Hello friends!
Today I would like to take a break from presenting the lessons of the great motivational teachers from Nightingale-Conant and share with you something from my personal life. As you could tell from the title, the topic is Zen. You might know that Zen is a type of Buddhism, which emphasizes sitting meditation, or zazen, as the best way to reach one's Buddha nature.
I was first introduced to Zen when I went to Japan 8 years ago. Then I also tried zazen, which was rather hard, I must say. This month I decided that I wanted to do zazen again. The reason for that was that I wanted to develop my mind power and the ability to concentrate and focus on what I am doing. So I started doing zazen every morning for one hour.
This week has been my third week doing zazen, and I have had mixed success quieting my mind. As you might guess, our minds are constantly flooded by random thoughts. The goal of zazen is to quiet the mind by not paying attention to these thoughts. If you have ever tried zazen or any kind of meditation, you would know that this is pretty difficult.
Anyways, today I was doing my meditation once again and trying to ward my thoughts off from my mind. And then a realization hit me. I understood what Zen is. Zen is to subdue oneself to the Big Mind. What is the Big Mind? The Big Mind is the universal mind, which is present in every one of us. It is something supreme, which loves you, guides you, supports you, leads you and does all other wonderful things for you. All it asks of you is to give in. Surrender to its guidance and then follow it.
Well, this should be easy, right? Not really. We, human beings, find it hard to trust anyone. What if they trick us? What if it is a waste of time? What if I am laughed at? What if I fail? And the negative self-doubting questions go on - they never stop!
So, after this realization, now I have a new goal in my zen meditation. The goal is to reconnect with this Big Mind, which I know is hidden somewhere inside of me. It is inside of each of us. All I need is a small connection, then I can build on it to establish an even bigger relationship with this ultimate force. Then all I would have to do is follow it.
So what do you think? Do you believe that there is such a power? Or are we all separate being, who follow our own paths and compete with each other? I would rather believe not...
Have a great weekend!