Is there more to zen than sitting?
(Kim Mosley)

Kim Mosley

The word zen means sitting. But what is sitting? Paying attention. As you pay attention you see suffering, among yourself and others … and you feel compassion for those suffering, so you have to deal with that. If you sat once a day and thought that was all there was to it, then you'd be missing the big part … the part of sitting while you are doing the rest of their life. Being present when you are with others. Being present when you are with oneself.

Zen people like to answer questions “yes and no.” Since ”the past no longer is” and ”the future has not yet come” all you have is the present. And when you sit you are there, in the present. And you learn from that laboratory to be present in more stimulated environments (though actually nothing is more stimulating than quiet because you can hear a pin drop and feel a fleeting thought touch your heart).

I'm sure I could write the rest of my life about this, without lifting my fingers from the keyboard … and I really don't know anything about it. I guess my best answer for now, since I have to still make a drawing and pack bags for a trip tomorrow is this: yes, there is more … and the more is everything else … and no, sitting is really, in the broadest sense, everything that we do and are. When you are awake, you are sitting … in the sense that sitting means awake, noticing, feeling, touching, accepting.

XO A Beginner.

About Kim Mosley 

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