Oakville Zen Meditation

#35.Pragmatic Zen

Statements made by someone and the reply from a Zen talking mirror.

Nothing changes around me.

Nothing is permanent & everything is transient including you, your friends, your pet, the clouds, this planet, the sun, and me. Everything is changing all the time, every second, non-stop within an endless circle of new beginning and new end. Without ongoing birth and death life and evolution will be impossible. Thinking otherwise is an illusion coming from our deceptive ego centered mind.

Quite bleak & depressive.

Just as it is...remember Zen mind is like  a mirror: simple, realistic & pragmatic.

I am controlling my life.

Nothing can be 100% controlled. We do not control our mind, time, life, people, events & environment. Thinking otherwise is an illusion coming from our deceptive our ego-centered mind.

Again quite depressive and gloomy

Just as it is...simply realistic & pragmatic. Life is what it is. Life is not a person it does not care about us .

I have time.  

Can you buy time? Time is not a commodity. We don’t possess time & we cannot buy it and it does stay in your wallet. The notion of time is a state of mind even if we cannot live without it.  Thinking otherwise is an illusion coming from our deceptive ego centered mind.

I am always thinking of the future with hope and worry & of the past with nostalgia or resentment.

Components of time such as past, present and future are great human inventions but only the present is real and past and future are only in your mind. As a mirror I am reflecting only the present that is now, moment to moment. Thinking that past & present exist is an illusion coming from our deceptive ego centered mind. Try to synchronize you mind that is always wandering in the past and in the future with your body, which is always in the present time. This is a great way to reduce anxiety and worries.

 I am unique and independent with a separate self-entity. There is nobody like me.

Biologically we are unique but all living beings are interconnected, interrelated and totally dependent of our environment to survive. All of you are the byproducts of the first living cell around 3.5 billion years ago. Beside this your individual consciousness is probably just a component of a global one. Thinking that you are a unique & independent self-entity is an illusion created by your ego mind.

Quite often people and things do not go the way I want.

Life, people, events, things and our environment are what they are and not what our ego mind wants them to be. As a mirror I am just reflecting what life is all about. Wishful thinking is just an illusion created by your ego mind.

My mind is my greatest asset to function on a daily basis.

Indeed the mind is a great instrument to think, analyze and make decisions. Unfortunately your mind is very ego centered creating most of your dissatisfactions, unhappiness and suffering such as ongoing desires, anger, attachments, fear, resentment, jealousy, frustrations and many more negative emotions. You are thinking zombies victims of over 45,000 thoughts every day most of them without any purpose. Controlling them is key to tame your deceptive ego and discover the wonders of your inner self. As a mirror I am mindless and enjoy it every second.

I am indispensable for my love ones and my work.

Graveyards are full of indispensable people.

Thanks.

Ven. Ji Gong Sunim.  2015