Mind Full to Mindful: Zen Wisdom From a Monk's Bowl

by Om Swami

Thoughts, feelings and consciousness exist in our minds and experiences but they are transient and, in the end, they don’t have any meaning at all.

Nothing is born, O Shariputra. Nothing dies… There is no suffering and no attainment of any kind … There is nothing to gain or lose…

This constant play of nature – one season comes, then goes, another one comes, then goes – is what life is all about. It’s not about some grand goal. Zen does not believe in that. Zen says, nirvana or moksha is simply a matter of perspective. If you can eat when you are eating, if you can sleep when you are sleeping, you are jivan-mukta, a liberated soul. You are enlightened.

It sounds paradoxical, but the more disciplined your life, the greater is your freedom. Indeed, discipline is freedom.

But if there is one thing I would say, it would be this: you can skip your meditation on some days if you have to, but don’t skip your exercise. Be regular with it.

Any belief is just a long-held thought too. An open mind isn’t attached to thinking or belief; thoughts can be a jail. Watching them come and go lets you go out to play in the universe.