Zen Laughs at the Idea of Spiritual Progress

The Illusion of Progress

Have you ever felt frustrated with yourself for not making enough progress in meditation? 

Or compared yourself with others and felt like you're falling short? 

Maybe you worry that your efforts in meditation might not lead to the “results” you desire. 

Or perhaps, you went in the other direction and felt proud because you think you’ve made some progress. Only to come to realize that you’ve lost that progress and now feel as bad as before?

I get it, because I’ve been there myself. 

Having gone from feeling elevated and above all things to feeling like a complete failure, depending on how I judged my spiritual progress. 

Some people even spend hours and hours in meditation, but then struggle to manage their daily tasks properly. They might neglect their family and friends and miss important deadlines in their jobs, all because they’re focused on their spiritual practice. 

They end up constantly checking their progress, growing more frustrated as they don’t see immediate results, losing all their sense of peace and joy. 

Instead of cultivating wisdom and inner peace, they seem more stressed and anxious, trapped in a cycle of striving and disappointment. Doesn’t seem to be a very clear approach to life at all. It’s all a trap and the fastest way to mess up your meditation practice.

Many people make the mistake of judging their meditation practice by whether they’re making progress or not. What they don’t realize is that seeking progress in meditation is actually losing their way. 

They ignore everything the ancient enlightened masters taught and believe they need to be on a constant “spiritual journey”—meditating for hours, studying scriptures, repeating mantras, and trying to destroy their egos. 

But in the end, this approach only keeps them trapped in a cycle of seeking. And this way, they will never truly arrive. Never arriving in the ever-present moment, where there is neither progress nor lack of progress.

The Drive Towards Spiritual Truth

Don’t get me wrong. 

I don’t think there is an issue with having an inner calling to find out what’s really true. 

Actually, having this deep desire to connect with something greater than ourselves, something beyond our limited human understanding—a true calling for enlightenment—is a powerful aspiration.

This impulse that’s seeking spiritual truth seems to be asleep for most of humanity, so if you have already awakened to the possibility of enlightenment, you are truly fortunate. And I understand how powerful this force can be in shaping our lives. 

It drives us to move beyond our usual understanding of how things work and how we see ourselves and the whole of existence.

We can’t help but follow it, give our everything to it, and become completely absorbed by the possibility of finally reaching our true center of being. Whether we call it enlightenment, spiritual awakening, union with God, or something else, it’s all about arriving at our true home, which is a state of being that we seem to have lost. 

And now, we are trying to get back to it.

We are doing all kinds of spiritual practices, making sure we are on the right path and not falling behind. But we seem to be stuck. Instead of following the path we have chosen for ourselves wholeheartedly, we spend day and night worrying if we will ever get there. We bounce between feeling on track and feeling lost, almost as if we are getting more lost in the process. 

What’s causing this internal division that keeps us from reaching the place we deeply long for?

What a Zen Master Teaches Us About Spiritual Goals

There is a famous Zen story that describes the issue very well:

There was a famous zen master called Mazu, probably one of the most revered zen masters of all times, and he was known for his intense dedication to meditation practice. This was before he attained enlightenment. One day, while Mazu was sitting in deep meditation in the temple hall, his teacher walked up to him.

The teacher asked, “Why are you sitting in meditation?”

Mazu just replied, “to become a Buddha,” which basically means to attain enlightenment.

Then, his teacher picked up a stone roof tile, sat down across from Mazu, and began rubbing the tile against a stone. Mazu was confused and asked why he was rubbing the tile against a stone. His teacher just said, “I’m trying to make this tile into a mirror by rubbing it.”

Mazu, who was even more confused by this answer, asked him, “How can rubbing a tile turn it into a mirror?”

His teacher said, "If I can't make a mirror by rubbing a tile, how can sitting in meditation turn you into a Buddha?"

Mazu immediately understood what he meant.

So if you are not familiar with Zen, let me give you some context around this story. To become a Buddha, or to attain Buddhahood, means to realize your inherent Buddha-nature, which is your true self. It also means to become enlightened. Apart from what our rational mind might make of this idea, we don't become a Buddha or attain enlightenment. 

Instead, we realize that we have always been enlightened.

It's not about discovering something new or finding something that's not already here with us. Sure, it’s true that the realization of enlightenment only exists as potential within us before we recognize it. 

Still, we are always and already what we truly are, even if we mistakenly see ourselves as separate from this truth.

There was another famous Zen Master named Bankei who said, “Rather than trying to become a Buddha, nothing could be simpler than taking the shortcut of remaining a Buddha!”

So, instead of trying to turn a roof tile into a mirror, which is impossible, we can simply let go of any notion that we are not already a Buddha or enlightened. When we strive to become enlightened, or attain Buddhahood, our motivation is shaped by our limited understanding. 

We think we can apply our regular way of being in this world to the absolute dimension of reality. In a relative sense, we know we can go from point A to point B, and there is some progress associated with it. Based on the progress, we know how we are doing.

But this doesn’t work in the absolute dimension of reality. Since the absolute is the absolute, there is no progress. 

How can we even progress if the place we want to go to is already here? It’s as if I’m wondering how I can get to sit in my chair if I’m already sitting there. And the answer is simple. I just have to realize that I’m already sitting in my chair. I don’t have to go anywhere; I don’t have to practice or try to manifest a chair. 

I just need to realize that I'm already where I ultimately want to be.

If I kept thinking about my progress of getting into my chair while I’m already sitting there, I’d be completely lost, although I’m already where I want to go. 

Whenever we strive to become enlightened, or attain Buddhahood, we distance ourselves from the realization that we are already a Buddha. 

We are trying to polish a stone tile into a mirror.

Just doesn’t work this way. Instead of trying to go to a place called enlightenment, we just need to realize we are already there. Whether we believe it or not, it doesn’t matter. 

Our biggest obstacle to accepting this is that our limited human understanding gets in the way and says, "No, we are not there yet."

And for some reason, we believe it more than anything else. As long as we listen to the voice in our heads that’s not convinced of us already being there, we don’t realize it.

So now you might ask, “How can I get rid of this voice?”

Which is essentially asking, "How do I get from point A to point B?"

This is exactly how spiritual concepts can trap us so easily.

Finding Truth by Going Beyond Progress

Only if we can accept and digest the situation as it is right now in this moment can we realize the underlying truth—the absolute dimension of reality. 

And this moment right now may include us worrying about spiritual progress. If we resist it, we are already attached to it. If we accept it, we have already let go of it. 

Resisting or fighting against something implies that we believe in its reality or truth.

But if we can see a thought as something that comes and goes, knowing it can’t tell us who we are or what’s real, then we are free from it. We can't use shapes or forms to understand something that has no shape or form. So, none of our thoughts can really tell us about the formless. 

Therefore, trying to judge your spiritual progress is as if you are trying to measure infinite space with a ruler. 

No matter how big the ruler is, it just doesn’t work.

To sum it up, just become aware when you are judging your spiritual progress. 

• Notice the thoughts and feelings inside you, but don’t bother dealing with them. 
• Don’t try to get rid of them or follow them. 
• Just acknowledge they are there. 
• Even accepting they are bothering you will make you less dependent on them.

Just be honest with yourself; don’t get caught up in any thought, and you will see you are already at the place you have been seeking.

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Your friend of the way. 

Bye!