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Satori And The Koan
- Satori, enlightenment, is not a sudden complete awakening, it is the sudden and intuitive way of seeing into anything. The satori is not a feeling of relaxation, though, it is letting go but not feeling it.
- The koan is a way of stressing the mind into having to relax and release itself. Like increasing muscular tension to give yourself a feeling of what not to do.
MORE IDEAS FROM THE ARTICLE
Zen has no goal. A world that focuses on destinations, that only cares about getting somewhere as fast as possible, becomes a world without substance.
Zen is a liberation from time. If we open our eyes and see clearly, it becomes obvious that there is no other time than this instant, and that the past and future are abstractions without any concrete reality.
Zen spirituality is to be in the moment and do only what you are doing without giving in to fleeting thoughts.
When a human is so self-controlled, that he cannot let go of himself, he dithers or wobbles between opposites. The effort to remain “good” or “happy” necessitates such strenuous balancing that it will surely induce mania and anxiety.
- Understand that nothing is grasped or gained from life. To succeed is to fail, as the more one succeeds, the greater the need to go on succeeding.
- There is no “myself” apart from the mind-body which gives structure to our experience.
- There is never anything but the present, and if one cannot live there, one cannot live anywhere.
- Zen practice must not have a goal. To have an eye on some end is to have a lack of concentration, lack of sincerity.
RELATED IDEAS
Evil cannot be destroyed, any more than good can, because they are polar opposites of the same thing. Destruction and creation, chaos and order; opposite aspects of reality, in tension with one another, are necessary to keep the whole going: the unity of opposites.
Zen makes no judgment about good or bad besides saying both are necessary to make the universe dynamic. Zen has no particular moral code and The Noble Truths are not moral teachings.
The practice of Zen meditation (Zazen), is the core of Zen Buddhism and it’s a way of vigilance and self-discovery which is practiced while sitting on a meditation cushion. It is the experience of living from moment to moment, in the here and now and also how Gautama got enlightened and became the Buddha.
Zazen is an attitude of spiritual awakening.
It's essentially a state of being at peace with your own thoughts, and being self-aware of your place within the universe, inconsequential (and simultaneously essential).
The word Zen is both the acceptance of everything and nothing, the realization that Zen encompasses and is encompassed by everything. It also centers on a relationship with your own mind, and a higher, undefined entity outside of yourself.