Zen- Mind over Matter

No matter how the landscapes and architectures of the world changes, unhappiness would always linger in the world of Man. This unhappiness is not the work of trees, not the work of mountains, or anything that has long existed before us.


This unhappiness comes from our minds. Yes, because of the mind, 'we' exist, along with the 'world' within it. Through our different perceptions, each of our world takes on a different look and hence formed our reality.


For example, a person who grew up in a broken family would most likely take on a more pessimistic view of the world and life than someone from a nurtured family because of the different experiences they have. The two of them might live on the extreme ends of the world and not know the existences of each other, but their lives are still bound by the inner states of their minds.

Suppose the both of them were to write down their life accounts on their own diaries. And one day, a child, curious to know more about life, finds both diaries and reads them. In this case, which story should he trust to be his life in future? Should it be the pessimist's or the optimist's account?


None of the two would be the absolute answer, for no one's thinking and philosophy is exactly the same, not to mention the events we would face in life, the paths we would walk, the people we would meet, and the choices we would make. Then again, there are always a lot of things to be learnt from others' experiences, but we must always understand that the problems and solutions in our individual lives are special and different from others.


Thus, only we can bring a stop to our own unhappiness because our own mind is our true teacher. The way of zen is to master our mind, the culprit for nearly all of our sorrow and despair in life.