Zen.

What is it? Do we achieve it, like Nirvana? No, not the grunge bank, the transcendental state of being after deep meditation. Or, as one teacher explained it: the state of no longer thinking.

If you look up the word “zen” in a search engine, you find out quite a bit about Buddhism. And, if you’re a bookworm like I am, you get links to “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.” 🙂

Zen, in essence, encourages us to do what we believe we have no time to do, in the Western world: meditate and use our intuition.

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” ~ Buddha

“In the stillness of the mind, I saw myself as I am – unbound.” ~ Sri Nisargaratta Maharaj

“If you have inner peace, no one can force you to be a slave to the outer reality.” ~ Sri Chinmoy

“If you understand, things are just as they are; if you do not understand, things are just as they are.” ~ Zen proverb (Seriously, I need to focus on this one more – I spend a lot of time trying to “understand” when I should probably just accept and move on.)

“You are truth; you are love; you are bliss; you are freedom.” ~ Osho

Happy Friday, and blessings to you all. Never give up!

I’ll be here like Master Shifu: