The Nature of Zen

A great Zen Master called Tozan once wrote:

“The Blue Mountain is the father of the White Cloud,
the White Cloud is the son of the Blue Mountain.
All day long they depend on each other,
without being dependent on each other.
The White Cloud is always the White Cloud,
the Blue Mountain is always the Blue Mountain.

This was Tozan’s interpretation of life,
that each of us, like the White Cloud
exists dependently, yet independent.

When conditions change,
the cloud changes and it just keeps going
leaving no trace no past.
This is the Zen way,
without effort, without intention.
If there is a sound, we hear.
If our eyes were open , we see.
There is nothing more than this.

When we see our self as the White Cloud,
when we come to this realization of ourselves,
it will be enough, and there is no confusion.
To awaken to this realization is the practice of Zen.

Like a stream flowing down the mountain
that finds it’s own path.
Living with nature is finding your own way.
This is the way of the Dao,
and it is found in Zen.
If we try to block the stream, or resist it,
it will simply go around, without a pause,
it will find its own way.
This way is like a falling leaf, moving along a stream.
If you allow the stream to carry you,
it’s strength become yours,
you are one with nature.
Without clinging, without attachment,
leaving the past behind, living in this moment.

When you look at the forest,
do not look at the trees as separate or a part, but as one.
This is the forest.
Likewise do not differentiate yourself as a part from others
or from the world outside.
The search for self-realization is powered by our anxieties and our fears,
which feed by our ego causing frustration with our daily life.
Selfishness, jealousy, angered, hate
which unconsciously serve to protect us,
and in doing so set us in opposition to everyone and everything.
To awaken to this realization is the practice of Zen.