ks to live the Zen way of life seeks first to live a life of simplicity, without pretence, without arrogance, without the sort of complexity of thinking which marks most philosophies and religions.
An important part of this simple life is the avoidance of the sort of activities which other religions practice: "Another departure from the older pattern of monkish brotherhood, whether Christian or Buddhist or anything else, was that the Zen monks were not always engaged in offering prayers, practicing penance, or performing other so-called deeds of piety, nor in reading or reciting the canonical books, discussing their contents, or studying them under their master . . . . What the Zen monks did, besides attending to various practical affairs, both manual and menial, was to listen to the master's occasional sermons, which were short and cryptic, and to ask questions and get answers" (Suzuki 1973, 4).
On the other hand (and there seems to always be such "on the other hands" hovering around any statement on Zen), Zen as a way of life does involve certain elements
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