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The Clear Sky Zen Group

Zen Practice in Brief

Zazen (Zen sitting meditation) and kinhin (walking meditation) teach one to become intimate with oneself, to be truly oneself, moment after moment. As one's mind becomes calm and clear through practice, one becomes increasingly attentive to the present moment just as it is, and open to all of life, seeing reality directly with compassion. Zen is a lifetime practice of letting go of the ego, in seated and walking meditation, and especially in everyday life.

Dogen Zenji (1200-1254), founder of the Soto School of Zen in Japan, wrote:


To study the Buddha Way is to study oneself.

To study oneself is to forget oneself.

To forget oneself is to be enlightened by the ten thousand dharmas.

To be enlightened by the ten thousand dharmas is to be freed from one's body and mind, and those of others.

No trace of enlightenment remains and this traceless enlightenment is continued forever.

(Shobogenzo Genjokoan)


This Dharma is amply present in every person, but unless one practices, it isn't manifest; unless there is realization, it isn't attained.

(Dogen Zenji)