So, Zazen.

The late John Daido Loori Roshi was the abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery in New York.

Here is his very clear explanation of zazen, the zen meditation practice which I rarely do because I'm lazy and stiff and fat and I don't like discomfort.



The word 'zen', as he points out, literally means 'meditation.' So, if you say you're doing zen but you don't have a meditation practice, it's like saying you're a swimmer but you don't get in the water.

I don't have a meditation practice, so I don't know what I am. Not zen, certainly.

I'm not sure what I would get from a meditation practice. I don't feel like I'm lacking much in that regard. Zen has an answer for this, which goes along the line of, "You don't do it to 'get something from it', you do it because you do it."

Well, that doesn't help me much. Sorry. I could say the same thing about biting my nails or scratching my ass.