https://www.reddit.com/r/zenbuddhism/comments/1i1n9q6/what_motivates_you_to_practice/
created by Pleasant-Guava9898 on 15/01/2025 at 02:23 UTC
20 upvotes, 24 top-level comments (showing 24)
What is the point of practicing for you? I assume we all have different reasons. I personally practice because it makes sense for the most part. And I practice with no goal in mind or expectations. For me whatever happens just happens. I'm just focused on my intent and that's all. What about you?
Comment by InkAndZen at 15/01/2025 at 16:22 UTC
11 upvotes, 4 direct replies
August of 2022 I lost my mother to suicide. I was lost. I turned to philosophy to try and help myself work through the pain. I started with stoicism, which honestly was a great starting point for me. It helped me get a handle on how I was approaching my emotions. Stoicism led me to absurdism, and absurdism led me to the teachings of the Buddha; here is where it started for me. In April of 2024 I survived a widow maker heart attack. This radically changed my general outlook on life. Suddenly the world was more vibrant, the sound of laughter became music, I was beyond grateful to have survived, to be able to come home to my 4 beautiful daughters and my wonderful wife. I was riding high on life, almost intoxicated with it; I continued to study. In may of 2024 my thirteen year old daughter committed suicide… my world shattered.
To lose a child is.. well it’s honestly indescribable, at least to the point of being able to aptly describe the actual experience of it. It is a pain that will never truly go away, a wound that will never heal. I reached a point where… either I made peace with the world and myself, or I began the process of regressing to my days of absolute self destruction. I had three surviving children that needed their father/step father. So the choice was simple and the teaching of the Buddha helped me find some comfort in the chaos and sorrow, and peace as the storms raged within me. It’s still not easy. There are days that I struggle. But it is as it is, and how it is is exactly how it should be.
Namo Buddhaya
Comment by HelloImTheAntiChrist at 15/01/2025 at 04:14 UTC
11 upvotes, 1 direct replies
My suffering. Without practice I would struggle with my attachments even more than I already do.
Comment by Katt_Wizz at 15/01/2025 at 08:14 UTC
8 upvotes, 0 direct replies
My sobriety loves it. That alone has reduced so much suffering in and around me.
Comment by m0rl0ck1996 at 15/01/2025 at 02:52 UTC
8 upvotes, 0 direct replies
My days are better when i start them with practice.
Comment by Zazenhead at 15/01/2025 at 22:40 UTC
7 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Turns out I really love sitting down and doing nothing.
Comment by captainlip at 15/01/2025 at 13:04 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Unstable mental health
Comment by Lawdkoosh at 15/01/2025 at 03:25 UTC
11 upvotes, 1 direct replies
The four great bodhisattva vows resonate with me as to why I practice. I end each meditation session by reciting these three times. This is the practice I learned at the temple where I attend services.
Four Great Bodhisattva Vows
Beings are numberless; I vow to free them.
Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to end them.
Dharma gates are boundless; I vow to enter them.
The Buddha way is unsurpassable; I vow to embody it.
Comment by Comfortable-Rise7201 at 15/01/2025 at 03:43 UTC*
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I suppose if I stopped practicing and just left it all behind, I'd still be grappling with the problems I've always been grappling with. I'd still have my responsibilities, my habits, and I'd still be subject to discomfort, dissatisfaction, and loss.
There's a kind of timelessness to the way my practice has changed how I think about how I live, and one way or another, I may as well see it through or I may as well fall back into how I used to be before I took it more seriously. There's a chance if I abandoned it that that wouldn't happen, but it'd still shape how I approach suffering and so, in a larger sense, I'd still be practicing, in some way.
Comment by roboconcept at 17/01/2025 at 07:51 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
protecting the world from who I am if I don't practice
Comment by Qweniden at 15/01/2025 at 06:07 UTC
9 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I kind of have two motivations:
1. My practice has reduced my suffering and the suffering of those around me. So I absolutely have this as a continuing goal: Liberation from suffering. Both for myself and others.
2. My second motivation is a bit hard to describe. It kind of feels like magnetic force pulling me towards it. It feels somewhat out of my control. It's not "Qweniden". It feels like a destiny almost. Like something is manifesting on its own completely outside my volitional control. Its very hard to articulate.
Both of these drive my practice in equal measures and seem intertwined.
It has certainly been a crazy adventure. I feel very lucky.
Comment by Willyworm-5801 at 15/01/2025 at 17:05 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Practice helps clear out the cobwebs and stupid things I worry about. I go into new situations with a clear and open mind. I don't give advice, I just listen and accept what others tell me. Basically, just being a genuine person motivates me. Saying what I really feel and doing what I need to do are satisfying ends in themselves.
Comment by m_bleep_bloop at 15/01/2025 at 17:37 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Out of devotion to Kanzeon, whoever they may be, out of longing for the vows, and out of love of the moment to moment of turning it all over to all beings
And because without it, I forget the wind is blowing
Comment by ZenSationalUsername at 15/01/2025 at 21:49 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Part of why I practice is because of suffering—it drives me to seek deeper awakening. Another reason is that Zen feels uniquely suited to me. It’s hard to explain, but there’s something about it that just resonates.
Comment by C0ff33qu3st at 16/01/2025 at 11:49 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Suffering. Suffering caused by delusion and ill-will. Delusion of self, of separation, of gain & loss, of control.
Comment by heardWorse at 15/01/2025 at 03:23 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
At first it was to feel better. Then it was the positive impact on me. Then it was the positive impact on those around me. Then it was the white hot ball of mu lodged in my throat and sheer stubbornness. It’s still all of those things, I suppose (definitely stubbornness), but even if those went away I’m not sure I would stop. There’s just so much joy in not knowing.
Comment by [deleted] at 15/01/2025 at 02:36 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
In the face of the inexplicable nature of existence, the only honest response is just to sit with it in silence.
Comment by dx-dude at 15/01/2025 at 06:30 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Typically when depressed and feel trapped by inescapable circumstances where I need to improve my mentality or acceptance of what is going on around me.
Comment by mc_buddie at 16/01/2025 at 05:02 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Peace
Comment by Deaconblues18 at 15/01/2025 at 02:48 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I’m just looking for that one bright pearl.
Comment by Relative_Ad_5206 at 17/01/2025 at 10:12 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Exhausting the alternatives.
Comment by chintokkong at 15/01/2025 at 05:01 UTC*
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
And I practice with no goal in mind or expectations. For me whatever happens just happens.
If whatever happens just happens, what's the difference between practicing and not practicing?
Comment by JundoCohen at 15/01/2025 at 12:37 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
After 40 years of Soto practice ... just this, just this, just this ... each moment, good and bad, is everything and more.
Comment by Zealousideal-Cry-790 at 19/01/2025 at 22:50 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
When I have a regular practice, everything in my life is "better." I feel more compassion towards others and receive it from others as well. I'm affiliated with a Rinzai group and love the intensity of that type of Zen.
Comment by Twinelar at 15/01/2025 at 04:51 UTC
-2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Well, the dharma ending age is upon us then. The great song dynasty ancestors: matriarchs and patriarchs both are spinning and shitting in their urns.