Living Well

Keiko Ozeki
Aug 22
2 min read

I may be clumsy in many ways, yet I can live well.

That is because I know the practice of sonomama—being with things just as they are.

Why do we sit?

We sit to see through reality, to witness what is real,and to make it clear.

—To see through who we really are.

—To witness how this “self” functions.

—To clarify the very state of this present moment.

Stopping the body’s movementand placing ourselves in stillness—that is the practice of sonomama.

This is not merely “observation.” When the one who is observing appears, you leave even that self quietly, just as it is.

For unless you leave it alone, the workings of nature will never be revealed.

When you know your true self, there is no more confusion.And who creates confusion? None other than ourselves, fabricating illusions of our own making.

When those illusions become clear, suffering dissolves.

And you can simply rest, quietly present with what is.

This sense of “just being”is not confined to the cushion. In daily life, too,we can practice sonomama again and again.

When you take a deep breath in the middle of busyness,simply feeling your fatigue and tension. When someone’s words shake your heart,and instead of suppressing it,you simply notice—“ah, I am reacting.” When you pause on a walk,and receive the whisper of the windand the rustling of the trees.

—All of these are the same practice of sonomamaas sitting itself.

Zazen is not just a special time. It is a way of cultivating the strength to live fully. In every moment,to receive as it is, to add nothing,to subtract nothing, to simply be.

This is why we sit. And this is how we learn to live well.

Life may sometimes seem difficult. Yet when we remain in sonomama, there is always stillness. And we realize—we are already living well.

Living Well (Poem)

I may be clumsy in many ways,

but when I sit just as I am,

I live well.

Whatever comes, I leave it as it is—

Simply being, already living well.