Everything I’ve done since reading my first Zen book has been influenced in some way by what makes Zen, Zen.
I didn’t know how this life was so influenced by studying and practicing Zen.
But, here’s the thing – I live a very ordinary life.
Coming to know that Zen is for ordinary folks pulled me closer to it. It’s not only for monks, nuns, and Abbots. It’s for everyone from Sunday school teachers to drug addicts.
Zen doesn’t care where you come from.
Zen doesn’t care about your beliefs.
Zen doesn’t care about your past.
Zen excludes nothing because it accepts everything. Even, the things you struggle to accept about yourself.
Zen is experiencing life without you – the you that you think you are, is a made-up mental image that you’ve fabricated.
It’s the same mental image that we make up about our neighbor.
It’s not the reality of who they are.
Your thoughts about them are not actually them. Neither are the thoughts about you, you.
Enjoy!
-Travis
