A special transmission outside the scriptures ..
No dependence on words and letters ..
Direct pointing to the mind of man ..
Seeing into one's nature ..
Seeing into one's nature ..
The special transmission of Zen is the realization of enlightenment in one's own life, in one's own time.
Central and indispensable to Zen is daily Zazen practice. It is the practice that is the " direct pointing to the mind of man ". Zazen melts away the mind-forged distances that separate man from himself .. leads one beyond himself as knower, to himself as known. In Zazen, there is no reality outside what exists here and now. Each moment, each act is inherently you. While sorrow and joy, anxiety and imperturbability cannot be avoided, by not clinging to them we find ourselves free of them, no longer pulled this way and that. With this self-mastery comes composure and tranquility of mind, but these are by-products of Zazen rather than its goals.
Zazen is a Japanese term consisting of two characters : 'Za' = to sit ( cross-legged ), and 'Zen' = concentration + dynamic stillness + contemplation. Zazen is both something one does - sitting cross legged, with proper posture and correct breathing - and something one essentially is. To emphasize one aspect at the expense of the other is to misunderstand this subtle and profound practice.
In ordinary experience, being and doing are separated : what one does is cut off from what one is, and conversely. Such separation leads inevitably to the condition of self-alienation. With time and sincere effort in Zazen practice, mind and body, inside and outside, self and other are experienced as one. This condition of effortless concentration, is known as Samadhi.
In Samadhi, there is no longer searching for answers externally, there is the student journeys within to reach his own Self-Nature.
The self and the universe are seen to have been one reality from the beginning. The spirit of love and compassion for all beings is developed through continual spiritual purification.
As one's practice ripens, one becomes more alive, more creative ; filled with the longing to actualize his zen spirit in every moment and every aspect of daily life.
By / Eido Tai Shimano Roshi Abbot of The Zen Studies Society
Salam,
Cherine
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