Zen is a search for truth through action. It's less a religion or even a philosophy than it is an attitude. There's a story about a Zen archery master who was asked to teach a course in Big Sur, California. A target was set up on a beautiful grassy area on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The master took his bow, notched the arrow, took careful aim, and shot. The arrow sailed high over the target, went past the railing, beyond the cliff, plunging into the ocean far below. The master looked happily at the shocked students and shouted, "Bull's-eye!"
 
As I get deeper and deeper into the practice of Zen (meditation), I find that it is nothing at all like what I expected it to be. My arrow doesn't hit the target but goes exactly where it goes according to my real action. Life gets you in all kind of funky situations. You act out of where you really are, not out of some ideal of where you think you ought to be. The whole "ought to" business is just a waste of time anyway. It's never what it ought to be. Since "ought to" is an idealistic concept, you will never do what you ought to do. Caring about what other people think I ought to be, say, or do has never led to anything but suffering.
 
But we can still care deeply about taking aim. Today I try to take aim carefully and let the arrow fly. Wherever it goes, "Bull's-eye!"