When You Have No Control, Surrender - Intro to Zen Philosophy (Day 8)
Life doesn't always turn out how you want it to. Invisible hands play a decisive role in every outcome. And when things don't turn out how you want them to, you have to ask yourself: can I change this outcome? Even if I could, do I know what outcome is truly best for the world? If you sincerely believe you can change the world for the better, you have to try. But if you realize that you have no control over the situation, or that you don't know what the best outcome would be, the best option you have is to bow. In zen philosophy, bowing means surrendering to the moment.
Bowing is a very serious practice. You should be prepared to bow even in your last moment. [1]
When you can't surrender to the moment, you end up wanting the moment to be different than it is. When you want the moment to be different than it is, you end up frustrated and rob yourself of the ability to learn. When you can't learn, you remain stuck, and if you remain stuck, time will diminish you.
Maybe one day you’ll get sick, and you’ll think, this couldn’t have come at a worse time. I wish this sickness could have come another day, not today. Now you’re frustrated that you’re sick, so not only are you suffering from physical illness, but you’re suffering from frustration at being ill. You’re suffering twice over. Plus, whatever lesson the sickness may have to teach you, you won’t be open to, because you haven’t accepted the necessity of its presence. All knowledge is an understanding of the necessity of things.
You refuse to surrender to the moment because you believe that things should go how you expect them to go and that it would be best if they did. But you really have no idea how things should go. Your mind is too limited, too small. The laws that govern the motion of the world know how things should go best, and you didn’t design those. In Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Shunryu Suzuki described how the inability to surrender would affect you,
“When you forget all your dualistic ideas, everything becomes your teacher, and everything can be the object of worship.” [2]
The opposite is true too: when you don’t forget your dualistic ideas—when you don’t know how to surrender—nothing can teach you. You become the object of your own worship. You become egotistical, narcissistic, and grandiose.
Know this: things will not go the way you expect them to in life, and that can often be for the better, if you’re willing to see it. But to see it, you have to be willing to surrender to the moment—to bow to it.
…when you cannot do anything except bow, you should do it. This kind of conviction is necessary. Bow with this spirit and all the precepts, all the teachings are yours, and you will possess everything within your big mind. [3]
When you bow to the moment, you surrender to it. When you surrender to it, you let go of how you think it should be. When you let go of how you think it should be, you can start to learn why it had to be the way that it is. And when you see the necessity in things, the reason why they had to be that way, you find contentment and knowledge.
When you get sick, you may be frustrated at first, but then you may realize that you’ve been going too hard for too long. The sickness may have come as a way to slow you down, as a way to get you to relax and find a new, sustainable rhythm. The forced relaxation may encourage you to reflect on the current condition of your life and to make it better. When you reflect on this sickness, you may realize that it was never the setback that you initially thought it was, but rather, it was a necessary gift to help you grow and evolve.
So if you accept that things will not go how you expect them to, you can open yourself to the idea that you’re limited and may not know how things should ultimately turn out. When you open yourself to the idea that things may have to turn out differently than how you want, you can discover the reason why they have to turn out that way. And when you discover the necessity behind events, you find contentment, knowledge, and power.
(If you enjoyed this essay, subscribe to my newsletter in the comments below for more daily essays like this. This is day 8 of my intro to zen philosophy).
Happiness is Right Here, Right Now - Introduction to Zen Philosophy (Day 7)
We think to solve problems. We have problems when we believe things are not the way they should be. When we think, we revisit our pasts and project ourselves into the future. Sometimes thinking can produce the solution itself through imagination, sometimes thinking is a means to an external end.
If you try to make yourself happy through thought, you will detach from reality and create imaginal worlds in your head, which is delusion. And eventually, reality will shatter your delusion and all of the unhappiness you tried to escape from will come flooding in. If you try to make yourself happy with thought, you will be mostly unhappy until you achieve what you set out to do, and the happiness you gain from achievement is transient.
True happiness comes from accepting the present moment.
For example, think about someone you know who is always dreaming big. They always talk about all of the things that they are going to do one day—the books they'll write, the works they'll create, the businesses they'll start, the career they'll have, the person they'll marry, the type of home they'll live in, and so forth. They discover immense joy in imagining how great their life is going to be, but they never actually put the work in to build that life. The dreamer lives in thought. They find happiness in their thoughts, but that happiness prevents them from engaging with reality. And by not engaging with reality, that happiness eventually turns to sorrow, because reality doesn't line up with their fantasy.
And while a dreamer seeks happiness within thought, the achiever seeks happiness through thought. He also finds sorrow in the end. For example, the achiever obsesses about achievement and climbing the corporate ladder. Every day, they're thinking about what they need to complete next, so that they can impress their boss and get promoted. Every day is stressful, but they are motivated by what they are about to achieve. And after a year of stress and unhappiness, after months of working overtime, they finally obtain that promotion. What happens next? They're happy for a few weeks, then the happiness goes away. They get used to it. But now they have more responsibilities and mores stress than before. So they start aiming for the next promotion, thinking that it will be the one that actually makes them happier. But seeking happiness through thought only leads to sorrow and transient happiness.
The reason we get stuck living the life of a dreamer or a constant achiever is because we believe happiness can either be found in thought or through thought, but it can't. The happiness found in thought is illusory. The happiness found through thought is temporary and transient.
So the only form of lasting happiness comes from acceptance of the present moment. That's why, in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Shunryu Suzuki wrote,
"But at first it is very difficult to accept things as they are. You will be annoyed by the feeling you have in your practice...[your] practice will be concentrated on obtaining emptiness of mind. That means [you are] trying to be free from the suffering of duality." [1]
When you don't accept the way things are, you stimulate desire, which stimulates thought, which creates duality and separation from the present, which creates suffering. But when your mind is empty, when you have no desire, when you can accept things the way they are right now, you find contentment in the present, and that contentment can last as long as you choose.
For example, as opposed to the dreamer and the achiever, there is the mindful doer. Like the dreamer and the achiever, the mindful doer has goals and dreams that they want to accomplish. But unlike the dreamer and the achiever, they know how attend to and enjoy the present moment. They focus on doing their task with full presence and attention. They deliver the highest quality of work they can to the world. They focus on doing their duty and labour with the intensity of a master craftsman.
They may dream about having a spouse, a nice house, and a fancy career, but they know how let go of that dream and remain unattached to it. They know how to come back to the present moment. They may strive to complete a major project at work, but they know that achieving it will only bring a transient happiness anyways.
So they constantly return to the present moment and the task at hand. They know that being fully present is the ultimate reward. They take pride in their work and doing it with their complete body, mind, and spirit. What separates the mindful doer from the dreamer and the achiever is not that they don't think about the past or future, but they know how to detach from thought and enter the present moment at will.
So if you realize that lasting happiness won't come within thought or through thought, you can more easily enter the present moment. And if you enter the present moment, you can focus on doing the task at hand with a full presence. And if you can do the task at hand with a full presence, you can discover lasting happiness in the only place where it really exists: right here, right now. Don't forget that. Repeat it to yourself:
right here, right now,
right here, right now,
right here, right now...
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Sometimes things are harder for you than they are for other people, and this makes you feel disheartened. Why is it so easy for them and not for me? Disheartenment leads to self-pity, resignation, and it robs you of motivation to even try. Why try at something that others can do so much more easily? But the source of your disheartenment can actually be a source of pride, if you know how to look at it.
Before entering college, Student A and Student B both graduated with honours. However, Student A did it all without studying, because he was naturally gifted. Student B, on the other hand, had to work really hard to get those grades, because he was not as gifted.
When college came, Student A failed on the first round of exams, because they had no idea how to study properly. They never had to do it. But Student B did well because they were used to studying hard for exams all of high school.
Having to try harder seemed like a curse to Student B at first, but it became a super power later on. Student B felt disheartened by having to try harder than others, but by doing so, they developed industriousness and resourcefulness—the essence of a good student—while Student A did not.
Rather than being a source of shame, Student B’s relative weakness should have been viewed as a source of pride—as a call to develop a deeper nature than others.
We become disheartened when we think things should come naturally and easily to us. So when things don’t come easily, we feel that we are inferior to others. In Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Suzuki responds to this idea,
“But those who find great difficulties in practicing Zen will find more meaning in it.” [1]
If something is difficult for you to accomplish, it will also be more meaningful for you than it will be for others. But even more than that, the harder you have to try at something, the deeper your learning will be than others. As Suzuki wrote,
“We say, ‘A good father is not a good father.’ Do you understand? One who thinks he is a good father is not a good father; one who thinks he is a good husband is not a good husband. One who thinks he is one of the worst husband may be a good one if he is always trying to be a good husband with a single-hearted effort.” [2]
If you think you are good at something, you will have no desire to get better. If you think you are bad at something, your life will be harder, because you will now have to invest time and effort to improve, but because you are willing to take on the hardship, you actually get better at the thing. Ironically, the worse you think you are, the more likely you are to get better, and the harder things are for you, the more deeply you will understand them, because you had no choice but to learn.
Generally speaking: the harder things are for you, the more they will be worth it in the end.
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Some days, negative thoughts pop up like weeds in our minds, one after another. We think, Why did I say that? Why did I do that? I should have done that instead. And soon, our mind-garden is overrun with weeds. And if we don’t learn how to deal with the weeds, they’ll strangle out all of the good plants. When our minds are occupied with accusatory, regretful, and blameful thoughts, there’s no room left for helpful and empowering ones. So we have to make room by dealing with the weeds.
We view weeds as intrinsically bad, but that’s a mistake. As Shunryu Suzuki wrote in Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind,
“We pull the weeds and bury them near the plant to give it nourishment…You should be rather grateful for the weeds, because eventually they will enrich your practice.” [1]
Just as we can transform weeds into nourishment for other plants, we can transform negative thoughts into growth.
To transform negative thoughts into growth, you first have to notice them without judgment. Every thought you have arises based on your desires, and your desires arise based on the fundamental beliefs you hold about the world.
So every thought informs you about your own fundamental beliefs. Good beliefs empower you and help you build up the world around you; bad beliefs weaken you and harm the world around you. Every thought offers you the chance to understand your own deepest beliefs and perceptions about the world, and so it also gives you a chance to change them.
Letting go of bad beliefs and adopting good ones is how you take care of your mind-garden, and it all begins with awareness. Be silent. Be still. And when a thought keeps popping up like a weed, get to the root of it and pull it out. Examine the root of your thoughts. What beliefs are producing that thought? Can that belief be changed into something more positive?
For example, a person with a fixed mindset looks at talented people and thinks, People are born with certain talents, and if I don’t have them, there’s no point in trying. This fundamental belief produces thoughts of envy, resentment, and bitterness. If they developed a growth mindset and changed this belief to, I can improve myself with consistent effort., their mind would start to produce thoughts of inspiration and motivation. Your deepest beliefs, also known as your axioms, are often a personal choice.
Those who know how to observe their thoughts and get to the root of each one will learn how to purify their minds and beautify their inner garden.
“Once you understand our innate power to purify ourselves and our surroundings, you can act properly, and you will learn from those around you, and you will become friendly with others.” [2]
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Just as the spaces between words allows us to read more clearly, silence in the mind allows us to perceive more clearly, and when we perceive the world more clearly, we act more effectively.
We get upset when we can’t control our mind. We think, why can’t you just be quiet. But the mind is like a pond, thoughts are like waves, and every attempt to silence the mind is like dropping a pebble into the pond. It is the nature of the mind (pond) to produce thoughts (waves). As Suzuki said,
“Even though waves arise, the essence of your mind is pure; it is just like clear water with a few waves. Actually water always has waves. Waves are the practice of the water.” [1]
You wouldn’t thrash around in a pond and expect it to be still at the same time, yet you thrash about in your mind in an attempt to silence it. You can’t silence mind with mind. You can’t silence mind with action or force. These tactics only stimulate the production of bigger and bigger waves.
To silence your mind, you must not act. You must allow the waves of the pond to still on their own. Without any action or force, they will naturally calm down and lose power. Returning to the wisdom of Suzuki,
“You yourself make the waves in your mind. If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm. ”[2]
Take a moment today to do nothing. Be still. Be silent. Let your mind calm down. When the waters of your mind are still, you will bring a powerful awareness and freshness to whatever is occurring in front of you, and when you are present to what’s happening in front of you, you will be able to make smarter decisions, and when you make smarter decisions, you build a better future.
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In Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki, he tells us the key to gaining power over our minds. He writes,
“If you want to obtain perfect calmness in your zazen, you should not be bothered by the various images you find in your mind. Let them come, and let them go. Then they will be under control.” [1]
If you want control over your mind, don’t try to control it at all, but rather, learn to observe it without judgment. Don’t force it into any particular shape.
When you force your mind in a direction, it rebels against you. It protests even harder. For example, try not to think of a pink elephant. The more you try not to think of a pink elephant, the more likely you’ll be to think of one. When you push the mind, it pushes back. It’s like Newton’s third law: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
So if you want to calm your mind, don’t act against it. Learn to observe it without pushing it, without judging anything that arises in it. Without stimulus from you, it will quiet down on its own. The mind solves problems, so once you pose a problem to it, it begins ruminating. And if you make rumination a problem, you will get stuck in an infinite regress, ruminating about rumination.
To calm you mind, practice awareness without judgment. Observe your posture and breathing, just as we discussed in the last two newsletters.
“…to concentrate your mind on something is now the true purpose of Zen. The true purpose is to see things are they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes.” [2]
If you want to read more mini-essays like this, subscribe to my daily newsletter in the comments below. This is day 3 of my introduction to zen philosophy series.
In Day 2 of my introduction to zen philosophy, I want to discuss the dangers of absent-mindedness and the value of focusing on your breath.
Absent-minded people are aloof. They’re not attentive to the present moment. They’re usually caught up in some sort of rumination involving problem-solving and judgment. This leads to unhappiness.
For example, imagine that you run into an old friend and you say something stupid. Later on, you start ruminating on that encounter. I shouldn’t have said that, you think. I should have said this instead. When you judge the encounter as bad, you start to feel unhappy about it. And if you spend lots of time ruminating and judging things as bad in your life, you’ll start to feel unhappy about your life as a whole.
Unhappiness arises in the space between you and the present moment. In Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Shunryu Suzuki explains this perfectly:
“But when we become tired of our life we may say, ‘I shouldn’t have come to this place. It may have been better to have gone to some other place for lunch. This place is not so good.’ In your mind you create an idea of place separate from an actual time.” [1]
When you want to be somewhere other than you are, you create unhappiness. And if you have no control over your mind’s capacity to ruminate and judge, you have no control over your happiness.
To gain control over your happiness, you have to gain control over your mind, and to gain control over your mind, you must learn to bring it to the present moment at will, and to learn to bring it to the present moment at will, you can practice mediation or focusing on your breathe. As Suzuki explains,
“So when you practice zazen, your mind should be concentrated on your breathing. This kind of activity is the fundamental activity of the universal being. Without this experience, this practice, it is impossible to attain absolute freedom.” [2]
The next time you catch your mind running off into rumination, try to restrain it. Focus on your breaths in and out, and see if you can stop the rumination. See if you can restrain your mind. If you cannot bring your mind to the present moment at will—and it takes a lot of practice—you will always be a slave to it.
Those who learn to bring their mind to the present gain control over their happiness, because they can eliminate the space in which unhappiness arises.
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I’m currently reading Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki. In the first chapter, he talks about the importance of maintaining a good posture. The insight itself is simple, but the logic behind it is profound. He writes,
“The most important part is to own your own physical body. If you slump, you will lose your self. Your mind will be wandering about somewhere else; you will not be in your body. This is not the way. We must exist right here, right now…it is impossible to organize things if you yourself are not in order. When you do things in the right way, at the right time, everything else will be organized.” [1]
Suzuki emphasizes the importance of being totally present—in mind and body. He advises us to pay attention to our posture as a way to ground our minds back in our bodies.
When our minds are not grounded in our bodies, we fall into a divided state. Our body is here, but our mind is elsewhere. We create division around us when we ourselves are divided.
For example, you’re sitting at a cafe with your friend, rethinking about a conversation you had the previous night. Your friend is explaining a conflict they had at work to you, but you’re checked out. Physically you’re there, but mentally you’re reliving the last night. You don’t hear anything your friend is saying, and they sense it. They feel disconnected from you. So now your internal division has created external division.
Our minds ruminate when they’re stuck on a problem. They’re seeking the truth that they need to solve the problem. And they think they can find that truth within.
But if our minds had the truth within themselves, they would not be stuck. They would not be ruminating. The mind must look outside of itself for new truths. It must look to the present moment. The present moment contains the truth, because it’s formed by the laws that govern the world. That is why presence is important.
One of the easiest ways to become present, grounded, and unify your mind and body is to pay attention to your posture. I believe that is what Suzuki is trying to communicate.
“The state of mind that exists when you sit in the right posture is, itself, enlightenment.”[2]
This is from my daily newsletter. If you want to subscribe, link in the comments below.
Everyone has a role in the common good. We’re all meant to work together and succeed together. We’re not self-sufficient entities. We’re all crew members on the same boat. Our success in life depends on working with our crew sufficiently well so that we can all make the journey safely.
Freedom in Thought
Freedom in Thought
When You Have No Control, Surrender - Intro to Zen Philosophy (Day 8)
Life doesn't always turn out how you want it to. Invisible hands play a decisive role in every outcome. And when things don't turn out how you want them to, you have to ask yourself: can I change this outcome? Even if I could, do I know what outcome is truly best for the world? If you sincerely believe you can change the world for the better, you have to try. But if you realize that you have no control over the situation, or that you don't know what the best outcome would be, the best option you have is to bow. In zen philosophy, bowing means surrendering to the moment.
Bowing is a very serious practice. You should be prepared to bow even in your last moment. [1]
When you can't surrender to the moment, you end up wanting the moment to be different than it is. When you want the moment to be different than it is, you end up frustrated and rob yourself of the ability to learn. When you can't learn, you remain stuck, and if you remain stuck, time will diminish you.
Maybe one day you’ll get sick, and you’ll think, this couldn’t have come at a worse time. I wish this sickness could have come another day, not today. Now you’re frustrated that you’re sick, so not only are you suffering from physical illness, but you’re suffering from frustration at being ill. You’re suffering twice over. Plus, whatever lesson the sickness may have to teach you, you won’t be open to, because you haven’t accepted the necessity of its presence. All knowledge is an understanding of the necessity of things.
You refuse to surrender to the moment because you believe that things should go how you expect them to go and that it would be best if they did. But you really have no idea how things should go. Your mind is too limited, too small. The laws that govern the motion of the world know how things should go best, and you didn’t design those. In Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Shunryu Suzuki described how the inability to surrender would affect you,
“When you forget all your dualistic ideas, everything becomes your teacher, and everything can be the object of worship.” [2]
The opposite is true too: when you don’t forget your dualistic ideas—when you don’t know how to surrender—nothing can teach you. You become the object of your own worship. You become egotistical, narcissistic, and grandiose.
Know this: things will not go the way you expect them to in life, and that can often be for the better, if you’re willing to see it. But to see it, you have to be willing to surrender to the moment—to bow to it.
…when you cannot do anything except bow, you should do it. This kind of conviction is necessary. Bow with this spirit and all the precepts, all the teachings are yours, and you will possess everything within your big mind. [3]
When you bow to the moment, you surrender to it. When you surrender to it, you let go of how you think it should be. When you let go of how you think it should be, you can start to learn why it had to be the way that it is. And when you see the necessity in things, the reason why they had to be that way, you find contentment and knowledge.
When you get sick, you may be frustrated at first, but then you may realize that you’ve been going too hard for too long. The sickness may have come as a way to slow you down, as a way to get you to relax and find a new, sustainable rhythm. The forced relaxation may encourage you to reflect on the current condition of your life and to make it better. When you reflect on this sickness, you may realize that it was never the setback that you initially thought it was, but rather, it was a necessary gift to help you grow and evolve.
So if you accept that things will not go how you expect them to, you can open yourself to the idea that you’re limited and may not know how things should ultimately turn out. When you open yourself to the idea that things may have to turn out differently than how you want, you can discover the reason why they have to turn out that way. And when you discover the necessity behind events, you find contentment, knowledge, and power.
(If you enjoyed this essay, subscribe to my newsletter in the comments below for more daily essays like this. This is day 8 of my intro to zen philosophy).
[1] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ed. Trudy Dixon (Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2020), 29.
[2] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ed. Trudy Dixon (Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2020), 28.
[3] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ed. Trudy Dixon (Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2020), 29.
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Freedom in Thought
Happiness is Right Here, Right Now - Introduction to Zen Philosophy (Day 7)
We think to solve problems. We have problems when we believe things are not the way they should be. When we think, we revisit our pasts and project ourselves into the future. Sometimes thinking can produce the solution itself through imagination, sometimes thinking is a means to an external end.
If you try to make yourself happy through thought, you will detach from reality and create imaginal worlds in your head, which is delusion. And eventually, reality will shatter your delusion and all of the unhappiness you tried to escape from will come flooding in. If you try to make yourself happy with thought, you will be mostly unhappy until you achieve what you set out to do, and the happiness you gain from achievement is transient.
True happiness comes from accepting the present moment.
For example, think about someone you know who is always dreaming big. They always talk about all of the things that they are going to do one day—the books they'll write, the works they'll create, the businesses they'll start, the career they'll have, the person they'll marry, the type of home they'll live in, and so forth. They discover immense joy in imagining how great their life is going to be, but they never actually put the work in to build that life. The dreamer lives in thought. They find happiness in their thoughts, but that happiness prevents them from engaging with reality. And by not engaging with reality, that happiness eventually turns to sorrow, because reality doesn't line up with their fantasy.
And while a dreamer seeks happiness within thought, the achiever seeks happiness through thought. He also finds sorrow in the end. For example, the achiever obsesses about achievement and climbing the corporate ladder. Every day, they're thinking about what they need to complete next, so that they can impress their boss and get promoted. Every day is stressful, but they are motivated by what they are about to achieve. And after a year of stress and unhappiness, after months of working overtime, they finally obtain that promotion. What happens next? They're happy for a few weeks, then the happiness goes away. They get used to it. But now they have more responsibilities and mores stress than before. So they start aiming for the next promotion, thinking that it will be the one that actually makes them happier. But seeking happiness through thought only leads to sorrow and transient happiness.
The reason we get stuck living the life of a dreamer or a constant achiever is because we believe happiness can either be found in thought or through thought, but it can't. The happiness found in thought is illusory. The happiness found through thought is temporary and transient.
So the only form of lasting happiness comes from acceptance of the present moment. That's why, in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Shunryu Suzuki wrote,
"But at first it is very difficult to accept things as they are. You will be annoyed by the feeling you have in your practice...[your] practice will be concentrated on obtaining emptiness of mind. That means [you are] trying to be free from the suffering of duality." [1]
When you don't accept the way things are, you stimulate desire, which stimulates thought, which creates duality and separation from the present, which creates suffering. But when your mind is empty, when you have no desire, when you can accept things the way they are right now, you find contentment in the present, and that contentment can last as long as you choose.
For example, as opposed to the dreamer and the achiever, there is the mindful doer. Like the dreamer and the achiever, the mindful doer has goals and dreams that they want to accomplish. But unlike the dreamer and the achiever, they know how attend to and enjoy the present moment. They focus on doing their task with full presence and attention. They deliver the highest quality of work they can to the world. They focus on doing their duty and labour with the intensity of a master craftsman.
They may dream about having a spouse, a nice house, and a fancy career, but they know how let go of that dream and remain unattached to it. They know how to come back to the present moment. They may strive to complete a major project at work, but they know that achieving it will only bring a transient happiness anyways.
So they constantly return to the present moment and the task at hand. They know that being fully present is the ultimate reward. They take pride in their work and doing it with their complete body, mind, and spirit. What separates the mindful doer from the dreamer and the achiever is not that they don't think about the past or future, but they know how to detach from thought and enter the present moment at will.
So if you realize that lasting happiness won't come within thought or through thought, you can more easily enter the present moment. And if you enter the present moment, you can focus on doing the task at hand with a full presence. And if you can do the task at hand with a full presence, you can discover lasting happiness in the only place where it really exists: right here, right now. Don't forget that. Repeat it to yourself:
right here, right now,
right here, right now,
right here, right now...
(If you like this post, get daily essays like this in my newsletter. It's linked in the comments below.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ed. Trudy Dixon (Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2020), 26, 27.
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Freedom in Thought
The Harder It Is, The More It’s Worth It
Sometimes things are harder for you than they are for other people, and this makes you feel disheartened. Why is it so easy for them and not for me? Disheartenment leads to self-pity, resignation, and it robs you of motivation to even try. Why try at something that others can do so much more easily? But the source of your disheartenment can actually be a source of pride, if you know how to look at it.
Before entering college, Student A and Student B both graduated with honours. However, Student A did it all without studying, because he was naturally gifted. Student B, on the other hand, had to work really hard to get those grades, because he was not as gifted.
When college came, Student A failed on the first round of exams, because they had no idea how to study properly. They never had to do it. But Student B did well because they were used to studying hard for exams all of high school.
Having to try harder seemed like a curse to Student B at first, but it became a super power later on. Student B felt disheartened by having to try harder than others, but by doing so, they developed industriousness and resourcefulness—the essence of a good student—while Student A did not.
Rather than being a source of shame, Student B’s relative weakness should have been viewed as a source of pride—as a call to develop a deeper nature than others.
We become disheartened when we think things should come naturally and easily to us. So when things don’t come easily, we feel that we are inferior to others. In Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Suzuki responds to this idea,
“But those who find great difficulties in practicing Zen will find more meaning in it.” [1]
If something is difficult for you to accomplish, it will also be more meaningful for you than it will be for others.
But even more than that, the harder you have to try at something, the deeper your learning will be than others. As Suzuki wrote,
“We say, ‘A good father is not a good father.’ Do you understand? One who thinks he is a good father is not a good father; one who thinks he is a good husband is not a good husband. One who thinks he is one of the worst husband may be a good one if he is always trying to be a good husband with a single-hearted effort.” [2]
If you think you are good at something, you will have no desire to get better. If you think you are bad at something, your life will be harder, because you will now have to invest time and effort to improve, but because you are willing to take on the hardship, you actually get better at the thing. Ironically, the worse you think you are, the more likely you are to get better, and the harder things are for you, the more deeply you will understand them, because you had no choice but to learn.
Generally speaking: the harder things are for you, the more they will be worth it in the end.
If you like this essay, subscribe to my newsletter in the comments for more daily essays like this. This is Day 6 of my introduction to zen philosophy.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ed. Trudy Dixon (Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2020), 22.
[2] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ed. Trudy Dixon (Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2020), 23.
3 months ago | [YT] | 474
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Freedom in Thought
There Are No Bad Thoughts
Some days, negative thoughts pop up like weeds in our minds, one after another. We think, Why did I say that? Why did I do that? I should have done that instead. And soon, our mind-garden is overrun with weeds. And if we don’t learn how to deal with the weeds, they’ll strangle out all of the good plants. When our minds are occupied with accusatory, regretful, and blameful thoughts, there’s no room left for helpful and empowering ones. So we have to make room by dealing with the weeds.
We view weeds as intrinsically bad, but that’s a mistake. As Shunryu Suzuki wrote in Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind,
“We pull the weeds and bury them near the plant to give it nourishment…You should be rather grateful for the weeds, because eventually they will enrich your practice.” [1]
Just as we can transform weeds into nourishment for other plants, we can transform negative thoughts into growth.
To transform negative thoughts into growth, you first have to notice them without judgment. Every thought you have arises based on your desires, and your desires arise based on the fundamental beliefs you hold about the world.
So every thought informs you about your own fundamental beliefs. Good beliefs empower you and help you build up the world around you; bad beliefs weaken you and harm the world around you. Every thought offers you the chance to understand your own deepest beliefs and perceptions about the world, and so it also gives you a chance to change them.
Letting go of bad beliefs and adopting good ones is how you take care of your mind-garden, and it all begins with awareness. Be silent. Be still. And when a thought keeps popping up like a weed, get to the root of it and pull it out. Examine the root of your thoughts. What beliefs are producing that thought? Can that belief be changed into something more positive?
For example, a person with a fixed mindset looks at talented people and thinks, People are born with certain talents, and if I don’t have them, there’s no point in trying. This fundamental belief produces thoughts of envy, resentment, and bitterness. If they developed a growth mindset and changed this belief to, I can improve myself with consistent effort., their mind would start to produce thoughts of inspiration and motivation. Your deepest beliefs, also known as your axioms, are often a personal choice.
Those who know how to observe their thoughts and get to the root of each one will learn how to purify their minds and beautify their inner garden.
“Once you understand our innate power to purify ourselves and our surroundings, you can act properly, and you will learn from those around you, and you will become friendly with others.” [2]
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[1] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ed. Trudy Dixon (Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2020), 20.
[2] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ed. Trudy Dixon (Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2020), 21.
3 months ago | [YT] | 318
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Freedom in Thought
The Power of Doing Nothing
Just as the spaces between words allows us to read more clearly, silence in the mind allows us to perceive more clearly, and when we perceive the world more clearly, we act more effectively.
We get upset when we can’t control our mind. We think, why can’t you just be quiet. But the mind is like a pond, thoughts are like waves, and every attempt to silence the mind is like dropping a pebble into the pond. It is the nature of the mind (pond) to produce thoughts (waves). As Suzuki said,
“Even though waves arise, the essence of your mind is pure; it is just like clear water with a few waves. Actually water always has waves. Waves are the practice of the water.” [1]
You wouldn’t thrash around in a pond and expect it to be still at the same time, yet you thrash about in your mind in an attempt to silence it. You can’t silence mind with mind. You can’t silence mind with action or force. These tactics only stimulate the production of bigger and bigger waves.
To silence your mind, you must not act. You must allow the waves of the pond to still on their own. Without any action or force, they will naturally calm down and lose power. Returning to the wisdom of Suzuki,
“You yourself make the waves in your mind. If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm. ”[2]
Take a moment today to do nothing. Be still. Be silent. Let your mind calm down. When the waters of your mind are still, you will bring a powerful awareness and freshness to whatever is occurring in front of you, and when you are present to what’s happening in front of you, you will be able to make smarter decisions, and when you make smarter decisions, you build a better future.
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[1] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ed. Trudy Dixon (Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2020), 19.
[2] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ed. Trudy Dixon (Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2020), 18.
3 months ago | [YT] | 610
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Freedom in Thought
In Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki, he tells us the key to gaining power over our minds. He writes,
“If you want to obtain perfect calmness in your zazen, you should not be bothered by the various images you find in your mind. Let them come, and let them go. Then they will be under control.” [1]
If you want control over your mind, don’t try to control it at all, but rather, learn to observe it without judgment. Don’t force it into any particular shape.
When you force your mind in a direction, it rebels against you. It protests even harder. For example, try not to think of a pink elephant. The more you try not to think of a pink elephant, the more likely you’ll be to think of one. When you push the mind, it pushes back. It’s like Newton’s third law: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
So if you want to calm your mind, don’t act against it. Learn to observe it without pushing it, without judging anything that arises in it. Without stimulus from you, it will quiet down on its own. The mind solves problems, so once you pose a problem to it, it begins ruminating. And if you make rumination a problem, you will get stuck in an infinite regress, ruminating about rumination.
To calm you mind, practice awareness without judgment. Observe your posture and breathing, just as we discussed in the last two newsletters.
“…to concentrate your mind on something is now the true purpose of Zen. The true purpose is to see things are they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes.” [2]
If you want to read more mini-essays like this, subscribe to my daily newsletter in the comments below. This is day 3 of my introduction to zen philosophy series.

[1] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ed. Trudy Dixon (Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2020), 15.
[2] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ed. Trudy Dixon (Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2020), 16.
3 months ago | [YT] | 316
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Freedom in Thought
CLOSING THE SPACE WHERE UNHAPPINESS ARISES
In Day 2 of my introduction to zen philosophy, I want to discuss the dangers of absent-mindedness and the value of focusing on your breath.
Absent-minded people are aloof. They’re not attentive to the present moment. They’re usually caught up in some sort of rumination involving problem-solving and judgment. This leads to unhappiness.
For example, imagine that you run into an old friend and you say something stupid. Later on, you start ruminating on that encounter. I shouldn’t have said that, you think. I should have said this instead. When you judge the encounter as bad, you start to feel unhappy about it. And if you spend lots of time ruminating and judging things as bad in your life, you’ll start to feel unhappy about your life as a whole.
Unhappiness arises in the space between you and the present moment. In Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Shunryu Suzuki explains this perfectly:
“But when we become tired of our life we may say, ‘I shouldn’t have come to this place. It may have been better to have gone to some other place for lunch. This place is not so good.’ In your mind you create an idea of place separate from an actual time.” [1]
When you want to be somewhere other than you are, you create unhappiness. And if you have no control over your mind’s capacity to ruminate and judge, you have no control over your happiness.
To gain control over your happiness, you have to gain control over your mind, and to gain control over your mind, you must learn to bring it to the present moment at will, and to learn to bring it to the present moment at will, you can practice mediation or focusing on your breathe. As Suzuki explains,
“So when you practice zazen, your mind should be concentrated on your breathing. This kind of activity is the fundamental activity of the universal being. Without this experience, this practice, it is impossible to attain absolute freedom.” [2]
The next time you catch your mind running off into rumination, try to restrain it. Focus on your breaths in and out, and see if you can stop the rumination. See if you can restrain your mind. If you cannot bring your mind to the present moment at will—and it takes a lot of practice—you will always be a slave to it.
Those who learn to bring their mind to the present gain control over their happiness, because they can eliminate the space in which unhappiness arises.
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SOURCES:
[1] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ed. Trudy Dixon (Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2020), 13.
[2] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ed. Trudy Dixon (Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2020), 14.
4 months ago | [YT] | 228
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Freedom in Thought
I’m currently reading Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki. In the first chapter, he talks about the importance of maintaining a good posture. The insight itself is simple, but the logic behind it is profound. He writes,
“The most important part is to own your own physical body. If you slump, you will lose your self. Your mind will be wandering about somewhere else; you will not be in your body. This is not the way. We must exist right here, right now…it is impossible to organize things if you yourself are not in order. When you do things in the right way, at the right time, everything else will be organized.” [1]
Suzuki emphasizes the importance of being totally present—in mind and body. He advises us to pay attention to our posture as a way to ground our minds back in our bodies.
When our minds are not grounded in our bodies, we fall into a divided state. Our body is here, but our mind is elsewhere. We create division around us when we ourselves are divided.
For example, you’re sitting at a cafe with your friend, rethinking about a conversation you had the previous night. Your friend is explaining a conflict they had at work to you, but you’re checked out. Physically you’re there, but mentally you’re reliving the last night. You don’t hear anything your friend is saying, and they sense it. They feel disconnected from you. So now your internal division has created external division.
Our minds ruminate when they’re stuck on a problem. They’re seeking the truth that they need to solve the problem. And they think they can find that truth within.
But if our minds had the truth within themselves, they would not be stuck. They would not be ruminating. The mind must look outside of itself for new truths. It must look to the present moment. The present moment contains the truth, because it’s formed by the laws that govern the world. That is why presence is important.
One of the easiest ways to become present, grounded, and unify your mind and body is to pay attention to your posture. I believe that is what Suzuki is trying to communicate.
“The state of mind that exists when you sit in the right posture is, itself, enlightenment.”[2]
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[1] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ed. Trudy Dixon (Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2020), 10.
[2] Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, ed. Trudy Dixon (Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2020), 11.
4 months ago | [YT] | 328
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Freedom in Thought
Socrates: we should fear nothing more than living dishonourably.
4 months ago | [YT] | 402
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Freedom in Thought
Everyone has a role in the common good. We’re all meant to work together and succeed together. We’re not self-sufficient entities. We’re all crew members on the same boat. Our success in life depends on working with our crew sufficiently well so that we can all make the journey safely.
4 months ago | [YT] | 94
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