The are few real "goals" to zazen; the doing is the goal. You sit, stare at a wall and get yourself some peace and quiet from a loud and ever-changing world. You also get some coveted alone time with the universe, which is fairly tough to come by these days. Not that I blame the universe; it has an infinite number of constituents and a secretary who still schedules appointments on a Palm Pilot.
One of the main ideas of zazen is the concept of "falling off of body and mind". Brad Warner refers to it as "thinking not thinking", and I like that description very much. You just kind of think nothing and, when thoughts DO come up, you just sort of let them fly off. What happens to a small, smoldering ember when you don't blow on it or give it any kindling? It dies out. The same goes for thoughts: without actively giving them energy and cultivating them, thoughts fall away.
Thoughts can be quicksand. The more you struggle against them and try to get away, the further down you get pulled. One of the biggest lessons of zazen practice is being able to actively control which thoughts are cultivated and which thoughts are allowed to burn out and fade away. Learning how to not energize undesirable thoughts and how to cultivate desirable ones is easily one of the most tangible and applicable lessons of Zen.
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