Many years ago I was once asked why Zen practice produced morality and goodness in practitioners when there didn’t seem to be any laws to follow like for instance, the Ten Commandments.  In Zen Buddhism we have the 10 precepts.

1. Do not kill 2. Do not steal 3. Do not misuse sexuality 4.Do not lie. 5. Clear the mind  6. Use correct speech, do not speak ill of others. 7. Do not judge 8. Do not withhold 9. Avoid anger 10. Recognize the three treasures - take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

However, I am a Zen practitioner and do not adhere to any specific formal religion such as Buddhism. I see fundamentally that all religious practises more or less aspire to the same thing - to return to our true nature and become one with creation, or in a religious context, creator.

 I was practising zazen long before I knew of the precepts and as the days and weeks went by, I found myself beginning to feel a compassion I did not realise before. For instance, if I heard some news on the television or radio of a tragedy, it was if I knew those who were involved very well and really felt for them.  Or I would see a cat kill a bird and feel the sadness at the bird’s life suddenly being extinguished. And having grown up witnessing my father keeping chickens and rabbits that were often killed for food without very little after-thought, such compassion was the last thing I expected.

So I would say from my own Zen experience, that by merely practising daily zazen without knowledge of any “rules” will begin a process of purification and morality if one is a serious seeker of truth. And as we inch nearer and nearer to realising the Zen experience that we are all one, it is only natural that we become more loving and compassionate.

Regarding the ten precepts of Zen Buddhism, personally I feel that only two are really needed…  “do unto others ad you would have others do unto you”.   You wouldn’t have someone kill you, steal from you, misuse you sexually, lie to you, confuse your mind, speak ill of you, judge you, withhold from you, be angry with you. And the second is the three treasures:  Buddha – spiritual consciousness,  Dharma – ultimate truth, and Sangha – group of people who seek truth, that when you think of it is all sentient beings, for we are all growing and evolving.

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When I consider what the Zen masters call “being in bondage” or “attachment”, I can see how I am holding to past events of guilt and blame as if they are reality, yet what is done is done. To blame self or other feels like a waste of consciousness. Yet, how can I waste consciousness when it is something that cannot be measured? So I begin to see that the whole of my perception is illusory! It is a dream. The moment of now cannot really be perceived, only experienced, because the instant it is perceived it is gone! The moment of now is so subtly powerful, and it is pure and can only be experienced and not analyzed.  The dictionary defines perceive as,  “to become aware of by one of the senses”. It seems that the experience of the moment of now is just that, once it is made sense of, it is no longer now.

In zazen, I often get into that space of just being, not thinking, not understanding or analyzing; just watching as my mind continues to do it judgements of self and others that is no more, and then by a state of forgiveness, I feel detachment. This forgiveness is not something I do, or ought to do. It’s just like these guilt and blame-ridden experiences that sometimes I haven’t thought of for decades just vanish. Nothing matters any more.

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In zazen meditation, the aim is not so much to focus and concentrate on the breathing, but to be mindful of my breathing and all other things that are bound to challenge the stillness of the mind. Zazen is like a “training session” for my day where my aim is to be mindful of all things I engage in regardless of how I value them, for in zazen there is nothing that is more valuable than anything else. In fact there is no “else” as all is one.

So here I see a paradox. Mindfulness cannot be attained without intent, and intent involves concentration that is desired. And Buddha said that the source of all suffering was desire. So at this point I need to expand my consciousness to be mindful of my desire for mindfulness and that any forced concentration tends to hold it away from me. I need to become the watcher and the watched.

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In zazen meditation, I recognise my mind as a very sophisticated machine that is programmed by decisions on past experiences, from which I formulate present-day beliefs.  I’m kind of trapped in this mind machine and I fail to see that I am anything else but my mind – this is ego, a part of my own creation.

However, there are glorious times when I get glimpses into my creator Self, and I can see that I am not my mind. I can see that in reality, I am the controller that creates decisions and beliefs.  I am aware of how my mind has been programmed with making judgements by the ego that I have created, accepting some circumstances and rejecting other circumstances.  This whole scenario is about attack and defence, but the mind is not evil! It is neutral and will only do what it is programmed to do.

The implications of this grow wider and more complex as I continue to serve the process of attack and defense. Is this not a crazy situation created to attack illusions? Illusions attacking other illusions? In my ignorance, I believe this is my Self. Therefore, all beliefs may or may not be true; therefore beliefs are not absolute. Direct experience is an absolute as it can only be experienced, for once it is believed or decided upon, it is no longer here and now, but gone…  Gone into the realms of more illusion. Experience then, is something I am, a state of being, not something that happens or is done to me.

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Everywhere in Zen, I  am hearing, live and focus on the moment of now. Now I am seeing that even the moment of now is an illusion when compared to what was and what will be, for that  depends on past and future. But that I see as the analytical mind’s attempt at defining the un-definable now, which in truth, is timeless and bears no name or description. For even to give now a name, is to try objectify something that is totally abstract; the abstract is beyond analysis or description. Pure awareness is awareness of the moment of now without analysis, that is, just being aware with a still mind, without thought.

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Concern and anxiety could be said to be a confirmation of how strongly we are attached to our material world.

Concern and anxiety has it roots in fear of loss; fear of loss of what we are attached to. Which, in this world we lose it constantly as each moment of now disappears and is lost to us as the next moment of now appears.

If we can accept the impermanence of our material experience, we can transcend all anxiety and concern.  This is an invitation to take on the task of detachment in our daily zazen (meditation).

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The world we experience with our five senses is a linear arrangement of events. According to many spiritual disciplines, we are in this life to transcend all the events. Our transcendence will allow us to view the linear events of our life as an illusion, something that is here no more with our awareness in truth, limited to the here and now, which is immediately gone the moment we perceive it.

When it comes to painful trials and tribulation, it is through forgiveness that we find peace, and even though we can forgive one event after another and find more and more peace, we will eventually awaken and find that forgiveness is no longer necessary, because what we have forgiven is an illusion. Forgiveness then must be an illusion to end illusion.  In my Zen practices, I see this as another powerful paradox.

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Zen isn’t exactly something that it taught. Zen is more about individuals sharing their experiences of higher states of consciousness. This act of sharing is an invitation to those seeking enlightenment to examine the shared experiences for themselves. This is why zazen is so important so that one can see for oneself the truths that come from the sharing of other practitioners and not just blindly believe what has been shared as truth.  There is no right way, no wrong way, as that suggests comparison to what has gone before and is no more.

Communication can be with or without words. Sometimes just a look can be enough, and silence can deliver some pretty powerful Zen truths and enlightenment.

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