The Truth for Truth’s Sake

At my new job I’ve been getting more questions about Zen practice than I expected. One young man asked, “Oh, don’t people who meditate get like weird powers or something?”

“Not me,” I said, “but sometimes I get weirdly ordinary.”

He liked that.

Many people seem to think that Zen is about wiping out thoughts in order to attain peace. James over at Monkey Mind has a recent post offering a different perspective.

It is possible to not-think, entering the dark-dark fully (and only knowing it afterwards as there is no witness there), but that one experience is not the point of Zen. It can be a profoundly turning moment (embodying the timeless), but if afterwards it becomes the object of craving, well, then it is the cause of sickness.

I’ve recently been explaining Zen by saying, “It’s about understanding life deeply and living accordingly.”

That often seems to work.

In “Negotiating the Way,” Dogen writes, “The endeavor to negotiate the Way, as I teach now, consists in discerning all things in view of enlightenment, and putting such a unitive awareness into practice in the midst of the revaluated world.”

Several Zen teachers I know emphasize that American Zen is characterized by zazen, daily life, and precepts. Kinda nice, imv, but something seems to be missing – the unitive view.

The comments by these teachers – and the questions I’ve been getting about Zen – got me to thinking again about how we communicate what we’re about in Zen. A facilitator once challenged a group I was leading with the “Oprah test.” If you’re in an elevator with Oprah and have thirty seconds to express your mission, what would you say?

Brought me back to Simon Sinek and his “start with why” approach. Mostly, says Sinek, when asked to express what we’re about, we give the “what” or the “how.” And that’s pretty cerebral or technical but not that interesting.

Zazen, daily life, and precepts (deeply understanding life too) are all about “what” and “how” and not about “why.”

With “why” we express our passion. I believe that if we expressed our passion more fully and unapologetically, we’d be clearer about what Zen really is and make the dharma more accessible for those who are ready to practice.

Think of the power in Martin Luther King’s Noble Peace Prize acceptance speech, “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.”

I believe that living truth for the sake of truth is a dynamic and challenging way to live in peace and harmony with self and others.

I believe that this little dumpling planet desperately requires an abundance of people practicing truth for the sake of truth in all the many traditions.

What do you believe?