English

Oftentimes, meditation is considered a practice of taming the mind. But why try to fix what is already pure? This meditation offers an opportunity to appreciate whatever condition you find your mind in.

Someone asked Zhaozhou, "What is meditation?"
Zhaozhou replied, "It's not meditation."
The student asked, "What is it, then?"
Zhaozhou replied, "It's alive! It's alive!"

- Pacific Zen Institute Miscellaneous Koan Collection

Image of Afghanistan, no attribution available

Loving The Wildness Of Your Mind

Jesse Carden here with a meditation for you, another koan. This one is about the just letting the wild nature of the mind be wild. So as usual, it's good if you can find yourself in a position that's comfortable and you don't have to hold yourself up. And it's good if you can find a place where you can concentrate on just this for the next few minutes. No one will disturb you. So here we go. As the bell sinks into silence, you can feel the liveliness of the world. Rise up to meet you. So someone went to an old teacher named Zhao Zhou and he asked him, what is meditation? Seems like a reasonable question. Zhaozhou replied, it is not meditation. The student was baffled and asked again, well, if it's not meditation, what is it? Jaojo replied, it's alive. It's alive. What is meditation? It's not meditation. Well, what is it then? It's alive. It's alive. And so just noticing the liveliness of your own being right now. the liveliness of the world around you, inside you. And oftentimes people come to meditation because they want things to be quieter, calmer. And there's nothing wrong with that. but the world is alive. And it's good to be able to meet the world. in its full liveliness. What is meditation? It's alive. What are you? Alive. And so just noticing that for right now, you don't need anything other than this. just alive. And if you'd like, you can do a little experiment with your meditation. which might seem counterintuitive, but... whatever's going on in your mind, in your heart, in your body. Give it permission. to make its whole self known. If you're feeling anxious, let the anxiety play. If you're feeling sad or tired, let them play. joyful, at peace. Let it play. Your job is just to be here with it. and to not interfere. What is meditation? It's alive. And if you need somewhere to place your mind, you can rest it just on this one word, alive. Whatever comes into your mind, alive. Whatever appears in your body, alive. Whatever appears in your heart or the world around you, alive. And if you notice that things are coming up for you that you'd rather not have come up. and that you push them away, even that, alive. if you're tired of this meditation alive. He should be doing something else right now, alive. if your back hurts. Alive. And you begin to notice. If you look at the world through this sense of aliveness that everything has its own particular nature. Even boredom is alive, but it expresses it in its own way. Exhaustion is alive. Sleepiness is alive. Sleep is alive. when your mind feels dull or burned out or depressed. What is that? Can you notice the aliveness inside even that? This is the place. where creativity lives. and the source of music and poetry and all art. inside everything alive. This one word can dissolve all the barriers in your life. alive. Alive. Alive. And so in a moment I'll ring the bell to end the meditation, but please don't leave this koan here. You can find it everywhere you go. from the elementary school pickup line. the desert, the mountains, the beach. An Argument with a Loved One, your favorite TV show. Being sick with fever. Alive.