Who is Zen Socrates?

The first time I met Zen Socrates
I was mildly amused. It’s his name, an auspicious
one. There’s a lot to live up to. Zen for Zen Buddhism and Socrates, an ancient Greek philosopher.

Zen Buddhism focuses on direct experience over scripture, incorporating mindfulness in every actions. It’s a way of living that emphasizes full awareness. All beings already possess an inherent enlightened Buddha nature and liberation is about realizing this truth.

Socrates believed in dialogue to advance theoretical thought. He asked a lot of questions that couldn’t be answered easily. What is reality? What is the good life? He was tried and convicted of inciting dissonance in Athens’ youth. His sentence was to be exiled from Athens or drink hemlock. He chose the hemlock. Socrates became a sort of martyr to independent thought.

Zen Socrates melds Eastern and Western religion, philosophy and culture by twisting them together. The mandalas are the visual equivalent of the sayings and reflect their many influences.

Together they create something unique and amazing. See for you self.

Zen Socrates Says

Does the unexamined life still make a sound?

One hand never claps in the same river twice.
Is the air of certainty different than the air of uncertainty?

When the student is ready the elephant will appear.

Science has the answers, but the questions have changed.
No, wait a millennium or two, the questions haven’t changed

If Zen dreams of a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon,
does the hurricane he creates still make the 6 o’clock news?

Scientist look for a theory of everything, mystics look for a theory of nothing.

Are kaons the new koans?

The laws of unintended consequences are the same in any frame of references

You must learn to love the imperfect world.

Movement becomes motion, motion becomes emotion,
emotion becomes a movement.

To know you have enough is the real wealth.

Try This

Go outside, some place quiet. Stand with your feet hip width apart.

Arms by your side. Let your head slowly fall all the way back, chin in the air. It’s strange at first, the throat exposed, vulnerable. Take a deep breath. Take 2 more. Let out a laugh, anything from a small chuckle to a full guffaw.
It’s a terrifying liberation.
It took Zen 47 times to get it. Be patient with yourself.