True Life Through Zen E-Book

Zensho W. Kopp

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 65

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Spiritual self-realization in everyday life Contemporary and completely true-to-life, Zen Master Zensho teaches us a direct way to a fulfilled, aware life. In a readily understandable way, he shows us how we can realize spiritual clarity, contentedness and joy within ourselves in the midst of the world as the true place of practice. This is how we become able to experience the preciousness of each moment with our whole being and can live worldly activity and crystal-clear consciousness as a single reality. »True-to-life and practical for the world of today.«

Leseprobe

This book is the extended version of the audio book which was published by Amazon Publishing under the same name. In their letters to the author, many listeners expressed the wish to have the audio recording in book form so that they may delve more deeply into its profound wisdom. This wish has now led to the text at hand.

Contents

Preface

Introduction to the holistic Zen way

The inexpressible secret of the Eternal

Direct perception

The present moment of Now

The illusion of time

Zen in everyday life

The True Path of Zen

The wonderful promise

True-to-life Zen practice

Acting in accordance with Tao

Intentionless self-awareness

Victory without a sword

The omnipresence of Tao

Zen in the midst of the world

In the plenitude of Divine Being

The way and the goal are one

Tao lies under the soles of your feet

The secret of Zen

Here and now is eternity

The illusion of time

The natural state of the mind

Crystal-clear self-awareness

The illusion of multiplicity

Seeing through the deceptions

The Heart-Meditation of all Buddhas

The self-mind is buddha

Zen breathing

Crystal-clear awareness

Seeing through the dream

Moment-Consciousness

Retaining the centre

Unbound activity

The all-embracing wholeness of being

Non-discriminating wisdom

Liberation

Cloudless clarity

Clearing the mind

The original purity of the mind

Not missing out on the essential

The Path to immortality

The cheerfulness of the mind

A meaningful life

Glossary

Contact

Tao Chan

The actions and the quietude of those who have mastered Zen are like passing clouds – without ego-consciousness. It is like the full moon – reflected everywhere. Those who have achieved mastery in Zen are not held up by anything; in the midst of all things they still remain free of all things.

Zen Master Hong-zhi (twelfth century)

Preface

We are living in a time in which more and more people are striving to combine a spiritual and active life. They are seeking a contemporary, holistic way of spiritual realisation which they can live in the midst of daily life in our modern world of today.

This unique book does justice to the continually growing urge for a purposeful life. It is very different from the usual publications on this subject, which on the whole are written by western authors who lack a true understanding of the profound truth of Zen.

By contrast, we are dealing in this book with the work of a realised Zen Master of our modern times who writes “directly from the source of Zen”, so to speak. Thus, this book takes on a most special value in that it can change our whole life.

Zen Master Zensho’s practical instructions for Zen practice in daily life make the book a reliable orientation-aid for the modern western person. True-to-life and with utter clarity he shows us what this Zen practice is all about and how it leads us to inner peace, deeper wisdom and a meaningful life. Contemporary and easily understood, he imparts to us the holistic Zen way, based on his personal experience. It is the way to a heedful life, filled with awareness, so that we are completely free at all times and are one with the various situations of everyday life. In Zensho’s words:

As master of each situation in the midst of all things we continue to remain completely free from all things. Thus we can go beyond all restricting circumstances and can break through to the essence in the midst of worldly situations.

In this way we experience how we can achieve spiritual clarity and joy in ourselves in everyday life, as the true place of practice. Thus we reach greater freedom and become able to experience the preciousness of each moment with our whole being, and live crystal-clear awareness and our active involvement in life as a single reality. This book is benefitted greatly by Zensho’s detailed “Introduction to the holistic Zen way”, which, with great clarity, provides the reader with a compact summary of the active Zen way in the midst of the world.

A further benefit in this exceptional book are the many quotes of the old Chinese Zen masters, whose mystical sayings often lie completely beyond all possibilities of intellectual understanding.

Nevertheless, Zensho’s illuminating explanations provide us with a valuable key to a better understanding. Without these exceedingly helpful explanations from a Zen master who draws from the same enlightened consciousness dimension as the old Chinese Zen masters, the deeper meaning of many of these sayings would remain concealed from us.

Zensho’s clear and simple way of teaching, together with his humorous geniality, is a stimulating mix of refreshing humour and earnestness. Thus, in this extremely lively book, which breathes the spirit of Zen, we feel the direct presence and realisation of one of the most significant wisdom teachers of our times. His method of spiritual conveyance is of original directness and is unique and unmistakable in its manner. The book “True Life Through Zen” shows us a way out of the narrowness of our self-made limitations. And if we immerse ourselves completely in its profound wisdom, our lives will be filled with meaning and become richer.

This book shows us that we do not need to search for the happiness we all long for, since it is already present in ourselves here and now as our true being. We need only immerse ourselves in it.

October, 2015

Zen-Center Tao ChanWiesbaden

Introduction to the holistic Zen way

The inexpressible secret of the Eternal

Zen is the way of instantly perceiving reality. It puts aside all philosophical speculation on the inexpressible truth so that it may point directly to the essence, without any circumlocutions.

This essence is the Enlightenment of the mind, and thus liberation from our attachment to the cycle of birth and death. For this reason, Zen is primarily about our awakening to that reality of our true being which neither begins with birth nor ends with death.

This, our true essence, is the underlying reality at the base of all our experiences. As the pure source of all being it is pure being, absolute consciousness and boundless bliss. However, this reality is not something we must seek, for it is constantly present as our absolutely inherent true essence – we have never lost it. It reveals itself “now-here”, we need not wait for any other opportunity. Therefore, it is said in Zen:

Where do you wish to seek the ox when you are already sitting on the ox you are seeking?

Following the path of Zen means completely immersing ourselves in this reality of our true being “here and now”. Yet what really is the truth of Zen? The Chinese Zen Master Yung-chia (eighth century) answers this question as follows:

Everything I could say of it would fall short of the mark.

In other words, the absolute truth cannot be expressed in words because our human speech is very limited. Therefore, each attempt to describe the profound truth of Zen with our limited speech, regardless of how well-meant it may be, is completely pointless. And the more we are imbued with the fullness of divine essence, the less capable we become of linguistically expressing the inexpressible mystery of the Eternal in words.