Zen Buddhism cannot be understood by going to a Zen center, doing zazen, wearing robes, participating in various rituals or taking Jukai (the taking of Buddhist precepts). Flying to China won’t help either. Going to China may well prove very exciting and interesting. But that is all. We need to understand that the Buddha Mind we hope to realize is not just limited to China or to a Buddhist temple.

Buying a lot of Zen books won’t help us either. Even the best ones will not help us to begin our journey without profound reflection on our part. We have to comprehend that Zen is a mystical journey whereby we will awaken to the very same effulgent, pure Mind that Siddhartha awoke to. Just as we look into the sky and night and realize that the Buddha looked at the same moon, when we behold the pure Mind, it will be the very same Mind he realized.

This sounds rather daunting—almost impossible to accomplish. But let me assure you that while it is a challenge, (and you will be challenged) it is not impossible to achieve. You just have to allow yourself to adapt to Buddhism. It is important to read and study Buddhism and Zen Buddhism with a very open and accepting mind. When you are starting out (believe me) you have no idea just how much pure Mind plays into all that you read and study. By reading and studying, Buddhist thinking enters your head while at the same time, out goes your worldly thinking. This is a good thing. It is like learning a new language.

As we might expect, somebody might say that everything I just said is fundamentally wrong. They could use some FUD (Fear Uncertainty Doubt) on you. But if you have really read and studied Buddhist Sutras and read classical Zen works, you will not fail to see that the more you look within where your thoughts and fears are flying around, something there is like Mumon’s gateless gate. It opens to the transcendent, a profound seeing which reveals our true nature or Mind. It is essentially pure and unmoving. It is immaterial; free from every determination. It is really who we have always been but could never recognize our real self. The reason for this is that we had the bad habit of clinging to what we were not. Then we went in the opposite direction by claiming we didn’t exist.

All in all, we mistook a thief for our son or claimed that we had no son. But by seeing our true self-nature (svabhâva), samsara has ended for us. This is also the meaning of dhyâna because wrong thinking for us as also stopped (nirodha). To be sure, we continue to marvel upon this intangible substance which is immaculate. We are now able to enter into countless samâdhis with this original nature. Overtime, we naturally withdraw our mind from the illusory world that we once believed was real.