Emptiness - what is the pragmatism?

Ok..so there is all this talk about emptiness - what does it really do to bottom line? My bottom line is how does it help me in my daily life and does it make me a better person.

My experience is that it enables us to see situations and people, not as an entity by themselves, but made of parts. It does shift the weight! If someone is rude or not nice to me, my initial response still is GTH, but then the thought arises - what are the conditions leading to this event? Is the person rude because I am the cause or there are other causes and conditions? Nine out of ten times, things are not personal, people are not reacting bad towards "me", it is the whole sum of situations. Makes me feel better and reduces the ill-will.

New Year Resolutions???

None..whatsoever this year. Did not even think about them. Kind of weird for my very "planning" oriented mind..how could I not think about next year? Well..this year, I am going to flow with life, try to live in moment and see where the journey takes...:) It is kind of scary, in a sense, letting go of control (oh baby, that is tough!).

Why meditate?

Hmmm...so what is the big deal with meditation? Why meditate? To me personally, everything comes down to as to how it affects the bottom line - meaning how does it make my life more peaceful and myself a better person? If the end affect is not leading to this, effort or belief is not worth it, but that's just me.

There is a notion out there that meditation is synonymous to relaxation and it is not entirely wrong. The first and immediate effect is indeed a relaxed mind, at least for the duration of meditation. You might even fall asleep easily if you are tired and trying to meditate, has happened to me more than once..:) A relaxed mind is able to think better and perform well thought out action. However, meditation has the ability to take you one step further than this. Once one can get the mind to relax and slow down the speed at which it has been racing, one can observe the working of mind - see how thoughts arise and fall away, perceptions arise and fall away and similarly reactions. Seeing this enables one to understand the most mysterious creation - oneself!

What is Zen?

So, what is really Zen practice? When I did not know much about Zen and started my practice, it did appear something incomprehensible and mysterious to me but over time my understanding of Zen is that is simply awareness. Be aware of what you are doing and why you are doing it. It sounds very simple and we tend to think that we are already doing it. We think that before we undertake any action, we know the what and why behind it. But do we really know? How many things we do because of peer pressure or because of habit or because of social conditioning or simply because of convenience? And how many times do we realize that everything that we do has an effect and it matters, howsoever trivial it might look. Every breath that we take results in CO2 that feeds the plants.

So, what does awareness do? How does it affect the bottom line? Let me tell you, it is one of the most difficult tasks to observe oneself...:) It is lot more easier to watch TV or listen to music than to just sit silently with only oneself for company. My experience is awareness is the key that unlocks the door to contentment and peace. Mind you, I am not saying the door to happiness. Happiness is whole another post. Awareness allows one to judge consequences of one's actions prior to performing it and observe how mind interprets pleasure and pain and attaches itself to these. It allows one to see real nature of phenomena and its life. This in turn leads to more and more wholesome action and less clinging to things that are impermanent - they may give short term please but they will disappear eventually.