Naturally, we have thoughts that come up almost continuously at times. The ability to let them go and make room for an openness that is constantly responsive to the ever-changing is an integral part of a life of practice.

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Bodhidharma’s teaching is essentially very sparse and simple: “Behold the mind.” Doesn’t allow a lot of distracting philosophical points, just brings us back to awareness and turning the attention inwards.

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There are sutras like the Heart Sutra that are chanted in temples and are a part of practice handed down from long years ago. For those of us who don’t have a temple to attend or a teacher to train with, we seek out forms and practices that sustain us.

One of the most famous Zen tales is the story of how an illiterate woodcutter came to inherit the robe and bowl of the 5th Patriarch. After delivering his load of firewood one day, he heard a customer reciting the Diamond Sutra.

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Many times we have read or heard the stories of Buddha's life and enlightenment. Returning to his first teaching upon awakening, we come in contact with the ground and source of Buddhism. The root from which the many branches developed over the years that followed.

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He is not talking about a philosophy of license, anything goes in the name of the ego; when he refers to a lack of faith in ourselves, it would be easy to misunderstand. Those of us who have grown up around the “century of the self” as the West has fallen prey to thanks to marketing, have to pause and wonder, really, what is he talking about?

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For many of us living life “autonomously,” not listening to what others say can feel a bit ungrounded until one has practiced enough to have gained some life experience of cause and effect. Life experience itself is a great teacher, and Nature a more subtle teacher.

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Many of us were introduced to meditating by breath counting at first, then moved into simply watching the breath, and then, at some point, even that fell away. There are many techniques used to focus and settle the mind and body. As “introductory” as breath counting seems, it is a very powerful way to enter the present moment.

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