Zen – a good for nothing meditation
Many meditators following the vipassana traditions, particularly those of the Burmese lineages, may get the impression that meditation is about following a set of instructions going from one level to the next. These meditators might feel that meditation is about doing something or seeking to attain something. Too often, when they get distracted or agitated during meditation, they consider that session as a bad one and that they failed in the practice. This is actually a wrong perspective.
The Thai-style meditation masters counter this by reminding students that meditation is not about doing or attaining, but about letting go.
This “doing nothing” and “letting go” is highlighted in the great traditions of Chan & Zen. In this 8-min video, Zen master Shohaku Okumura of Soto Zen explains this concept very well. In a very Zen manner, he presents the traditional story of 2 groups of students arguing about what is really moving in a particular situation:
“Group 1: Look! The flag is moving.
Group 2: No. It is the wind that is moving.”
So, what do you think? Is it the flag, the wind, or perhaps just the mind that is really moving? Watch the video to the end to see what master Dōgen , founder of Sōtō branch of Japanese Zen said about this phenomenon.
Source: Interior Mythos Journeys (https://www.youtube.com/@Interiormythos)