Zen Road

Zen Road: "Going forward is a matter of everyday living.
Progress — going forward — has nothing to do with being smart. It’s an everyday thing. In this passage of the text, “everyday living” means the immediate, fundamental nature of each day…the fundamental truth of our daily lives. Eating, sleeping, talking, going to the toilet, doing gassho (bowing) before and after moving in the dojo: this is the stuff of awakening, of great freedom. No need to be smart.

Our practice of shikantaza (just sitting) has nothing to do with intelligence or its lack, because it has no goal. So there’s no need to learn some special technique. There’s no particular skill, aptitude, talent, competence, or qualification required. There isn’t any hierarchy to advance in. All you need is a zafu (cushion) and some courage. Why courage? Because it’s not easy to come regularly to zazen, especially when you have problems. You have to find the courage to come and sit even when nothing and nobody encourages you to do so.
[Person entering the front door of a dojo with a black zafu (round cushion) in hand.]

Master Deshimaru used to encourage us by saying that if we practiced zazen we would become great leaders. I can’t say that. I would just say that it’s a question of correct effort, the effort to go towards the truth by destroying everything produced in you"