Neapolitan pizza and real Zen

After having enjoyed great Neapolitan pizza from its special flour to the sauce made from San Marzano tomatoes, for some unexplained reason, I thought about the  pizza I had just eaten trying to connect it with Zen.  

As far as Zen realization is concerned, like my enjoyment of Neapolitan pizza, it goes to a profound depth which is far beyond the tastes of popular culture.

Let me be frank.  Real Zen is not popular Zen.  It is not about formal sitting (zazen) or wearing robes anymore than Neapolitan pizza is just flour, oil, sauce, cheese and pepperoni. Real Zen, like eating the best Neapolitan pizza, is all about depth!  How far we are willing to dive into ourselves looking for the very stuff of our temporal thoughts is at the heart of Zen.

Unfortunately, our culture makes it too easy for us to become superficial, from eating pizza to the study of Zen.  But there is so much more to life than living superficially.  This includes the practice of Zen meditation which is not really about just sitting as some Zen enthusiasts believe.  Meditation is really about diving into the depths of our thoughts trying to connect with the living substance they’re made of—tathata.

 

Comments

[Java Junkie in Miami]

sitting here on my macbook at starbucks in south beach Miami (hell, its 79 now past dusk)...

I assume you could have just said "nothing popular is true, and nothing true is popular"

pithy art thou? Maybe, but yer no Plotinus/Coomaraswamy

Now, write an article about "wal mart buddhism", and how the lowest common denominator occupies such places (redneck scum, trash etc), and how religion, all of them, are just walmart pseudo-metaphysics.

Rather said, actually, all religion is "secularized metaphysics and most often literalized"

[Jure]

Hey Mumon your website is offering me to meet beautiful Asian ladies and to donate money to you, those are the first things I see ... how's the Dharma business going for you? Considering you're hosting it for free on Blogspot and all.

[Mumon]

Yes, Neapolitan pizza - it's almost as good as New York pizza. But not quite.

[Pizzebrunetti]

we approve this message. Great post! Come try the depth of our pizza.