You Have It Wrong

"To know what is right meditation is much more important than earning a livelihood, getting married, having money, property, because without understanding, these things are all destroyed. So the understanding of the heart is the beginning of meditation."—Jiddu Krishnamurti

But even if we are inclined to agree with this teacher, his warning still begs the question, "How do I learn to meditate?"

If we are given instruction, our meditation will be formal and lifeless. If we receive no instruction, we can easily become confused and distracted and lose our way.

Perhaps the way out of this conundrum is to begin at once and to read what the wisest teachers have to say about the wrong way to meditate. Then moment-by-moment we can discover the right way for ourselves.

An Ugly Truth

Degenerate behavior will mar even a conventionally handsome face.

A Clear View From Here

"So big mind is something to express, but it is not something to figure out."--Shunryu Suzuki

If we already have big mind, then why do we have to practice zazen?

The purpose of Zen is not to obtain something that we do not already have. We practice zazen to purify our observation of things. When we do not judge, when we are not attached to our ideas of good and evil, we see reality as it is.

Shams and delusions are esteemed for soundest truths, while reality is fabulous.  If men would steadily observe realities only, and not allow themselves to be deluded, life, to compare it with such things as we know, would be like a fairy tale and the Arabian Nights' Entertainments.--Henry David Thoreau in Walden

A Forgotten Realization

After much labor and suffering it all comes down to this truth: the ego cannot be fixed; it can only be forgotten.

Much Ado About Nothing

Obtuseness can serve as a shield to protect our self-esteem. If we are unaware that we are being insulted or rejected or that our reputation is being impugned, we remain as unconcerned as our pets over what others think of us. When we are less likely to take offense, we avoid conflict.

It is perhaps true then that the dull may have had an evolutionary advantage over those who were inclined to settle disputes with violence.

Act On This

"What is the relation of [contemplation] to action?

"Simply this. He who attempts to act and do things for others or for the world without deepening his own self-understanding, freedom, integrity and capacity to love will not have anything to give others. He will communicate to them nothing but the contagion of his own obsessions, his aggressiveness, his ego-centered ambitions, his delusions about ends and means, his doctrinaire prejudices and ideas." —Thomas Merton¹

¹Thomas Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action, 2nd ed. (University of Notre Dame Press: 1998), 160-161.