Zen Sense

On Pausing What are you trying to force in your life right now?  Could you sit down beside it, breathe, and let go of the need to make it happen?  What if the peace you seek is already there, waiting for you to stop struggling?  Surrender is not the end of the journey. It is the doorway to real understanding. (from Zen Stories)

"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why" 

Wu Wei Nonintention ... in meditation and in life...releasing goals and quests, that need to be doing something rather than just being. And releasing that drive even while doing something.

Tara Brach: Guided Meditation  Let Go. Let Be guided meditation guided meditation https://youtu.be/-40Tgg07J9A?si=25STbNHPpIc4MqT0

Zen priest Dainin Katagari Roshi once instructed that we must "Break the frame around our life. Again and again." Sometimes this frame may feel imposed, other times we sense that we have constructed it. Let go to be you. Disappear to find yourself. 

Sitting Zazen Just Like Riding a Bicycle (14)  “Zazen,” says Robert Aitken, “Is just like learning how to ride a bicycle. You have to steer, pump, keep your balance, watch out for pedestrians and other vehicles—all at once. You are riding a pile of parts with your pile of parts. After you learn to ride, however, what then? You are free of those parts, surely. You are one with the bicycle, and the bicycle keeps its own balance. It steers and pumps itself, and you can enjoy your ride and go anywhere, to the store, to school, to the office, the beach. You have forgotten sprockets and handle bars. You have forgotten that you have forgotten.”

DHARMA WORDS  FROM NYOGEN SENZAKI  In Zen meditation we think non-thinking—that is, we think nothing. What this means is that our whole psychological mind ceases to function, and as a result, our whole being becomes united with the essence of mind. You call this essence the God within you, Absoluteness, Ultimate Reason—it doesn't matter. No matter what you call it, to unite with this essence is the very reason we meditate together. I have been asked to explain what Realization is, but if it could be explained it would not be Realization. While you are kneading the dough of your thoughts, you cannot enjoy the bread of Realization . . . Walking through the forest of thoughts, just keep on walking until you find yourself cornered in a place that admits neither of advance nor retreat. Here your knowledge will be of no avail. Even your religion will be unable to rescue you. If you are really eager to enter Realization, just go straight ahead, holding tenaciously to the question “Wh...