Naturalness

Moment after moment, everyone comes out from nothingness. This is the true joy of life.

but naturalness is, I think, some feeling of being independent from everything, or some activity which is based on nothingness. Something which comes out of nothingness is naturalness, like a seed or plant coming out of the ground. The seed has no idea of being some particular plant, but is has its own form and is in perfect harmony with the ground, with its surroundings. As it grows, in the course of time it expresses its nature.

perfect harmony with other beings.

when you are hungry, to take some food is naturalness.

The true practice of zazen in to sit as if drinking water when you are thirsty.

This is not naturalness. Your mind is entangled with some other idea, someone else's idea, and you are not independent, not yourself, and not natural.

You do not have to force yourself to drink water when you are thirsty; you are glad to drink water.

But if you can just sit and experience the actuality of nothingness in your practice, there is no need to explain.

Everyone comes out from nothingness moment after moment.

But usually, forgetting all about nothingness, you behave as if you have something. What you do is based on some possessive idea or some concrete idea, and that is not natural.

You should not have your own idea when you listen to someone.

But if you have some idea to compare with and what he says, yoou will not hear everything; your understanding will be one-sided; that is not naturalness.

Most people insist on some idea.

That is not naturalness at all.

If you want to study Zen, you should forget all your previous ideas and just practice zazen and see what kind of experience you have in your practice. That is naturalness.

But when all you do comes out of nothingness, then you have everything.