"Three Teachings in Zen Meditation" is currently available for free for a limited time.

Original text of Three Teachings in Zen Meditation

It’s not enough just to sit. You also have to bring this quality of awareness, of attention, of knowing, as  much as possible into your daily life. Nobody is really too busy to be aware, at least sometimes. While you  are waiting for the computer program to load, while  you are waiting for the traffic lights to change, when  you are waiting for anything, while you’re just sitting there, while you are walking, while you are talking, when you go to the bathroom, when you are drinking your tea or coffee.

There are infinite moments in a day where one can  for two minutes or even a few seconds bring the mind right here  and now,  into  the present, just  knowing what is happening, knowing what the body is doing, knowing what the mind is doing, not judging it, not  trying to change it, just knowing it. We can all do it.

If we are really sincere about having the dharma  in our heart the dharma starts right here, right now, with those beings — especially with those beings with  whom we are for some reason karmically connected. Those are the people we have to work on. Those are the  people with whom we really have to purify our hearts. Because if you cannot do it with them, then with whom  else? This is very important. Otherwise we can have  big fantasies about attaining enlightenment to save all  beings when we cannot even be kind to our partner, or we cannot even develop a little understanding and sympathy for our children or our business colleagues.

So if our life is motivated mostly by making our- selves nice and comfortable, evading anything which  is difficult and trying to attract everything which is  pleasant, then we are still caught in the animal realm. We are challenged when we are in situations and with  people who are difficult. When events do not go the  way we want them to go, or when we have something  we treasure and we lose it — that’s when we can see  whether we really have dharma in our hearts or not.

You see, when we lose something we love, it’s our attachment which is the problem, not the loss. That’s what  causes  us  grief.  And  that  is why  the  Buddha taught that with attachment comes fear and grief. We  have the fear of losing, and then we have the grief when we lose. Buddha never said that love causes grief.

Please refer to Three Teachings in Zen Meditation for more information.

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