What Zen isn't

"Zen isn’t simplifying your life. Zen is simply life."

There’s a lot of talk about Zen, but until you topple the tower of babble, it isn’t Zen.

Zen isn’t a habit. It is the absence of all habits and conditioning. There are no habits in Zen, because everything, everywhere, everytime is altogether new.

Zen isn’t simplifying your life. Zen is simply life. When we don’t fuss with it, life simplifies itself.

Zen isn’t waking up so you can get out of bed. Zen is getting out of bed so you can wake up.

Zen isn’t eating less, spending less, talking less or working less. It’s wanting less, fearing less, worrying less and striving less. The latter takes care of the former.

Zen isn’t about making a change in your life. It is about living the change you already are.

Zen isn’t a moment of Zen. It is eternal. It is now. Zen never ends.

Now, how do you come to see and believe this for yourself? Certainly not by reading about it, although one or two good books every now and then won’t hurt. You know by what you practice, or it isn’t Zen.
~Karen Maezen Miller