The Same Old Zen

In the Marine Corps. I witnessed many strange and interesting rituals.  Some of them made sense.  Some of them didn't. But I like to think that I learned something from all of them.  One of these rituals was the use of long, hard runs to celebrate good news.   For example, if a new commanding officer came to the unit, the company Gunnery Sergeant might "celebrate" that fact by having everyone in the company take part in a 10-mile run. A route would be selected, unit flags would be unfurled, and a long line of sweaty, screaming jar heads would go running down the street, singing cadence every step of the way. This type of ritual doesn't make sense on the surface.  Why were we celebrating by running until we puked?  Why couldn't we play soft ball instead! That's a fair questions. But if I had to do it over again,  I'd make sure we ran little faster, and a little farther during those runs. In the Marines, we didn't see good news as

Philosophers have wrestled with the concept of universal truth for centuries. But no one has been able to figure out exactly what it is, or even if it truly exists. In fact, the existentialist philosopher, Nietzsche famously threw up his hands and stated, " God is dead ," while contemplating the question. Of course, he wasn't claiming that a literal super natural deity had died. Rather, he was expressing the fact that human conceptual thought around things like happiness, goodness, truth, etc. is inherently flawed. As a result, universal truth as represented by God cannot exist. In Nietzsche's view, the best we can hope for is to live as individuals, constantly striving against one another to impose our will to power upon the world. The Buddhist view, however, is different. While Buddha would agree that humanity's conceptual view of the world is limited, he observed three experiences that all living beings share. These are often referre

The more I walk this spiritual path, the more I realize that literally everyone is a Zen teacher. That is to say, every interaction we have with another living being is a chance to learn something more about Buddhist practice.  Lately, I've been learning a great deal from a Zen master named Enso, who recently came into my life.  Enso is a cat , but that doesn't stop his teachings from coming across loud and clear. In fact, in the month that he's been with me I've learned the following: Act Boldly Enso was a stray when he came into my life. It was 40 degrees outside, and my room mate had just finished walking his dog. As they were coming inside, Enso decided to introduce himself. He and Roxie, the dog, played for a bit, and when Roxie came inside the house... Enso came with her!  He's been making himself at home ever since. I don't know what he was thinking when Enso walked into both my house and my heart .  But I'm guessing it was fairly s

What's the purpose of life? This question has followed me like a shadow since I was a teenager.  That is to say, I've always wanted to know why I'm here, and if there's some special meaning to my existence.  In the past, this was the cause of a lot of hand-wringing and sleepless nights because it's one of those questions that doesn't have a definite answer; at least not in a conventional sense. In college, I attempted to find a solution in existential philosophy. I tore through the works of Nietzsche , Camus, Kierkegaard, etc. in an attempt to solve the puzzle of my life's meaning. It was an exciting time during my studies, and I read many fascinating works. But I'd be lying if I said that I found an answer to my question. In the end, I learned to make peace with not knowing my purpose. This wasn't a perfect solution, but it helped me sleep at night. After all, there were some things in life that my frail, human mind wasn't capable

My first experience with the open ocean came in 2005. I was serving with the U.S. Marine Reserves, and my unit was sent to Louisiana to do disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina. The situation on the ground was terrible, but it only got worse when we found out that Hurricane Rita was about to make landfall. We jumped on the U.S.S. Shreveport, a navy ship, in order to ride out the storm at sea. It was while I was cruising around the Gulf of Mexico during a hurricane that I found out that I get sea sick. We were on the ocean for the better part of a week, and I spent most of that time throwing up. Unable to keep anything down, I got dehydrated and light-headed, but I still had a job to do. So, each time it was my turn to go on duty I fell into a not so pleasant routine of getting up, throwing up, and getting back to work. Needless to say, I was one of the first people off ship when we finally came back into port. Thankfully, not all of my experiences with the ocean have b