Living in the Now? On Zen, Mindfulness, Budo, and the Depths of TRUE Practice Zen has become part of our lexicon in the modern English language. I don’t believe this is a “good” thing. If you ask the average American about Zen, they’re not going to be knowledgeable on the subject. They tend to equate Zen with calm or “being peaceful” or something such as that. Zen is often used the most as an adjective or an adverb. “Sensei is the most Zen dude,” a young martial practitioner may say of his teacher. Or a surfer might say that his “ride was very Zen.” That is not Zen. If someone is a little more knowledgeable on the subject of Zen, they may equate it with mindfulness or “living in the present moment?” But is that correct? And for the martial artist, or the Zen practitioner reading this, should that even be the goal? What do people mean, anyway, when they talk of “living in the now” or even “ being now”? In many ways, it is the intention that matters. Do
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