Everything we do, we then know how to do. We either do it or we don't.

 In Zen we wish to live reality as it is. To live our lives as they really are. The basis of Zen is zazen (seated meditation). We either do it or we don't. But this is not enough to make the practice whole; we must then take what is found in zazen into our daily lives, so that the separations disappear. Reality is not two, we say.

 When born, we are simply part of the universe, though we do not recognize that we are, nor that we are also separate; but we quickly learn we are separate. This illusion of separateness grows so strong we often forget we are interlinked. We forget just how much our lives are interwoven, conjoined, and interlaced.

 Our first glimpse is usually to drop the veil of illusion that separates us and we see that all is one. All is one, can be such a profound experience... such a blissful state that we attach to it even more strongly. Many get stuck here, thinking they see everything clearly. But each time reality reminds us we are still individuals too, we have suffering from this constant disillusionment. We either ignore this and continue to think there is clarity, or we seek, or we let go.

 In Zen we say Reality is not two, but we also remind ourselves that it is not one either. Neither two nor one... the many in the one. Nothing exists by itself. In Zen we call this dependent origination (Engi). Engi leads us to the realization that everything is interdependent.

 Once we experience this link with all, we also easily notice the movement and change that is constantly taking place as everything adjusts to everything else, constantly moving each other around. In Zen we neither move anything else, nor are we moved, but we flow and stay as needed as is prescribed by reality as it is. It is not something we choose, nor is it chosen for us... it simply is. Living in this precise manner is Zen. With the combination of Engi (interconnectedness), and Mujo (change) cause and effect take on new meaning. Everything we do changes everything else, because it's all intertwined, it's all interlinked.

Every vibration along the web of life created by our individual and collective thoughts, words, and deeds has an affect on everything else. Zen is taking our zazen into our daily lives. Shikantaza is the basis of zazen. Shikantaza is just precisely sitting. Zen living then, is when just precisely sitting becomes just precisely living.