Zen: The Art of Napping

Today our path of self discovery leads us on the road to Zen. You may not know much about Zen but you should. Get with it!

Zen asserts that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature. So basically at heart, we are all pony-tailed fat guys. I like that!

The aim of Zen is to discover your nature through meditation of daily experiences. While researching I found no ratio though of meditation to experiences. I mean, how many experiences does it require in order for you to stop and need meditation? This perhaps explains rush hour traffic. No lights, no stop signs, no reports of accidents and yet we are stopped and not moving. Maybe somewhere up ahead a driver has reached their experiences limit and has stopped in the middle of their lane to meditate on them.

"OOHHHHMMMMM Today has been a marvelous day, my shower felt refreshing, my toast didn't burn and the butter melted just like I like it. Even my cat came out of hiding to send me on my way. My commute seems to be doing fine. I wonder why people are honking at me? OOOOHHHHHMMMMMM"

"Hey buddy! What @#$%%$$# are you doing? Get out of the middle of the road!"

Clearly that guy needs to turn the eye inward.




The Flower Sermon















The origins of Zen can be related to a big misunderstanding. It is said that Gautama_Buddha gathered his disciples one day for a talk. The Buddha silently held up a flower and several of his disciples tried to interpret what this meant, though none of them were correct. One of the Buddha's disciples silently gazed at the flower and gained a special insight into the flower. He said "I know what you are trying to teach us! You want us to focus on the direct experience and not rely on the written word!" The Buddha said "Well no, I was just going to tell you guys to water the flowers but that is good. You run with that." And thus Zen was born.

So how can Zen help us today? Is it practical for us to use this ancient method to center our lives and enlighten our minds? Beats me. All I know is this meditation thing is a great excuse for taking naps. "Hey Joe, the boss wants to see us in 5 min... Joe are you sleeping?" "Of course not Chuck, I have begun a rigorous new Zen regime where I meditate every hour to help me find my center. It has really helped to refresh me. Got a tic tac?"

So wherever you are in life don't hesitate to stop what you are doing, slow down and find your inner fat guy.