The Threefold Question in Zen
The question, “What is Zen?” is at once easy and difficult to answer. It is easy because there is nothing that is not Zen. I lift my finger thus, and there is Zen. I sit in silence all day uttering no words, and there too is Zen.
Your unborn mind is the Buddha-mind itself, and it is unconcerned with either birth or death. As evidence that it is, when you look at things, you’re able to see and distinguish them all at once.
These two selections seem to stretch the boundaries a bit. They almost seem to contradict each other, but such is the flavor of different teachers. In reality, they are talking about the same phenomenon, something so natural to who we are and how we function when we don’t complicate things, it is easy to overlook it. And, in fact, is a challenge for us.
Read the Journal while listening
