Doing something to get something.
Leave to get somewhere.
Act to get a result.
Isn’t that how we orient most of our actions?
Is there another way? Does it make sense to do otherwise?
Yes. Yes.
In this video, Zen master Shohaku Okumura explains to us that meditation is precisely that: a practice without a goal.
Something you do for what it is, not for what you hope to achieve. It is in this perspective that Zazen is understood, the main practice of Zen Buddhism
Can we apply this process to other parts of our lives?
When we feel a genuine desire to help someone, isn’t the absence of concern for a reward that gives that action a special flavor?
Does the pleasure of hugging someone we care about depend on an outcome?
Do we really need something more than what is already present here and now to appreciate the beauty of this moment?