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For many of
us the idea of Zen Living is idealistic.
What is Zen? The teaching of Zen
originated in China, and was introduced into Japan in the 13th
Century. It is a form of Buddhism. The best description of Zen I have seen is
“stepping out of duality”. Easy words,
but how do we do it?
Those who
study Zen, or any other form of meditation, strive to achieve that state of
centeredness that leads us out of our duality.
The tools they use to walk the path of Zen include turning inward,
awareness, dedication, focus, non-resistance, and many more. They strive to achieve this state of Zen
throughout every aspect of their life, I honor this act, and follow my own
pathway to personal growth and understanding through the concepts of Zen.
So where
does this leave us? Somewhere on the
side of Zen, for maintaining that state of stillness is only a part of living
on this planet. This is the world of
duality, and the idea of being in a state of Zen is both a spiritual pathway
and a physical contradiction at the same time.
Our lives
are filled with experiences, and have many physical tools to create and process
these experiences. We have time, space,
and the ability to commit ourselves into the moment through the density of the
physical body. We have emotions to
assess our experiences. We have
knowledge and experience to help us react and thereby learn from our
experiences. These are wonderful gifts,
and we are meant to walk this earth.
We also
have many other levels of awareness and consciousness. The intent of Zen is to help us to blend our
awareness of the physical world with our higher levels of communication,
perception, and spiritual knowledge. This
gives us a custom blend in life, something very unique from everyone else. Zen Living is to also accepting that we are
in a world of duality, and that our focus on Zen creates a dichotomy or duality
of its very own. It is by combining
stillness with movement that we grow.
“Life is a
road we all must travel, make it a Radiant Journey”.
Author: Estee Taschereau
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