Zen Tools
Zen is primarily a method. Using Zen tools, you can work toward the benefits described in Part 1, including waking up to your life, stress relief, greater authenticity, and being a nicer person. You don’t get these things by reading about them, wishing for them, or having a Zen master explain how to attain them. You get these things by using the Zen method to find your own answers and solutions.
The Zen toolkit includes too many things to mention in this book, but six essential tools are described here in enough detail that you should be able to start using them. Zazen is the Zen form of seated meditation, which is the core of the whole Zen method. Mindfulness is the effort to pay attention to your life no matter what, and it has the potential to transform your daily life. Precepts are the Zen moral guidelines, which keep your life in order and also give you a great way to notice where you tend to be self-centered. Karma work is understanding and changing your habits of body, speech, and mind. Insight is seeing the truth, whether that truth is personal or universal. Finally, Sangha is practicing Zen with other people, where you might engage a Zen teacher, attend a meditation retreat, or participate in a ceremony.