know, which is NOTHING.

By the time you finish

reading this book, nothing will have changed, yet

everything will be different. What will have changed is

nothingness itself.

A harsh New Jersey winter inspired me to write this

book. One day I was driving through a heavy snow. I

noticed a sharp bend in the road approaching. I slammed

on the brakes, and let go of the wheel. I closed my eyes,

then took a deep breath and raised my hands in the air.

The uncontrollable swerve of my car threw my body

from side to side. The cold air stung my face. The

sound of the engine mixed with the wind. In that

moment, the fear of death did not haunt me. I felt the

thrill of being alive and not knowing what the next

second would bring. At precisely this moment, my car

straightened itself out. I placed my hands back on the

wheel and continued on my way.

What does any of this have to do with Zen? Everything

and nothing. The Diamond Sutra says, “The Buddha

declares that all these molecules are not really such; they

are called ‘molecules’; furthermore, the Buddha declaresthat the world is not really a world; it is merely
called a

world.”

What is Zen? Some teachers will say Zen is the practice

of understanding yourself, while others will give the

literal definition of Zen, which is meditation. My opinion

is that Zen is the art of living; it requires finesse,

skillfulness, mindfulness, and more. It is like driving on

ice, fearlessly; it is letting go of the wheel and embracing

the moment. It is full awareness and acceptance—a state

beyond mortality. When the Zen Master lets go of the

wheel, he is not throwing up his hands for fate to take

over. He is using right perception, right concentration,

right mindfulness, and right action to know when to let

go and when to take the wheel back. The master of Zen

knows everything because he knows nothing. He has

transcended intellectual knowledge. He has risen above

the world of dualities.

Do you think the Zen master learned his skills by simply

sitting on a meditation cushion? We learn Zen by

engaging life. The first time I attended a Zen Sangha, the

Dharma teacher said, “When you see a skunk, run.” It’s

that simple. There is no thought involved. Most of us are

practicing Zen without realizing it. We react to situations

all day long without thinking about them. Zen is not

some far remote transcendental state of bliss; it is getting

our hands dirty with the grime of everyday life. Life isfine the way it is; we cannot escape it, and there is
no

retreat. Life is temporary. Embrace it, savor it, and

experience it to the fullest.

In this moment, everything is perfect as it is. In this

moment, I am breathing in and out, with a stomach filled

with muffins, drinking my tea in front of my computer.

When you search for Zen, you will not find it. When you

try to be Zen, you are no longer Zen. When you try to

grasp Zen, there is nothing there.

What is the sound of Zen? Whatever you are hearing.

Chapter Two:

No Pain, No Gain

The day I wake up feeling no pain is the day I know I

am in trouble. Why? Because it probably means I am

dead. I savor every second that I trudge my way

through this life of pain and agony. From the time I

awake, I enjoy the ache in my bones, the sting of bitter

cold hitting my face, and even the burning sensation

when I urinate. Then I go to work, where I am degraded

by boss and customer alike. By the end of the day my

mind is strained and numb, and my body is tired and

hungry. I go home and my wife asks me to go grocery

shopping. The Buddha was right when he said, “Life is

suffering.”

The foundations of the Buddha’s teaching are the Four

Noble Truths. Truth number one: life entails suffering.

This does not mean that life is ONLY suffering.

However, it does mean if you are alive you are going to

experience pain. He determined that the cause of all

suffering is in our minds, and primarily caused by

ignorance and craving. Can you believe that the Buddha

is calling you ignorant? You’re no fool. On the other

hand, are you? Most of life is based on getting what we

want and escaping what we don’t want. This is theignorance and craving that the Buddha spoke of. It’s
not

mysticism, just plain common sense.

The harder we try to end suffering, the more we create

it. Much like a wrestling match in a barbed wired ring.

When the wrestler is tangled in the barbed wire, the

harder he fights to escape, the more he grows entangled,

and the more he bleeds.

And yet the match itself is only a show, not real.

Liberation from suffering is knowing that life is just a

show broadcast by the Mind. Ignorance believes the

show is real. Liberation is being able to sit back and

enjoy the show for what it really is—a show, nothing

more.

But the big question is: how do we get there? Here is my

personal story that may shine a light on this deep

mystery. Many eons ago, I was a dramatic young man

trying to survive, and not doing a very good job of it. I

was married for seven years until one day my wife

walked out of my life. I was forced to move back in

with my parents. My heart was broken. The world was

filled with darkness and despair. My life was over. I felt

only sorrow and misery. I was certain I would never feel

happiness again. I wrote poems about heartache and

death. I played songs that could make Johnny Cash cry

in his beer. The sky was dark, the earth was dead, andthis world became a sea of pain. Life wasn’t fair,
and

nothing ever went my way. I hated everything and

wanted to die.

Then one evening I was with my friend Ted playing the

blues on guitar. We were taking a break to smoke and eat

pizza. I was whining about my wife again. Ted looked at

me and said, “Embrace the pain. Allow it to wash over

you. Let it engulf you. Drown yourself in it. The pain

makes great music, and you'll be able to let it go.”

Later that night, I took Ted’s advice. Sitting in my room

alone, I took a deep breath and allowed the pain to wash

over me. The following day, the sun was bright and I

felt alive again, ready to take on the world—at least for

that moment, anyway.

I knew nothing about Buddhism back then, and yet I

was doing exactly what the Buddha had done over two

thousand years ago. And the results followed. The

Buddha sought to find a cure for his suffering, and after

years of ascetic practices he gave up and sat under the

Bodhi tree. There he embraced everything just as it is

and realized the truth, which we call Dharma. My

realization was small compared to the Buddha’s.

However, the process was the same.

Be still, watch the mind, and let go.

The Four Noble truths the Buddha laid down as thefoundation of all his teaching are:

1. Life has dukkha (suffering and dis-ease).

2. There is a cause for dukkha (ignorance and craving).

3. There is a path out of Dukkha.

4. The path out of suffering is the Eightfold Path.

Chapter Three:

Live Free or Die

You awaken in a dark dungeon. As your eyes grow more

focused, you see a giant serpent slithering towards you,

its deadly fangs dripping with poison. It is hungry, ready

to attack. Your heart beats rapidly. Your breathing

becomes short and fast. Just as it gathers itself to strike,

the door opens slightly, and a shaft of light reveals that in

fact you have only accidentally locked yourself in a tool

shed, and the serpent is only a garden hose. As human

beings, we are always mistaking garden hoses for

snakes.

The Eightfold Path is the key that opens the door to

realization of the truth. The Eightfold Path is commonly

translated as right view, right intention, right speech,

right action, right livelihood, right effort, right

mindfulness, and right concentration. These steps are

meant to be viewed as a whole. For example, if you

focus only on practicing right speech, you will also need

to practice right intention and use right action, because

speaking is an action, which requires an intention.

Obviously, the path can be viewed as a guide for living.

With the wisdom it imparts, right action always yields

the right results. Once again, nothing mysterious here;the foundation the Buddha laid out is very
pragmatic.

Life has suffering, and the way out of suffering is doing

the right thing.

Right concentration. Right concentration—i.e.,

meditation—is one of the keys that can open the door. I

emphasize one key, because there is more than one key

and more than one door. How many are there? I don’t

know. Different sects of Buddhism focus on different

combinations of the eightfold path. Furthermore, there

are countless other spiritual and religious methods to

choose from. Each has its own individual door and key.

Meditating twenty minutes a day is helpful and

sometimes life-changing. A large part of this book is

dedicated to meditation. I will be covering it in more

detail later on.

Right view. Right view is seeing things the way they

really are. Perspective is important in everyday life. We

need to identify a situation or problem clearly before we

can figure out how to resolve it. It is our mind that

processes what we perceive. It uses the information

from the five senses and tries to build a reality from it

that is logical. If a person cannot perceive an object or

event, does that mean it does not exist? There is much

more to right view than just what we see, hear, touch,

taste, and smell with our five senses. We can’t see

ultraviolet light; however, it is still there. We can’t hearradio frequencies without a radio, yet they are
still all

around us. A great way to start practicing right view is

to look into the nature of things. Take, for example, a

car. It began as ore in the ground that had to be mined,

and smelted. Then an engineer had to design the car, and

a factory worker had to build it, just as boats and trucks

had to be built to ship it. A human being is another

example. For you to exist, your parents had to meet,

their parents had to meet, and so on. Stars had to

explode to create the heavy elements that make up your

body. Just look up at the stars and feel the vastness of

the universe that is you. The point is that reality is fluid,

constantly changing, and nothing exists in and of itself.

Reality appears solid to us, but it is not.

Right intention. We would all like to think our

intentions are good. Often people believe their intentions

are good, but the results are bad. Here is a good

example: my friend has a brother who is a drug addict.

He spends all of his money on drugs and then he calls

his brother for more money to pay his rent. My friend

gives him money because he doesn’t want to see his

brother homeless. However, if he uses that money to

buy more drugs and overdoses, then my friend's brother

will die, and my friend will feel guilty. Obviously, not

giving his brother the money is the correct thing to do.

However, it is also clear that giving his brother money isgenerous and good. Doing the good thing is not
always

the right thing. Zen calls the ability to distinguish

between the two upaya, which means skillful means.

Right action. Right action is the result of right intention,

which is a result of right view. This is a natural, logical

order for us to take. Perhaps right action can lead to

right intention, which can result in right view. There are

myriad ways the Eightfold Path can be used. At the first

Dharma talk I heard, my Zen teacher Andre Doshim

Halaw told this story:

“It was a dark, eerie night, the clouds loomed above in

the sky, and the moon was full. Dogs howled in the

distance, and a sense of foreboding fear gripped my

soul. I heard something rustling in the bushes. I turned

to see what it was. Suddenly, a skunk ran from behind

the bush! It stared into my eyes, and without a second

thought, I ran back into the house and closed the door.”

Right action is what you do when you see a skunk. You

don’t think; you just run.

Right speech. Right speech is simple. Be aware of how

your speech affects others. Speech is also an action; I

like to use right speech as a mindfulness practice. I try

to pay attention to every word I say, and see how it

affects others. Right action doesn’t always require

another person, but speech does. This concerns how werelate to others in our personal relationships.
Right

speech is how we interact with our wives, husbands,

children, and co-workers. Right speech can be as simple

as saying “Thank you,” “You’re welcome,” and “I love

you,” or even giving a smile. Simple gestures of

kindness can make a big difference in another person’s

life.

Right livelihood is how we interact with a community,

expanding out from personal relationships. We see the

word “livelihood” and naturally we think about our

careers. That is correct. What we do for a living has an

effect on the world and possibly beyond. Doctors,

nurses, social workers—even garbage men, gas

attendants, cashiers, and waitresses—are all practicing

right livelihood. Most of us are practicing right livelihood

simply because we are part of the human ecosystem.

Right effort is what we strive toward. I admit that I

have had problems separating effort with action. The

distinction between the two is subtle. Action is at the

present moment, whereas effort requires planning. If

you plan to become the President of the United States of

America and the leader of the free world so you can free

all people from suffering, that is right effort. If you see a

car speeding towards an old lady crossing the street and

you rush to save her without thinking about it, that is

right action. Right effort is planning a birthday party,buying a gift, and setting the alarm clock to get up
for

work.

Last comes right mindfulness, also known as

awareness. What is the difference between awareness

and perception? Before we perceive or identify

something, we first become aware of it. For example,

you’re stranded on a long desert highway. The sun’s

rays are beating down on you. You’re dehydrated,

exhausted; the sweat is pouring from your brow. The

horizon is empty for miles. A speck appears in the

distance, but you cannot tell if it is a car on its way to

your rescue or a pack of hungry coyotes coming to

feast on your flesh. It is just a speck, which is

awareness. When the speck becomes speculation, it is

delusion. When we are able to read the words “Poland

Spring Water” on the approaching truck, we have a

perception. Mindfulness or awareness is when a speck is

just a speck—nothing beyond itself. Just this as things

are right now is correct mindfulness. Guessing what

things are now or what will happen in the future, or even

dwelling on the past, are not mindfulness, but only

delusions. Remember the hose that was mistaken for a

snake?

The Eightfold Path is an examination of how we think

and act. It is not an intellectual pursuit or a moral code

of ethics. Meditation is one of the keys we use to openthe tool shed, allowing the light to shine into the
darkest

recesses of the mind, illuminating everything, resulting in

right view. Once we have right view, right speech, right

livelihood, right effort, right intention, and right action,

everything falls into place automatically, like the pieces

of a puzzle. Then we have to let go of the puzzle entirely

because there is no puzzle, and no path, and no self to

begin with. Buddhism is sometimes referred to as the

pathless path. Words are used as pointers, but they

cannot teach us that which is beyond words. The Four

Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path point the way and

relieve suffering, but they are not to be confused with

The Way. This is where Zen begins.

“The presence of words in the mouth ends. The

conditioned

deliberation of the mind vanishes. Thus is ‘like this.’ The

wordless teaching instructs one to investigate meditation

and sit

in meditation.” –The Diamond Sutra (commentary by

Hsuan Hua)

Chapter Four:

The Zen of Sasquatch

Then the Buddha asked Subhuti, "What do you think,

Subhuti—has the Buddha arrived at the highest, most

fulfilled, most awakened and enlightened mind? Does the

Buddha teach any teaching?"

Subhuti replied, "As far as I have understood the lord

Buddha's teachings, there is no independently existing

object of mind called the highest, most fulfilled,

awakened or enlightened mind. Nor is there any

independently existing teaching that the Buddha teaches.

Why? Because the teachings that the Buddha has

realized and spoken of cannot be conceived of as

separate, independent things and therefore cannot be

described. The truth in them is uncontainable and

inexpressible. It neither is, nor is it not. What does this

mean? What this means is that Buddha and the disciples

are not enlightened by a set method of teachings, but by

an internal intuitive process which is spontaneous and is

part of their own inner nature." –The Diamond Sutra

How can you know that you don’t know? If you know
what you don’t know, then you no longer don’t know.

Do you know what I am talking about? If you do, then

you have lost what Zen masters the don’t-know mind.Take everything I just talked about in the last
three

chapters and throw it all away. Don’t cling to the Four

Noble Truths or the Eightfold Path. They are pointers.

As the old Buddhist adage goes, “Do not mistake the

finger that is pointing at the moon, for the moon itself.”

Studying the Buddha’s words can take us only so far; to

understand his teachings, we need to move beyond

words, concepts, names—beyond thinking altogether. It

can only be acquired through mind-to-mind transmission

or direct perception.

Before I can go further, a brief history of Zen is

necessary. This will be the shortest summary of Zen you

will ever read. One day, the Buddha sat down to give a

Dharma talk to a great gathering of monks. However, the

Buddha did not speak; he just sat there, and the monks

waited. Finally, the Buddha held up a flower. The monks

didn’t know how to respond. A monk named

Mahakasyapa saw the flower and smiled. This was the

first mind-to-mind transmission of Dharma, and

Mahakasyapa became the first patriarch after the Buddha

passed away. Ever since then, each patriarch has had a

successor. One of the most famous is Bodhidharma,

who left India and traveled to China, where Zen

developed. He also had successors; each one received

mind-to-mind transmission. This all sounds very

mysterious—even psychedelic—like telepathy. However,mind-to-mind transmission only means that the

student

and teacher share the same understanding.

In China, a School of Zen formed. It was the Mind Only

or One Mind School. What is mind? Perhaps a better

question to ask is, what is not mind? How can you

comprehend anything that is outside of the mind’s

grasp? The answer is simple. You have to go beyond the

limits of the mind. A Zen master is able to teach things

that are beyond the grasp of the mind, because to

understand it, we need to move beyond it. As Einstein

once remarked, “You can’t solve a problem with the

same thinking that created it.” Zen exists outside

common understanding. The don’t know mind doesn’t

know, or think. It just is.

Consider the riddle of Sasquatch. People have wondered

for generations whether Bigfoot exists. We have

sightings, we have tracks, and we have unexplainable

DNA. There are video clips and photographs, but still we

do not know if he is truly real. As long as there is a

possibility, people will continue to search for Bigfoot. It

is an uncontrollable curiosity that keeps us searching the

forests for an elusive creature that may not even be real.

But it is still possible because there is no way to dismiss

the existence of Bigfoot. When we don’t know

something, the possibilities are endless. Keeping an open

mind to learning is the beginning of don’t know mind.Total don’t know mind is beyond words and can be

known only by direct experience, like seeing a Bigfoot

with your own eyes.

Conversely, do you know Mr. Know-It-All? We all know

him, and most of us avoid him. He talks and talks and

talks endlessly. He is an expert on all topics, from

knitting to quantum physics. But the truth is, he only

thinks he knows everything. In reality, he doesn’t know.

His mind is filled with information, not wisdom. He is

unable to understand anything that does not fit his model

of the universe. He has a tunnel view of the world that is

limited to only what he knows, preventing him from

experiencing the feeling of unbounded possibilities.

When we use don’t know mind, our view of the world

expands, and we begin to recognize its infinite vastness.

The awareness is like a balloon, and don’t know is the air

that causes it to expand. When we are receptive to the

teachings and the practices that the Buddha taught,

awareness grows naturally without effort. The further

our awareness develops, the more questions arise. It is

like pouring water on a seed, causing the seed to grow

into a lotus. Don’t know is clear mind, the before-

thinking mind, the space between thoughts. Here, there

is no self and other, no perceiver and object to be

perceived. There is only thus-ness.Chapter Five:

The Master of Reality

What is real? Are your thoughts real? Is the past real? Is

the future real? Is the chair I am sitting in real? To know

something is real, we must prove it exists and has

always existed in the same form. Everything that we

know will ultimately become a casualty of change. All

things erode over time. Rivers and tides wash the earth

away. All of humankind’s greatest structures will one

day fall. Countries and leaders come and go. New

scientific discoveries will replace old ones. A human life

is an instant in the lifespan of the universe. The last thing

the Buddha said before he passed was, "Behold, O

monks, this is my last advice to you. All component

things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting.

Work hard to gain your own salvation.” What, then, is

salvation? It is don’t know mind, the clear awareness

between thoughts.

If you have ever studied science, then you know that the

universe and all the matter contained within it are in a

state of constant flux. You also know that nothing exists

in and of itself; everything is dependent upon a set of

circumstances and materials. Take human beings for

example. They are made of heavy elements. All heavyelements are the result of a supernova. The table I
am

using to write this book on is made of countless atoms

and molecules dancing with each other, but somehow

the table appears to be solid and functions as if it's solid.

However, on an atomic level, it is not; it is mostly empty

space.

As human beings, we do not like change. Most of us

don’t like being dependent on others and circumstances

outside of ourselves. However, we have no choice. We

depend on the farmer for our food. The farmer depends

on the weather, and, in turn, the ocean currents and

atmospheric conditions that cause it. Being

interdependent in an impermanent world causes us to

feel anxiety, suffering, and what the Buddha called

dukkha. This is the way of the world, my friends. All it

takes is a single roll of the dice and life will never be the

same again. All we have to do is make one small mistake

when driving on ice and our lives, as well as the lives of

our family members, are changed forever. We fear losing

our jobs because then we may not be able to care for

our families. We fear losing the people we love. The

delusion of permanence and independence are the basis

of our grasping and craving. This is what the Buddha

called the world of Samsara, the endless cycle of birth,

death, and delusion. If we could only have enough

control over our environment to keep us safe from harmfor eternity then we would be content. Is that
asking too

much?

Once we are able to look past our expectations of how

we think life should be, and begin examining and

accepting the truth, a window of insight begins to open.

We stop looking forward and backward, and realize that

we already have everything we need at this particular

moment. Even this moment is gone by the time we

notice it, and a new one has already begun. We are now

flipping the coin over to the brighter side of

impermanence and interdependence. For instance,

nothing is real except for this moment, which is gone

before we know it. Therefore, there is no need to take it

too seriously. Second, everything is changing. If your

current situation is unfortunate, it will change.

Furthermore, you have everything you need in this

moment. This point cannot be overemphasized. The

knowledge that everything is unfolding as it should, even

when my mind thinks otherwise, is a great relief, and

results in my having the freedom to make difficult

decisions without being overwhelmed with anxiety. Life

is good, and it is short, so why waste it being worried

about the past or what may or may not happen in the

future? Enjoy the present moment.

Zen is not some great escape from the stresses of life. It

is being calm in the turmoil and unpredictability of them.A Zen master can nap serenely when in the eye
of a

hurricane, leaving the pandemonium in the past, not

concerning himself with the destruction that is sure to

come in the future. He is able to rest easy in the present

moment. Becoming a master of Zen is not something

that takes a lifetime to achieve. It does not take an

immense amount of good karma or sacrifice. All it

requires is the openness and willingness to rest in the

clear, natural essence of “mind” that you already

possess. The harder you work toward it, the further

away it will be. The more you grasp for it, the more

elusive it becomes. It is like a dog chasing its tail. The

effort is futile. Impermanence and interdependency are

the waves that sway our direction on the tides of

existence.

So stop fighting the swells and let yourself float

naturally. The mind only receives and interprets

information to create a reality it can understand;

however, that reality is not absolute. When the mind is

not busy processing data, what is left? Most of the time,

it searches for more data to continue the grand delusion

of self and the world outside of it. The Buddha

discovered another aspect of mind, a mind that is clear,

vast, and infinite. A mind that cannot be tainted by

delusion, an absolute mind that goes beyond the

perceptions of sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound. Amind that is beyond thinking, where there are no

concepts, no perception, no judgment. The mind that is

unpolluted. This mind has many names, such as

Nirvana, Emptiness, Dharmakaya, and the Enlightened

Mind. The first teaching of the Buddha was, “Don’t

believe what I teach. Question and test everything I say.

Discover the truth for yourself.” The method he used to

come to his own realization of the absolute, pure nature

of mind is meditation. After all, the word “Zen” means

meditation in English.