What is Zen to you?

There has been a lot of talk here, ironically at Casa Zen, about what Zen means. What does it feel like, look like, taste like, dream like…most importantly, how do I fall into a state of Zen and when do I know I am there. The answer is…only you will be able to determine that. To some ppl, Zen is a state of bliss. Others, a feeling they have when they are able to enter a different state of being through some sort of self hypnosis like yoga. Some say that Zen is for some – a state of mind they enter when they come home from a busy day at work and just collapse in front of a TV on the couch. As someone wrote in the Casa Zen guest book, "zen is somewhere in the middle of nowhere that bounds peace with adventure; a house where shoes and shirts are not required; without fear of death; property that you find with open air and un-contained dreams”. This entry provoked the question within me.

Zen is a state of ultimate comfort within oneself and relaxation in your surroundings. This relaxation can be active or passive – ones mental state is ´key´. In this state, ones mind is active and awareness is heightened. Comfort with oneself and relaxation is important because in that state, a persons muscles can relax and any self conscious mass that blocks confident and clear thoughts to process, is broken down. >Simply as this: when ones is not concerned with mundane details such as the way they look, what they are going to say, etc, they open their minds to a natural state of being where those concerns do not matter and actions are self determined. In this, one begins to act freely without constraints. This is Zen – when you listen to those urges in your stomach and that passion that flows through your blood to your limbs. Sitting on my board in the ocean, watching the sunset – a feeling that is only shared with the few out there with you – the feeling you get in that perfect moment when you are put at a test with nature, and catch a wave, then look behind you at the beautiful sunset, that makes you want to scream with energy (I am getting shivers)…this is Zen. Zen is something that I have heard a lot of surfers talk about. Being at one with nature, subject to whatever wave the ocean sends your way, sitting on the horizon between the ocean floor and the sky…truthfully – no words can describe. Only that feeling I described before – the energy that fills your limbs, can explain. And when you can share that state of Zen with someone else, your body will remember it forever.

In any case, ones experience of Zen can happen in all different ways and as many times a day can give you. As anonymous wrote in the Casa Zen log, “these are hard times to find Zen in a world of ancient turmoil, and everyday stresses – so when you find that feeling – remember it…it will come your way again”.