1. Creating A Zen Room
2. A Zenaida
3. A Zen She
4. What Is A Zen Garden
5. A Zenith
6. A Zeneca Vaccine

Zen teaches nothing; it merely enables us to wake up and become aware. It does not teach, it points. Zen in it’s essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one’s being, and it points the way from bondage to freedom. The practice of Zen is forgetting the self in the act of uniting with something. Brighten your day with inspirational quotes from Zen, Buddhist, and Taoist classics. Enter the meditation hall, or send a Zen Card to a friend.

What is Zen? It’s both something we are—our true nature expressing itself moment by moment—and something we do—a disciplined practice through which we can realize the joy of being. It is not a belief system to which one converts. There is no dogma or doctrine. Zen is the direct experience of what we might call ultimate reality, or the absolute, yet it is not separate from the ordinary, the relative. This direct experience is our birthright. The practice of zazen—meditation—is a way of realizing the non-dualistic, vibrant, subtle, and interconnected nature of all life.

It was this path toward realization that was shown some 2,500 years ago by the Indian prince Siddhartha Gautama, who came to be known as Shakyamuni Buddha. “Buddha” simply means “awakened one.” His great teaching was that we can all awaken; that fundamentally, we are all buddhas— Jewish buddhas, Christian buddhas, Hindu buddhas, Islamic buddhas, Ashanti buddhas, Haudenasaunee buddhas, secular buddhas.

With this flexible and accommodating attitude toward the various cultures and beliefs it encountered, Buddhism was embraced throughout Asia. In China, it merged with Taoism and evolved into Ch’an, the Chinese word for meditation, which became “Zen” in Japan. Over the past few decades, it has become very much a part of Western culture. Indeed, the historian Arnold Toynbee said that one of the most significant events of the twentieth century was the movement of Buddhism from East to West.

Through a dedicated and consistent meditation practice, we can realize that self and other are One, that the conditioned and unconditioned are simultaneous, that absolute and relative are identical. Out of this realization flows a natural compassion and wisdom, a peaceful and intuitively appropriate response toward whatever circumstances may arise. We don’t make a big deal about it; we don’t even call it religion. When the Dalai Lama was asked about Buddhism, he simply said, “My religion is kindness.”

So, again, what is Zen? Stop now. Stop trying to get an intellectual lock on something that is vast and boundless, far more than the rational mind can grasp. Just breathe in with full awareness. Taste the breath. Appreciate it fully. Now breathe out, slowly, with equal appreciation. Give it all away; hold onto nothing. Breathe in with gratitude; breathe out with love. Receiving and offering—this is what we are doing each time we inhale and exhale. Mac oh honey lip liner. To do so with conscious awareness, on a regular basis, is the transformative practice we call Zen.

This simple yet profound practice can release us from the shackles of past and future, as well as from the self-imposed and imprisoning barriers we erect around what we erroneously consider our separate and unchanging identities.

Who do we think we are, anyway? When we really look deeply, it becomes the koan “Who am I?” We find that the conditioned views and compulsive traits we have come to call “self” have no fixed substance. We can, through consistent zazen, free ourselves from that imposter self and discover the true self—the being that is open, confident, and unhindered, flowing with all that exists in this very moment. Thus quite naturally we care for the environment, starting with our own actions: not wasting the earth’s precious resources, realizing that every act has consequences. And quite naturally we extend This Mind; we vow to live with attention, integrity, and authenticity; we vow to free all beings from suffering.

Join us for an Introduction To Zen weekend at our mountain monastery, or attend Zazen Intro at our New York City temple.

Zen is a British television series produced by Left Bank Pictures for the BBC, co-produced with WGBH Boston for its Masterpieceanthology series, Mediaset and ZDF.^[1] It stars Rufus Sewell and Caterina Murino and is based on the Aurelio Zendetective novels by Michael Dibdin.^[2] The series was filmed on location in Italy, but the dialogue is in English. The series, which comprises three 90-minute films, was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sunday evenings from 2 January 2011 on BBC One.^[3] The three films were based on the books Vendetta (1990), Cabal (1992) and Ratking (1988).^[4] The series was cancelled by BBC One in February 2011; BBC One controller Danny Cohen later said there were already enough male crime-fighters on TV.^[5] Left Bank, the show's producer, tried to find other broadcasters to fund another series but were unsuccessful.^[6]

Regular cast[edit]

Creating A Zen Room

• Rufus Sewell as Aurelio Zen
  A smart and honest police detective in Rome who struggles to maintain his integrity amongst the bureaucracy and political interference in the department. He is in love with Tania Moretti, but long odds in the betting for who will sleep with her first.
• Caterina Murino as Tania Moretti
  Office support worker for the squad. She is beautiful, smart and compassionate. She likes Zen and is trying to divorce her husband.
• Ben Miles as Amedeo Colonna
  The Minister's fixer. He is a powerful, connected and amoral man who believes that Zen is working for him, something that Zen encourages.
• Stanley Townsend as Moscati
  Zen's boss. He is a gruff, no nonsense man who does not suffer fools gladly. He is fond of Zen and Tania.
• Francesco Quinn as Gilberto Nieddu
  Zen's ex-partner who now runs a private security business. The two have remained friends and Zen asks Gilberto for help when he needs advice or to go outside the department.
• Catherine Spaak as Donata
  Zen's mother who was widowed when her husband was shot on the job. Zen moved in with her after he separated from his wife. She is wise, caring and concerned for her son.
• Vincent Riotta as Giorgio de Angelis
  A colleague whom Zen trusts.
• Ed Stoppard as Vincenzo Fabri
  A detective with a powerful and wealthy uncle who is more interested in playing politics to advance his career than solving cases.
• Anthony Higgins as Eduardo Guerchini
  The Minister, who leaves all the dirty work to Colonna.

Complete main cast[edit]

Episodes[edit]

Series 1 (2011)[edit]

A Zenaida

Series 1 was first shown in the USA on the PBS network: Vendetta, Cabal, and Ratking on 17, 24 and 31 July 2011, respectively.

A Zen She

References[edit]

What Is A Zen Garden

1. ^Conlan, Tara (2 March 2011). 'Zen could survive after being sold abroad'. The Guardian. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
2. ^'Rufus Sewell confirmed to play Aurelio Zen for BBC One'. BBC press releases. BBC. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
3. ^Vine, Richard (1 January 2011). 'Zen and the art of Sunday night television scheduling'. The Guardian. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
4. ^'Zen'. Left Bank Pictures. Retrieved 2 January 2010.Check |archive-url= value (help)
5. ^'BBC One controller to cull male crime-fighters'. BBC. 28 April 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
6. ^Conlan, Tara (22 February 2011). 'BBC1 axes Rufus Sewell detective drama Zen'. The Guardian. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
7. ^'Weekly Viewing Summary (see relevant week)'. BARB. Archived from the original on 8 November 2008.

A Zenith

External links[edit]

• Zen at BBC Programmes
• Zen from the Masterpiece website
• Zen at IMDb
• ‹The templateTV.com show is being considered for deletion.›Zen at TV.com
• Zen at epguides.com

A Zeneca Vaccine