Zen Buddhism can be summed up in one word: zazen. Zazen, performed mainly in the Zen Buddhist sects, is a sitting practice of concentration and quieting the mind, and today it is also a widespread means of meditation and self cultivation outside the monastery setting. Zazen as ascetic training involves a variety of strict rules. Keeping these in mind, the first step is to sit in the correct form. Take a moment to sit zazen, and you may just see yourself in an entirely different way.
Zazen is similar to other kinds of meditation, but different in the sense that you do not close your eyes and set your mind on a particular visualization. Instead, the idea is to experience yourself and the world as it is without being attached to thoughts or images in your mind, and to reach a state of emptiness. Therefore, it is said that the purpose of zazen is not to achieve any benefit or profit, but rather “simply to sit.”
