June 04, 2026

Not knowing how near the truth is, we seek it far away." — Hakuin Ekaku, Song of Zazen

Hakuin wrote this in 18th-century Japan after years of brutal self-imposed practice that nearly destroyed his health. He had chased enlightenment through extreme austerity and found himself physically and mentally broken instead. A mentor helped him recover, and what emerged from that period was a hard-won understanding that straining toward what we have lost only moves us further from what we actually have. That lesson sits at the center of how Zen approaches grief: the person, the time, the version of yourself that is gone did not disappear into somewhere distant you must travel to reach.