Zen Teachings: Part Two

One of the very first of the basic Zen teachings is that the root of suffering is in our minds. This suffering is caused by several factors that I will lit below for you. (This list is complete in any way, but will get you started)

The first, concept is that we are born beautiful, innocent and perfect. We are born with the gift of perfect serenity and we are fully alive at this time, untouched and undamaged. Have you ever seen a baby with low self-esteem? We are wounded and taught this later. A baby never has a sense that they are somehow defective, lacking or not good enough, they are later taught these things. A baby does not feel guilty or bad, we are taught these things. A baby is free and fully expresses themselves. They are never timid, shy or self-conscious, we are taught these things later. The old quote “Born to succeed, programmed to fail” sums up this teaching for me (although it’s a little more complicated than that). Through most of our lives we are taught to feel bad about ourselves, restrict ourselves, feel we are somehow not enough, and we become neurotic, injured and lost in this painful and hurtful process.

After years of these teachings and psychic wounds, we become highly programmed and damaged. Our beliefs, misconceptions and urges set us on a path that will easily lead us to disaster, and then we sit in wonder why we “didn’t make it” and we will feel as if we have failed and are lost.

These beliefs come from many sources, parents, teachers, siblings, friends, coworkers, the media, the list goes on and on. And in our pain and confusion, we ourselves regularly create false beliefs born of our own misguided thought processes. Any belief that is false, but you accept as true, will hurt you over the course of your life and will likely spread to multiple areas of your life. Can you think of a negative belief you hold right now that is hurting you? How does it hurt you? And how does it feel? Now think of a negative belief in your life you have let go of? Do you remember how freeing and life-changing that was? Zen, in large part, is the letting go of old negative and limiting beliefs (Enlightenment imply means to “lighten.” We lighten by what you get rid of) and the accumulating of new, truthful and empowering beliefs. One part of Zen is simply becoming more accurate in how we see life and more self-directed (rather than other-directed). Zen is a way to see truths that free us of our old negative programming and replaces these false beliefs with joyous truths.

By: Paul Cline (For more FREE articles & resources go to: www.AdvancedTrainingSeminars.com)