What's Zen Really All About?

Recorded January 25, 2025.This teisho is the first of a series from a new book by Roshi Rafe Martin, titled, "A Zen Life As Pilgrimage: Coming Home (To What Zen Is Really All About)."What is the relevance of Zen to the difficulties of our time, right now? What is Zen really all about? A personal anecdote from Roshi Martin — I was having lunch with Aitken Roshi in an Italian restaurant in Honolulu when I asked,“Roshi. What is this Zen thing, anyway? Why do we do it?” He answered quickly, saying “Happiness.” And then he stopped, put down his fork, and sat quietly, as if he’d caught himself mouthing a cliche. Then he looked at me and said,“No. Many people are happy. Absorbed in work, family, or hobbies they’re happy. But if impermanence has bitten too deeply, and a yearning for something more, a way to be at peace in the face of impermanence has taken root, then Zen can show you the way to happiness.”A personal anecdote told to Roshi Martin by Danan Henry Roshi — “Have you ever seen anything so wonderful?!!” Roshi Philip Kapleau exclaimed, with a radiant smile on his face, upon seeing a rooster strutting down the dirt lane, just outside Tepotzlan, Morelos Province, Mexico. Now, remember, he’d been the Chief Court Reporter at both the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Tribunals. The anguish caused by the horrors of the testimony he took down at those trials had moved him to begin Zen practice. That radiant smile was a result of what Zen practice had opened to him.Photo: Kapleau Roshi by Casey FrankBooks by Roshi Rafe MartinTalks on YouTubeMore information at endlesspathzen.org