Zen Action

2 Pages 592 Words

Zen and action are inseparable—the latter being the most expedient means of transmitting the teachings of the former. Far from the attempts at conceptualization and articulation of the primary ideas of Zen, the more appropriate approach is through action, be it zazen or other significant acts. As Morinaga Soko explains of his own experience, “I had known nothing but theorizing; during my high school days I often spent the whole night with friends reading books on philosophy and arguing—talk, talk, talk. I now burned with shame because I could not even do such a simple job as cleaning a floor properly” (Kraft 1988, 18).
Buddhism seeks to teach people that to notice the simple fact in front of them—that they are acting in a condition of oneness in the present moment—is to realize what reality is, to be awake to reality. And it says that when we immerse ourselves into what we are doing in the actual moment, we make ourselves balanced too. This allows us to overcome the tendency of the mind to cover up the essential nature of what we are doing in the present moment with analyses, opinions, objectives, expectations, uncertainties, and so on. Thus, action allows the practitioner to not miss the fact that is in front of him.
In Zen and Japanese Culture, D.T. Suzuki also substantiates the importance of action in Zen. “[T]eaching by action, learning by doing. There is something like it in the actional approach to enlightenment. But a direct action in Zen has another meaning. There is a deeper purpose which consists in awakening in the disciple’s mind a certain consciousness that is attuned to the pulsation of Reality . . . . Satori must be the outgrowth of one’s inner life and not a verbal implantation brought from the outside” (Suzuki 1993, 9-10). We can therefore see that the attempts at conceptualization or linguistic expression of Zen become futile and lead us astray rather than guiding us to a more approximate underst...