What's Zen in a nutshell? Part I

Mark Oghma -

What is Zen in a nuthsell?

This is it.

Huh?

Just take a moment to stop and rest in this moment as it is.  Without meddling.  Without interference.  Without commentary.  Without longing for it to be any different.

This is it.

I kind of get it.  It’s just this….I don’t know how to explain it, but I can taste it.   It reminds me when a word’s on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t think of it.

But if this is all there is to it, I guess I’ll leave now.

Feel free.  For some, this is all that they’ll need.

And for people like me who are still a bit confused by that, do you have any other tricks?

Yes.  Lots of tricks.  Over 84,000 different tricks, to be imprecise.

Like what?

Views and practices.  Even that statement a second ago is a view and a practice.  That moment before when you glimpsed something beneath the noise of concepts and commentary was something bright, pure, true.  All of the views and practices point to that truth.  Views and practices are the finger pointing at the moon, reality.

The moon is the moon whether we see it or not.  It’s like gravity.  If I don’t believe in gravity and decide to leap from the top of the Empire State building, I’ll fall to my death just like anyone else who jumps from the top.  Jewish.  Hindu.  Buddhist.  Atheist.  We all drop at the same rate: 9.8m/s2.  Why?  Because gravity is the way matter exists independent of our personal beliefs.  The views and practices are all designed to help us see reality as it is and adjust ourselves to it, because the universe is not going to accommodate our personal delusions.

And what is the moon in Zen?

The moon is this.

That seems rather obvious.

It’s so obvious that no one sees it.  It’s so simple that almost no one can do it.  It’s so ordinary that no one appreciates it.

So then what separates me, say, from a great Zen master?

They see reality as it is.

But how is that?

Still water flowing.

Huh?

Still water flowing.

So they see reality as movement and stillness?

Yes.  That's enlightenment in one sentence.  Still water flowing is being aware of both the changing and yet unchanging, the many and the one, the concrete and the empty at the same time.  It’s also not being caught up by either of those aspects.  If a Zen master wants to see oneness, he sees oneness.  If he wants to see the many, he sees the many.  If he wants to see both, he sees both.  That’s the moon. 99.999% of humans just know the world of change, of gain and loss, of birth and death, of self and other.  They usually have some glimpse or inkling of oneness, but they lack the conditions to fully recognize it.

All of this said, though, this still isn’t quite it.  That’s why many of the teachers just pointed a finger or said, “this, this,” because often times these neat categories and explanations cloud our perception.  Hence the saying, “Don’t mistake the finger for the moon.”  Don’t mistake the phrase, “still water flowing” for the lived recognition of that.  Don’t bandy it about like a peacock showing off its goods.  Just see it and get on with your life. But the seeing is the tricky part.  That’s where views and practices come in.

So what are the main fingers of Zen?

The middle finger!    The index finger.     And the much overlooked pinky.

Ok, ok, I’ll be a good boy now.  To understand Zen, I break it down into six key concepts, which I will elaborate on later:

  1. Just This
  2. The Four Areas of Development: Physical, Social, Mental, and Wisdom
  3. Waking Up // Growing Up // Cleaning Up // Showing Up
  4. The Two Truths: Absolute/Relative Truth
  5. The Bodhisattva Vows
  6. The Three Jewels: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.