Zen is the essence of Buddhism. It can strip away the trappings of religion and dogma and go straight at fundamental reality. Realization of this absolute reality is called enlightenment.
The principal tool for realization is attentive meditation. With practice, we recognize that thoughts are not the same as mind. We develop the ability to experience what lies at the bottom of all things, and we see clearly the interconnection of all forms. This liberates us from our dissatisfaction with the human condition and its many conventions.
Zen practice also makes it clear that you are not a “self”. You are in fact a part of everything around you which is always changing, moment by moment. Touching the truth of this provides the opportunity to experience the world as it really is.
Zen is practiced, which means that repeatedly bringing one's attention to this moment will eventually become the way one experiences the world. There comes a profound sense of relief when one learns that the relative world of human interpretation is not in fact absolute reality.
To an outsider, Zen can seem puzzling and intellectual. Perhaps one purpose of certain Zen communications, however, is to puzzle you beyond your intellect. Practitioners have found that words are not adequate for describing absolute reality; it must be experienced. Therefore, Zen attempts to push you beyond words and into experience. Adepts “point” to the true nature of reality with their expressions, which take many forms other than written or spoken words.
Science meshes nicely with Zen because both systems value skeptical inquiry and both use experimentation to investigate the nature of reality. Scientific method and Zen practice are both tools that humans use for discovery. They tend to operate at different levels of human experience, but both are susceptible to error in perception because, after all, we are so very human and therefore likely to make mistakes.
In the West, the word "Zen" has become commercialized. Marketers are aware that Zen is widely respected as a means of projecting serenity and balance. In our modern Western culture of commercialism and self-satisfaction, it is not surprising that such a word would be co-opted by those who wish their products to be viewed as "serene" or "enlightened". But no product can bring self-satisfaction or enlightenment, and that is where the word "Zen" will fail marketers.
Lay practice of Zen can be done by anyone, but formal Zen teaching requires structure and tradition to preserve the "cleanest copy" of its message, methods, and history. Zen centers offer instruction and guidance, which is often provided by a teacher who has received transmission and whose realization has been confirmed by another enlightened practitioner.
As Zen propagates in the West, its system is facing new challenges that require our understanding, appreciation, and support of its history and method.
