zen philosophy

Zen is often said to be a philosophy of life. It certainly can be about how we live our lives. But zen is more than a just a philosophy, it's as much about our mind; but it's not about how we think or what we think about; it's about being mindful of everything we do. So, it's more about the doing of things, and to experience our lives.

Experience our lives every moment of every day.

So how do we do this?

At Kanzeonji we just sit. Somehow in just sitting everything else becomes quite clear. I can't tell you how this happens, only that it does. It has been like this and taught like this for thousands of years. Time after time...again and again.

But people don't always just sit. So, we give them something to do. First watch our breath naturally in and out...from there our center becomes known to us. On the in breath our spine stands up and we sit upright. Relax now, on the out breath, vertebra upon vertebra...and just sit. Then stand up on the in breath the same way, living our life breath by breath, heart beat by heart beat, in an upright manner.