Calendar

What is Zen?

Zen is a special transmission outside the scriptures
With no reliance on words and letters;
A direct pointing to the human mind
And the realization of enlightenment.

- Bodhidharma, circa 500 AD

Zen is a branch of Buddhism which focuses on meditation as a foundation practice and stresses that our true nature is the same as Buddha nature (or Christ nature). Buddha means “Awakened One”. The Buddha set out to discover answers to the fundamental questions he had about life, suffering, and death, about the “ground of being”. He saw beyond the deluded view of self-identity and realized intuitively that we are all one. This insight showed him that seeing beyond any idea of a personal, separate, or enduring self and cultivating wisdom and compassion is the path to freedom from suffering, fear, and doubt.