Zen Student: Remember to Live in the Present Moment - Mindfulness Meditation Guide for Americans | Perfect for Daily Stress Relief & Personal Growth

This is a follow up to Hardy's Zen Master: Practical Zen by an American for Americans, and a prequel to his forthcoming book for advanced Zen students. In keeping with the wisdom that is Zen, and in keeping with the "advance" from Zen Master to Zen Student that this book represents, perhaps Hardy's third book ought to be called something like "No Zen."It is written (superfluously, of course) that you cannot learn Zen from reading, and that there is no path, no Zen master, no dogmas, etc., and if you should meet the Buddha by the side of the road, you should slay him. Hardy acknowledges this truth, and then goes on to write another Zen book anyway. Why?The answer perhaps is the same as the answer to the question, Why would I or anyone read another Zen book? Because it's interesting. Because, at bottom, one does not really believe that nothing can be learned about Zen from reading, any more than nothing can be learned about Zen from a Zen master or from attending a Zen retreat. The finger really does point to the moon, even if what we are really looking for is the sun, whose reflection is all we can ever hope to see in the night.Hardy, then, demonstrates the contrary of what Zen proclaims. But I think he is correct. Deep into Zen one realizes that it is only a convention--an exaggeration with a point, if you will--to say that nothing can be learned from anything other than first-hand experience. After all, why should Zen have such a storied history? Why should we care what the Masters said oh so many years ago? Indeed, why should we care in the slightest what the Buddha himself said if we cannot learn something from his words and practices?This insistence on first-hand, be-here-now, mindful experience in Zen is nonetheless correct, and the reason for the exaggeration. Take the weight of a thousand books on Zen and compare that with the weight of one instant of enlightenment, and ask yourself, which is the heavier?Hardy gives a nice example of this experience--a transmission of enlightenment, perhaps--when he writes, "Each life actually had its beginning at the very outset of the universe. At that time, all the conditions necessary for the eventual birth of all of us were in place, and they were maintained over long periods of time so that eventually we were born. Then, after we die, all of the consequences of all of our actions play themselves out in infinite complexity across all of the remaining time. Thus, we do not come into existence at birth and we do not cease to exist at death." (p. 138)This is as beautiful an expression of the interconnectedness of life and matter and energy as I have ever read. It is also a statement about time and timelessness and how the moment and eternity are the same.Which brings me to a nice distinction that Hardy makes between "living for the moment" and "living in the moment." Living for the moment, Hardy writes, "is to seek immediate gratification heedless of any negative consequences one's actions may have..." But, "When one pays very close attention to what is happening in each passing moment [living in the moment], one is never heedless of the consequences of one's actions." (p. 35) This understanding is similar to the idea of karma yoga in the Bhagavad Gita, in which we are advised to find freedom through the non-attached performance of our duties without expectation, without seeking reward.I also like Hardy's expression about the need for compassion (one of the tenets of Buddhism) when one sees self-defeating actions in others: "It must suffice for us to be as compassionate as possible, and remember that we, too, have been and are similarly engaged in self destructive behavior about which we are deluding ourselves." (p. 36)There are some ideas and interpretations that Hardy advances that I disagree with or find somewhat off the mark. For example, when considering what "non-attachment" means, he writes that Zen "will decidedly NOT take away...[your] love relationships..." (p. 84) He believes Zen will enhance these relationships. However, what "non-attachment" is about is experiencing these relationships and every other connection with the world in a way that allows us to see them come or go or increase or wane without attachment, to experience them in emotional equilibrium.Noting that Buddhist writings and teachings about God and creation are lacking, Hardy writes that he believes the "Buddha avoided" such teachings because they "would have been redundant and discordant in his time and social context." (p. 113) Actually, the reason the Buddha did not address such questions was because they were beside the point. However one imagines God or creation, the real, concrete work for us is to conduct our day-to-day lives in a way that frees us from the unsatisfactoriness (i.e., "suffering") of human experience.Perhaps the most penetrating and valuable insight that Hardy offers is to be found on page 101 where he is advising the student on meditation (zazen) and Satori. He writes, "Satori exists even though you do not notice it at the time. In fact, when/if you do notice you have experienced Satori, you are no longer experiencing it. It is impossible to be thinking about Satori and be experiencing it at the same time." This is the old "catch-22" of meditation. As a yoga teacher once expressed it, "Thought-formation impedes the flow of samadhi." This is one reason "no-mind" is considered important in Zen, and why being here now and not thinking about anything (just sitting) is essential to the meditative experience.All in all this is an excellent introduction to Zen written by a wise and experience Zen practitioner that is agreeable, informative and very American, and as such is a welcome addition to the literature.