What is Zen? And should I care?
Zen is everywhere. From face scrub to fast food chains to dog training collars. Check Google, check Amazon. “OMG they’re so Zen” (overheard in LA about their newest flame / yoga teacher / pool person). Interestingly (or funnily - your choice) enough, Zen is actually not very Zen if you would ask around. Just not that cool, laid-back vibe you expect from Zen. The real thing (in Zen - the Zen-Zen not the cool Zen there is no real thing, but more about that later) is a unique practice of sitting meditation that is so difficult because it is so simple or if you prefer, it is so simple because it is so difficult.
“Sit zazen, life without Zazen is like winding your clock without setting it. It runs perfectly well, but it doesn’t tell the time.” — Shunryu Suzuki
So, why should you care? You could read many books, become knowledgeable about Zen, study, get advanced degrees, and you still don’t know. You could also get involved in complex meditation practices that promise you to become more and more perfect. Zen prefers the middle way. Just sit. The word “Zen” (in Chinese Chan) means meditation and the practice is to just sit. Further down the page, I will mention a piece by one of the founders of Japanese Zen who says it’s not even meditation, just sitting. Here is a link to an article in the Buddhist magazine Lion’s Roar with a pretty good first introduction.
I compiled a brief how-to document to get started with sitting meditation.
Online Meditation:
I am hosting a Middle Monday Meditation every third Monday of the month for Skillsoft, and we are usually over 100 sitting together around the world. I am offering Monday Meditation on Zoom on many Mondays:
New dates to come soon.
Sign up to get updates.
More dates to come.
Please come on time and stay as long as you feel comfortable. There will be minimal guided meditation, otherwise silence.
Please get in touch with me to join, for instructions, and additional times.
I will add additional times as well as a lecture in German / English in the near future.
Offering a donation (“Dana” in Sanskrit) connotes the virtue of generosity. It is never expected.
Meditation Apps to keep time
Most Apps provide more distraction than support and are not useful for meditation. Dancing Buddhas and Lotus flowers may be fun, but are not supportive. Here are Apps for iPhone and Android that support your timing. This allows you to be in the moment instead of watching the time go by.
I use the iPhone version every day. The Android version comes without any test. I sourced from the Internet. If you come across a more suitable app, please let me know. All other apps try to upsell or distract you.
I have no idea – absolute beginner
You may have heard about Zen, that meditation is good for you, that you should try it. Welcome. For you, practicing zazen, sitting zen, will be easiest. That doesn’t mean it’s easy.
Rather than reading a lot, just get started and sit. Zen is conveyed warm-hand-to-warm-hand (kind of symbolic in the time of Covid) rather than through books. Join an online meditation that I offer, or contact me for a first conversation. As you gain some experience, you will learn forms. There are a lot of forms and instructions to follow and when you get it wrong, it’s mostly no big deal. Keep your beginner’s mind and embrace not knowing.
I think I get it – pretty knowledgeable
So you have some experience, maybe you read a book or two, and you feel that you belong in some advanced group. Good news, there is no advanced group. There is nothing to gain, and we are already enlightened. There is nothing bad about attending classes, ready Zen texts, deepening your practice. Just be aware, you’re in the most difficult phase, and it is very hard to get back to a beginner’s mind.
If you are interested in a conversation and to read more, let me know, and we will find time to talk.
I realize that I have no idea
Eventually, we find out that we have absolutely no idea. Tha is both frustrating and immensely liberating. Now you can actually start to study the way.
To study the buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things.
— Dogen: Genjo Koan, written in 1233
Realizing that we are all connected and benefit each other is a unique realization, especially when you spent years optimizing your own individual “feel-good” efforts.
Just being alive is enough
Really? Just alive? Don’t you want more? Or do you confuse “being alive” with “not dead”, somehow vegetating? Alive means to be awake and fully present in the NOW.
Coming from Vienna and living in California, I realize the cultural differences every time I meet someone. “Hey man, how goes it?”, “Have a nice day”, “Going great” in stark contrast to Vienna: “I can’t complain enough”, “Better than my enemies want”, and both don’t mean a word from what they say.
Being alive is a gift and as you realize this for yourself you can start to convey it to others in a compassionate way rather than with empty words. Try it, you’ll be away. Even when initially people look at you a bit unsure when you answer their question “How are you?” with “Thank you, I’m alive.”
A bit about my way to Zen.
I started with Zen meditation in the early 1980s in Vienna. I was lucky enough to find out about a place that offered just meditation. For over 20 years I practiced Zazen and enjoyed that there is nothing to meditate “about” and especially there is no way to get better at it. Just sitting. When I got to San Francisco, I met many wonderful people who practice Zen, and over the years was able to study with Marc Lesser, a wonderful teacher in Marin, north of San Francisco, and with Bernd Bender who leads Akazienzendo in Berlin. I read a few books, I did some retreats, and I am working on my way back to the beginning.
I offer Zen meditation gatherings online and hopefully again also in person for anyone interested.