Charlotte Joko Beck was an American Zen teacher known for her practical approach. Beck founded the Zen Center of San Diego and the Ordinary Mind Zen School, focusing on integrating Zen into daily life.
I discovered Beck through her book, Everyday Zen. Its practicality and simplicity shaped my understanding of mindfulness practice.
In my early days practicing meditation at a Buddhist center, the word "enlightenment" was ever-present. It appeared to me a magical state, a superpower, like becoming a modern-day Avenger. As time went by, I became more amused by this naive understanding and surprised by the adults in the room who held enlightenment as this goal, diminishing their agency, hoping to achieve some distant goal while missing the present.
This line from Everyday Zen stuck with me, describing the goal of meditation practice: “When there is no longer any separation between myself and the circumstances of my life, whatever they may be, that is it.” That's how Beck describes the awakened state—nothing to do with achieving something, rather allowing life to be as it is.
Beck asks:
“If someone told you that you have one more day to live, is it OK with you?
If you are in a severe accident and your legs and arms must be amputated, is this OK with you?
If you never receive a kind or encouraging word from anyone, is this OK with you?
If you make a complete fool of yourself, is this OK with you?
If the close relationship you hope for never comes to pass, is this OK with you?
If you must lose whatever or whomever you care for, is it OK with you?”
Beck answers those questions herself, saying that she cannot honestly say yes to any of them, but it shows the direction,, and why mindfulness and Zen are radical and pragmatic practices. The more that one can say they are okay with experiences such as these, arguably, the more they are free to enjoy the present.
Mindfulness meditation practice is a laboratory. Sitting still without distraction, one is inevitably faced with their demons. One feels their impact on the body, the emotions, and cognition. But you don’t move; you sit, you create space, and open, allowing whatever is present to be present. This is the practice.
