Daily Zen

I began sharing quotes on Daily Zen in 2008 to accompany my own growing meditation practice. Twitter had just started and it seemed like a clever outlet for the one-line wisdom I found in ancient Eastern texts. I didn’t expect the audience to grow to such a profound degree, however. Today, Daily Zen reaches nearly 300,000 people each month. I regularly get emails from people who say that my writings have helped them in some way. I do not claim to be a Zen master or ‘enlightened’ by any means. I have plenty of difficulties with my own practice, though the community that developed through Daily Zen has helped me grow and recognize the universality of meditation practice. Since I started the site I have written thousands of pages of reflections, read countless spiritual texts, and maintained a daily meditation practice.This is a collection of my Daily Zen writings from 2015 and 2016. Some of them are more conversational in tone, some of them somewhat academic. The goal of these writings is to simply share my ever-changing spiritual purview with others. Some pieces you will connect with; others you might not enjoy so much. I just hope that these short essays stimulate your true self and help you commit further to your meditation practice. If you don’t meditate yet, I hope they encourage you to start. Remember— the good life is as simple as paying attention.