What You Gain From Zen

 

           

      In my experience  people who get involved in Buddhism and Zen in the West see themselves as seekers,  they're looking for something that their life doesn't have. Some people call this thing they're seeking enlightenment others simply call it peace of mind and some call it the truth.  I am old and I suppose a little bit jaundiced or jaded but I've always found it amusing when a Zen teacher will face a group of students and tell them clearly that he has nothing to offer them.  The confusion on their faces and the way their  body language literally glows with discomfort when the person they've come to as a seeker tells him that he has nothing for them at this late stage is to me a little amusing. 

         

Of course Zen contains more paradox and confusion than any of the other schools of Buddhism. I sometimes think that Zen teachers are not unlike stage magicians that like to see the look on your face when they make statements that cause your mind to twist into knots.  And like stage magicians it's considered impolite to show how the trick is done. Houdini was at once asked if he ever explained his tricks to anyone and he just laughed and said, " NEVER!"

           

So I suppose that there will be many Zen teachers who are not going to like this post.  But I don't write this to please them I write this to help myself and others.  Zen like most stage magic takes place right in front of you and depends primarily upon misdirection.  There are of course thousands of years of Buddhist teachings that might suggest that each and every one of us is born a Buddha. If anyone asks you , you didn't hear this from me. This idea that you have everything that you are seeking already, and that the reason that Zen has nothing to offer you is that you've already got it.

          

I'm going to suggest that if you're a seeker who has come to Zen looking for something to gain perhaps what you should be looking for is the things that you can lose. While Zen can't give you anything perhaps the practice of Zen can  help you lose a lot of things that are making you miserable. The things I am speaking of are things like anger, fear, anxiety, depression, envy,  a grasping mind and hate, what do you suppose would be left if you lost all those things.  And that is what I would call the short list of things worth losing. 

So the end of this short little essay is simply to say perhaps what you're seeking is something you wish to lose not something you wish to gain.