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ZEN IN FIVE MINUTES<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The Eight Worldly Concerns<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n James Ishmael Ford<\/p>\n Several people have asked me to address the eight worldly concerns and how they relate to Zen practice.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not familiar with them, they\u2019re a description of the distractions of our lives. In the Lokavipatta Sutta. In Thanissaro Bhikkhu\u2019s translation we are told, \u201c\u2026(T)hese eight worldly conditions spin after the world, and the world spins after these eight worldly conditions. Which eight? Gain, loss, status, disgrace, censure, praise, pleasure, & pain. These are the eight worldly conditions that spin after the world, and the world spins after these eight worldly conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n These eight are usually paired up as four hopes, and four fears that correspond to those hopes. Gain and loss, status and insignificance, praise and censure, and pleasure and pain.<\/p>\n To call these the conditions that spin the world isn\u2019t much of an overstatement. The assumption in Dharma<\/a> circles is that these are all part of the wheel of life, and of suffering. And people long to get off that wheel.<\/p>\n