You are Zen, You are not a Zen, too!

The ‘actual’ case of zen and no-zen is not imaginable, or cannot be defined in words. We are zen, we become zen, to become a no-zen because we come from ‘nothing’ and we go to ‘nothing’.

In this vast universe, with multiple galaxies, a friend on LinkedIn posts, “Hustle till you drive your Lamborghini!” Oh, yes, after death, ‘I will drive my Lamborghini’ without reflecting upon how hustling culture [till death] will kill inside of me. Amid the epoch of conspicuous compassion and touches of melancholy, mankind has reached a stage of unchecked madness. Wars, depression, greed, power, etc are transcending almost everyone’s spirit, and the mere normalization of all this has made a general lifestyle for all of us.

It has become very difficult to realize that we’re a ‘no-self being’ with human experience. Sadly, the experiences around us are of a human being with self-experience. When ‘I’ say ‘no-self’, I am referring to our own existence that does not have any solid foundation as such. Since the ‘self’ lacks an intrinsic identity of itself, everything becomes impermanent because everything is changing and our very own, of course, Lamborghini is subjected to decay, too.

The idea of ‘no-self’ is not a nihilist one, neither it is intended to dismiss your presence in reading this blog. It’s simply a conventional idea, that blocks us from ‘seeing’ the absolute reality; emptiness. So far, the ‘pop culture’ has trained our minds to feel that “we’re empty, when we are emotionally broken, hurt, etc.” but that’s not the real meaning of ‘emptiness’. In fact, the ‘actual’ meaning of emptiness is zen and no-zen and that is...our own nature of seeing, and experiencing the realities is conveniently bounded by our own logic, rationality, judgments, and doubts, and thus we assume ourselves to be intellectual enough to ‘think’ that “we’re enlightened being” [on this ‘global warming’ planet].

The ‘actual’ case of zen and no-zen is not imaginable, or cannot be defined in words. We are zen, we become zen, to become a no-zen because we come from ‘nothing’ and we go to ‘nothing’. In between, we manage and call it ‘something’. Zen is verily not a perplexing philosophy. Neither ‘everything’. But it is a guide to accept our clouded minds and a leaflet to dismiss our ignorance. Zen is an experience that enables us to reflect on the nature of things or to contemplate our mental insights, and it is evolving. Very much personal.

Although koans are used in Zen practices to provoke the grand doubts in us and to measure our progress in our journey of enlightenment.

Example:

“Two hands clap and there is a sound. What is the sound of one hand?” — Hakuin Ekaku

With regards to the above koan; in the beginning, you first think a koan is an inert object upon which to focus attention; after a long period of consecutive repetition, you might realize that the koan is also a dynamic activity, the very activity of seeking an answer to the koan. The koan is both the object being sought and the relentless seeking itself. In a koan, the self sees the self not directly but under the guise of the koan. When one realizes ("makes real") this identity, then two hands have become one. The practitioner i.e. you become the koan that he or she is trying to understand. That is the sound of one hand.

Another example:

"Without thinking of good or evil, show me your original face before your mother and father were born." – Huìnéng