or written. This will help you about as much as slamming your head into a door to get through it.
I can't speak for the East, but I know in the West we're constantly taught to try harder, work harder, and be the best we can be. This competitive attitude has further disrupted the balance between intellect and spirit or vital emotion. This approach leads children to believe they are only good enough when they beat others, and these children grow into adults who often maintain that perspective, and life becomes a competition as opposed to a gift of experience.
When people begin to write books about how you should behave, how you should think, how you should act, and what else you should be reading, it's time to stop paying them mind. They are feeding that competitive fire, in that they are pushing that you can achieve something in Zen.
You can't.
There is nothing to achieve.
If you are thinking in terms of becoming enlightened within this lifetime, you are looking to achieve it. To make it a desired result at all is to create a challenge for yourself, thereby competing against the very force you will never win against: nature.
So the idea is to stop trying. Act as naturally as you can. But how do you know if you are acting naturally and your behavior is not contrived?
Sit.
Zazen helps clear the brush from the path.
You can't "figure out" enlightenment from what I understand, so why try? And if you do attain enlightenment, you are still going to be moving through life as you are now, with responsibilities, ailments, laughter, need for nourishment, a place to lay your head...
I feel that, if your practice becomes your life, living is no longer your practice. To me, Zen is about living, not trying to live.
So try not to try.
This is my opinion on the matter, which shouldn't mean anything to you anyway; unless it does.
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