What is Zen?

[Suwai0303]

Zen is so beautiful.

[ArtistScottyGiffen]

Thank you Peace, very nice...enjoyed !

[mujaku]

“Zen practice is to realize yourself. Everybody who wants to practice Zen has to realize himself and realize Buddha. This is Zen.” -- Joshu Sasaki Roshi [Zen Notes XVIII No. 8]

[Gikowolf]

I have taken one step closer to my goal...- Namaste

[WeasleyDodds]

i live in mexico city, so yes im literally surrounded by mountains

[mocai01]

friends - and myself - have been truly moved by your video ... thank you ...

[soulagent79]

I love it.

[okodorifuto]

Why am i crying?

[MLOI18775]

@okodorifuto Maybe because of the romantic music....

[wmkimmel]

Nicely done~Namaste'

[coffunism]

Zen Mind, beginner's mind. Mu.

[bennylector]

This brought tears to my eyes

[27tone72]

I have no cypress tree in my garden.Ha.If you meet the Buddha,kill the Buddha...

[coffunism]

@27tone72 I love that zen quote: If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha. Mu.

[planet123]

The cyprus tree in the courtyard - brilliant.

[aekkasilp]

At the top of Zen is nothing, I am walking to the nothing. but my mind has many things.

[wateraarde]

I can't tell you what zen is, yet i know that you know it very well. When you see something of beauty or are in love, or you eat a delicious fruit or such, when you go on a walk and feel your surroundings covering yourself in an embrace of here and now, when you see the moon and stars and are silent for a moment, when you are touched by the world, then you experience zen i think, then you know what zen is, yet you can't explain where exactly or when it appears to you, and yet you know very well!

[andhemills]

I found this agreeable, except that the ultimate principle of Buddhism is Myoho Renge Kyo or that "earthly desires are enlightenment and the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana." Message me for proof. (But this is not necessarily "Zen" teaching)

[andhemills]

I found this agreeable, except that the ultimate principle of Buddhism is Myoho Renge Kyo or that "earthly desires are enlightenment and the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana." Message me for proof.

[zenja933]

thank you, Gassho

[justkarmatoo]

Way cool. Thanks for sharing.

[Iamthegreen]

I find that Zen is so simple, yet it is so beautiful. I pray that one day all sentinent beings will find happiness. Thank you for the video, and may peace be with you all :).

[LionEntity]

Thank you for such a beautiful introduction on Zen. Very nice artwork too, indeed.

[coyoteself]

: )



[altair709]

Great wee vid, thanks.

[LEVRAIVRAIZEN]

very nice vid by the way

[questionful]

i play cello, i want to learn that piece, and have that acoompaniment as well too heheh

[gerry2345]

I enjoyed this..

[LEVRAIVRAIZEN]

zen is a gold cage !

[LionEntity]

@LEVRAIVRAIZEN Zen is being freed from the cage, even if it is a gold one :)

[LEVRAIVRAIZEN]

@LionEntity i suppose yes..

[LEVRAIVRAIZEN]

@LionEntity very good, the blue sky, the birds, you are awake ! now tell me : can you stop suffering on earth in 1 week ?

[MariMattie]

Thank you. This is so beautiful. And it resonates with my experience of Zen.

[tamanah1]

wow it was very nice i love it too much

[87cyberman]

Simply wonderful! Beautiful artwork!!!

[moviedude22]

The truth of Zen is everyday life. I love it

[goog2k]

Carl Sagan said, "We are star stuff." and "a way for the cosmos to know itself."

In fact, all the atoms on earth and in our bodies came from supernova that blew up over 5 billion years ago.

Really, aren't we all just walking, talking stardust -- this cosmos become AWAKE and looking it back at itself? -- and aren't we intimately connected to it all?

enjoy the dance.

(And remember, ultimately there is nothing that separates us from all others in this wondrous mystery. Please be kind.)

[jikolawrence1]

Gr8!

[koans808]

this shit makes me miss watching cartoons.

[atfatw]

Well Said!

[WolYou]

come on folks. why are you trying to make something out of what you can see? Beauty? Cant see any beauty. Freedom? Nothing such. Zen is not made for life. You will have infinite freedom to do nothing once you are dead. Life is a tiny spark. Thats all it is about. Once you realized our irrelevance you dont need Zen anymore.

[fntime]

Speak for yourself Wolyou!

Your comment is a perfect example of

the purpose of zen and you don't get it.

Clue, you won't get it, if you approach it,

from your comment mindset.

There is a great deal here, but if you don't

'see' it, then, it's not for you, now.

[LEVRAIVRAIZEN]

@WolYou TRUE ZEN YOU SPEAK !

[armix8]

it was beautiful....thanks....

[Retsam19]

Thankyou, i'm pleased you liked it :)

[ChineseFoodSandwich]

I like you cartoon monks.

[Retsam19]

Thanks :), if u like them i recommend taking a look at the the book by giei sato called "unsei". It describes the life of a zen monk in cartoonish watercolour pictures. Thats where i got the idea from :)

[zencat]

Sweet.

[Stargaze79]

OUTSTANDING!!!

[ardillatwist]

Thanks so much! it`s a really beautiful video. Thanks for trying to share the truth with us.

[Retsam19]

Thankyou for the comment :)

[Shizukabushi]

Excellent and very educational video about Zen. You have done a great job Retsam19. I practice Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu (ninja martial art), and we also walk in Zen, among other types of Buddhism, as our art has lived through many different faiths. Once again, thankyou for the great video. Take care.

[Retsam19]

Thanks friend. I'm pleased you enjoyed it :)

[onetocome]

Check out Jesus, he's for real.

[VamLoveAndKisses]

Oh the music is so soothing! Did you do all the artwork? Including the sky and the mountains at the beginning?

[Retsam19]

Nahh that was a photograph of the blue ridge mountains in america, it looked nice so i got it off google lol. I rly should take up lying :P

[VamLoveAndKisses]

lol But it would really nice like, about your bed or something wouldn't it!

[ikkiu21]

Brilliant.

The brush enlight me again.

[sycilmathai]

Nice vid. Thanks. You should have credited the cello soloist in playing the soundtrack. Peace

[silvernickjonas16]

my name is zen?! what?!

[Retsam19]

Nice name man..

[boxa888]

i like this stuff man pretty cool. do you believe in chi, have you checked out john chang! he fully mastered the inner energy/chi of his body to do some incredible stuff!

[Retsam19]

I'm not sure man, i try not to believe everything i'm told. I checked out john chang and the stuff does look really interesting, especially the part when he lights the fire, because i've never seen a magic trick that does that, so I think it might be real. This video is more about the ordinairy side of zen buddhism though, where mastery just allows you to be "awake", rather than give you any special powers.

[479Qi501]

nice music, very expressive i really like it - where is it from? nice photos too. the texts, well, whatever - for a mystical tradition that keeps saying that everything you say about its first principal is baloney, there is more written about it than any other topic. hey, keep doin' what you are doin'

[Retsam19]

Thanks i'm glad you liked it. The music is called "The eternal", it's from the film Crouching tiger hidden dragon, one of my favourites. I was originally going to use traditional japanese music as zen buddhism is mostly concerned with japan, but the music had a melancholy feeling to it so i decided instead on chinese music which sounds more powerful. And afterall the roots of zen are from china so it is probably the most authentic choice.

[Aviator9999]

i love the cello in it, now I recognise it from the movie

[genopsych]

Thank you for this. It was what I needed today.

[zencat]

Really nice. Great choice of quotes. Once more the lotus blooms in muddy water.

[IWW610]

Thanx for making this video. Gassho.

[Retsam19]

What sort of favour?

[boazmoss]

retsam , do me a favor ?

[katayso8]

truley enlighted the finger pointing at the moon wonderful