This all seems very characteristic of republican and libertarian thinking, but I guess that would be global labeling.
Oh internet, how you’ve forsaken us all, turning the least deserving of us into viral sensations.
Zen is a word that has come into vogue in western society in the past few decades, along with a large confusion over what it actually means. The word in western contexts seems to connote a sort of mystic mastery, or perhaps a way of doing things that brings about tranquility.
Perhaps the most recognized usage of Zen is in the title of books relating it to all sorts of activities. “Zen and the Art Of Happiness” “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” “Zen Golf” “The Zen Of Social Media Marketing” “Zen In The Art of Writing” “Zen Guitar.” These book titles seem to suggest that this thing, Zen, has some sort of secret knowledge to be tapped. All of these gain some sort of influence from “Zen in the Art of Archery,” a book written by Eugen Herrigel documenting his time learning Archery from a master in Japan. This book has been criticized as given an inaccurate and fantasized view of what Zen is, adding a certain amount of mysticism.
But what is Zen? The word Zen is a japanese word that is derived from the chinese word Chan that is then derived from the sanskrit word dhyana. All of these words merely mean meditation. It’s used to classify an area of buddhism called Zen or Chan buddhism, which is mainly based around the idea of meditation. In fact, the main activity of most Zen practitioners is Zazen, or sitting meditation.
Zen as a practice was introduced to America by Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki through his several books and the foundation of the San Francisco Zen Center. Zen as an ideology and philosophy was introduced to the West in general by the books of D.T. Suzuki and Alan Watts’ “The Way of Zen”. Previously mentioned “Zen in the Art of Archery” also had a part in bringing about the American view of what Zen is.
The kind of main idea of Zen is that everyone is born with the capacity of buddhahood. The main focus is then tapping into that buddhahood that you already contain, and using it in every moment of your life. Essentially, the practice of Zen is to attune your mind to this buddha mindset so that you’re acting through it all the time. Think of it like training at a sport. To become very good at a sport you will practice a single action over and over until it is built into your muscle memory, so that when it comes time to use it when actually playing the sport, the entire action is automatic, as if it were a natural reaction.
Thus, to obtain this innate buddhahood, one must understand why it is good. Then you must come to an awakening about what it is. Then you must practice under this idea to give your mind that natural reaction. This practice is zazen. Different sects of Zen Buddhism practice zazen in different ways. There are the Soto who practice zazen by emptying their minds in meditation to practice existing completely in that moment. By doing so this practices their mind to act in such a way when not just sitting in meditation. The Rinzai school meditates on the thought of different stories of when people gained their awakening, this practices their mind by thinking of the nature of awakening, of the moment of understanding buddhahood.
Zen stresses the practice of zazen. But it has been taken further, especially in the western application of the principles of Zen. Zen Buddhism states that buddhahood requires being completely immersed and in tune with whatever situation you’re currently in. A lot of practitioners, especially lay practitioners, have taken this beyond zazen and use an empty mind to fulfill any task. When making dinner, cleaning the dishes, walking to class, cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, in any activity one does, one should be a part of that activity and a part of that moment. The entire mind should be involved in every movement of the activity and there should be no attention paid to whatever was just happening, or whatever is about to happen, much more to what was happening awhile ago, or what will be happening later.
Hopefully it can now be seen that there is no mysticism in Zen, it’s nothing secret, there’s probably nothing in a book about how to approach anything from a Zen mindset that you can’t figure out yourself by just following the sheer simplicity of Zen. And this simplicity is just becoming unattached to past and future and basking in the full glory of what is happening right now.
A garden path sentence is a grammatically correct sentence that starts in such a way that a reader’s most likely interpretation is an incorrect one, luring them initially into an improper parse that then turns out to be a dead end. Garden path sentences are used in psycholinguistics to…
People of this world are deluded. They’re always longing for something - always, in a word, seeking.
Bodhidharma
Abeyance - n. temporary suppression or suspension
The abeyance of school was attributed to the weather.
Aerie - n. a nest of any large bird, or bird of prey. Or a fortress built high in a mountain.
The eagle’s aerie is full of eggs this time of year.
Ameliorate - v. to improve
The situation was ameliorated when some of the parties involved came to agreement.
Apostate - n. one who renounces a religion
The community considered the atheist an apostate and separated themselves from him.
Attenuate - v. to weaken
The prosecution’s case was attenuated with the introduction of new evidence.
August - adj. dignified, grandiose, majestic
We all stared at the august emergence of the Grand Canyon.
Abase - v. to humble, disgrace
They tried to work their way through the protestors, but couldn’t help but feel abased.
Abdicate - v. to give up a position of power
At the threat of impeachment, the president abdicated his position to the vice president.
Aberrant - adj. deviating from what is normal or expected
The students were sent home for their aberrant attire.
Abjure - v. to reject or abandon formally
During the board meeting the lowly employee stood up and abjured the proposition defiantly.
abate - v. to diminish in intensity
antithetical - adj. sharply contrasted in character or purpose
aver - v. to affirm with confidence
burnish - v. to polish
coeval - of the same age
dearth - an insufficient number or quantity
descry - v. to catch sight of
dote - to shower with love
lissome - moving and bending with ease, flexible
efface - to remove completely from recognition or memory, obliterate, wipe out
Since I was younger there was always an appeal to the night. I wanted to stay up as late as I possibly could; hiding under my blankets reading or playing with toys by flashlight, or even just staring at the wall, attempting to stay awake until I decided it was late enough to go to sleep. When I got older it became less of an attempt and more of an compulsion. Often I would lay with my eyes closed for hours, just thinking; hoping the thoughts would melt away to dreams. But it would rarely come so easily. It began that I just gave in and learned to survive with a lack of sleep, thrive on it even.
I don’t know what made staying up so appealing. I always got in trouble for it, and it always required being extremely cautious about volume and lighting. Perhaps that restriction brought me to have desire for something which I wasn’t allowed. Or maybe it was just that sleeping was so boring. All that happens during sleep is dreams, and what use are those to real life? Perhaps that’s the logic that drove me. Either way I came to truly enjoy the night. It gave me a certain tranquility and comfort. Riding in cars at night was my favorite, you’re in such a compact, intimate world; bounded by the limits of your vision. It gave me a cozy feeling. The seemingly endless quality of the night excited me, the only thing that ended the night was sleeping. Otherwise, time stood still, this I felt until I stayed up until the light morning. The day just simply did not hold enough time. Day was for responsibilities, obligations, restraint. The night, however, was for me.
I felt exhilarated by the night for a long time. Right up until it turned against me. The night began to scare me. It flipped everything around. That compact, intimate world became endless and unknown. The endless night turned into endless darkness. I stayed up waiting for the salvation that the morning light brought. I was no longer enjoying me time. I was alone and isolated from the rest of the world. I ended up reaching out to whoever I could, to anyone that could be there for me. I couldn’t go to sleep because I was afraid of sleep, there’s no control in sleep, anything could happen, and if I was alone then who would be there to save me? Even if I were awake, who would be there to save me? I was tormented the entire night over whether I was about to die.
I’ve come to control these anxieties. I take medicine that keeps me pretty happy, and I have someone who is always there for me. I’ve begun to restart my relationship with the night, making it me time again. However, my responsibilities and obligations mean more now, they’re more important to me. I’m beginning to better appreciate the morning and all of the timing of the day. I can’t get by on little amounts of sleep forever, and I can’t push everything into one day. I don’t think I could ever completely separate myself from the night, we’ve got so much in common. It’s just, I think it’d be better if we became more like acquaintances than good friends.
