There are many contemplative paths, and none holds a monopoly on wisdom. So why begin with Zen, and in particular the Sōtō tradition?
A practice, not a doctrine
Zen places direct experience above belief. Shikantaza — “just sitting” — asks not that you subscribe to a system of ideas, but that you stop and look. This makes it remarkably lay and accessible: you need not convert to anything to sit down and breathe. It is common ground on which very different people can meet.
Simplicity that includes
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.” — Shunryū Suzuki
Zen’s bare essentiality — a cushion, a breath, a moment — lowers the barrier to entry. It is not a practice for specialists: it is a practice for anyone who can sit.
A tradition that has always transformed
The dharma migrated from India to China, from China to Japan, from Japan to the West, adapting each time to the language and culture it met. It is not a relic to be preserved intact, but a living river. Bringing it into our time — into work, relationships, the ecological crisis — is exactly what the tradition has always done.
Interdependence
Zen does not separate practice from life. The care given to the breath is the same care brought to another person, to the environment, to the community. From here comes the “mycorrhizal” idea of this project: an underground network of relationships supporting the flourishing of all beings.
To begin with Zen, then, is not to close oneself within a tradition, but to open a door — sober, concrete, shareable — onto a more aware life. From there, the path is walked together.