By Taylor
We’ve been reading a book for the Hakone book club called “The Eightfold Path”. The book opens with a story about a woman who’s had a tough life and starts going to zazen, looking for a solution to her pain. In her first one-on-one meeting — where she expects wisdom that will let her escape suffering — her teacher tells her that’s not the point. There’s no escaping suffering!
We live in a time with super-powerful portable entertainment devices in our pockets, and it’s so easy to rely on those devices or other distractions to ignore what our body is telling us, ignore what our mind is telling us, and escape into distraction.
Zazen, for me, isn’t about some special state. It’s the ability to sit with yourself and to experience what is happening. The relief from suffering comes from spending time with it, seeing it more clearly, and realizing it’s not as bad as you thought. Over time, that clarity can help us see even if suffering can’t be escaped, it can be accepted.
Hakone Zendo 