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enlightenment is about. A person
does not sit in order to become
enlightened; in the act of sitting
that person is already enlightened.
Stilling the mind and clearing
away the illusion of a separate
self is enlightenment.
Beyond words
In Zen meditation, something is
seen but cannot be described.
Careful attention to a piece of
calligraphy or raking sand in a
garden—both of which are features
of Zen practice—can help to free
the mind from the constant process
of thinking, allowing a person to
act in greater harmony with nature.
That is why Zen finds expression
in many artistic forms, from flower
arranging to computer design.
Zen is about creating situations
that bring insight, without trying
to explain or express it rationally.
To try to describe the goal of Zen
is to have failed to understand it:
Zen aims to set the mind free from
content; it is not part of that content.
Zen is not studied, it is practiced;
and if satori or enlightenment is
finally achieved, nothing new is
known—all that is known is that it
is not necessary to know anything.
Deliberately full of paradoxes, Zen
aims to gradually break down the
normal processes of logical thought.
Attempting to explain something
is to grasp at it, and that grasping is
what the Buddha described as thecause of suffering. In a world where
people seek to gain things, to claim
knowledge and insight like personal
possessions, Zen is the ultimate
frustration. Collecting beautiful
Zen artifacts could never result
in understanding what lies behind
their production. Zen is letting go.
In some ways, Zen returns to
the earliest phase of Buddhism,
before the buddha and bodhisattva
images, devotional practices, and
revered scriptures. Enlightenment
is open to all: indeed, everyone is
already enlightened, if only they
could recognize it. Zen dispenses
with almost everything related to
religion and presents itself as a path
of insight and understanding that
is without religious trappngs.
It is also deliberately anarchic, its
stories provocative, and its teachers
notoriously challenging. Asked to
summarize Buddhism, Bodhidharma
is believed to have replied, “Vast
emptiness; nothing holy”—not what
was expected, but to the point. ■BUDDHISM
That wind, banner, and mind are
not innately different is what this koan
seeks to demonstrate. Externalization is
a function of the ego-based mind, not of
the undifferentiating Buddha mind.
I say the banner
is moving.I say the wind
is moving, not
the banner.Neither the wind nor the
banner is moving. It is your
minds that are moving.If you meet the Buddha
on the road, kill him!
Zen koan