Zen Coffee is Here

Zen Coffee has arrived in the present. The birth of a book is always a very special thing to me, not just because I wrote it, but because part of me — part of my heart and soul — is in the pages. 

I promised I would reveal the answer to the koan I posted a while back when the book was published.

The paradox of meditating by coffee is that mindfully meditating is not separate from any of your experiences; it is a basic, integral part of everything in your life and can be incorporated into every thought, feeling, and experience you have, much in the same manner that caffeine and calm — which are seeming opposites — poured into the same coffee cup are a perfect blend of meditation and mindfulness.

Have a Nice Day

This happy Zen coffee says it all; no words are necessary. When I posted this yesterday, I didn't write words to go with the picture. I thought that, without words, you would tune into the pure peacefulness of the Zen within you.

Zen coffee is simply being in the present moment, enjoying the moment, without any words to distract you from the peacefulness of a mindful moment.

Zen coffee makes you happy and brings a smile to your face because you are in tune with the inner essence of yourself. 

Let a smile be your mantra for today to bring out your inner Zen. Smile, and have a Zen day!

Zen Coffee Meditation

A Zen coffee meditation is something you can do anywhere, anytime, with or without coffee. All you need to do is breathe and be mindfully present. The following meditation is excerpted from my book, Zen Coffee: A Guide to Mindful Meditation.

Breathe in a feeling of peacefulness. Take a drink of your coffee or bring to mind the aroma and flavor of your coffee to center yourself within the caffeine buzz to capture the essence of your inner nature. Breathe. 

Mindfully meditate on your coffee or on the qualities of your coffee. Breathe. Focus and center in on the Zen of your coffee. Breathe.

Focus and center in on the calm essence of your inner nature. Breathe. Let all your thoughts flow out of your mind. Breathe in a feeling of calm peacefulness. Breathe out worries and tension. Breathe in the essence of Zen coffee.

Let your mind gently float into the ethereal essence of the steam rising from your hot coffee. Breathe. Let your mind softly flow into the ethereal essence of you. Breathe in the Zen. That’s all you have to do; just meditate on your coffee and breathe to capture the calm essence of your inner self.

Loving Kindness

We are all filled with good qualities of peace, love, joy, compassion, and kindness. When uncomfortable situations arise, we need to remind ourselves of these beautiful inner qualities we all possess and can share with everyone around us and in every situation we are in. We can mindfully bring those inner qualities out into our world and spread a lot of loving kindness around.

When you find yourself getting angry at someone or feeling frustrated in a particular experience, take a deep breath in. Just breathe for a moment or two. Be mindfully aware of how you're feeling and know that you have the ever-present choice to respond to that person or situation with loving kindness. Take a moment or two to breathe in and smell the coffee.

 

In my Zen coffee philosophy, stirring just a smidge of loving kindness into the coffee cup of all your experiences produces a perfect blend of calm coffee flavored with compassion. Breathe in the peaceful qualities that are within you and feel kindness toward the person who has made you angry or the situation that brought you stress. Breathe out that loving kindness that is within you.

Meditating by Coffee

You may be wondering how to meditate by coffee. How can caffeine and calm, poured into the same coffee cup create a peaceful state of mind? How can you meditate if you're all stressed out or jazzed on coffee? Well, it's a koan... that's the nature of Zen.

A koan is a Zen Buddhist riddle that has no easy answer; it may be totally illogical in nature and it appears to be a paradox. A koan is a question that must be experienced in order to be understood.

Zen and coffee don't seem to mix. Or do they? It seems they'd be completely opposite to one another, but part of the mystery of the koan is that they are truly in harmony. What do you suppose the koan means? How do caffeine and calm mix together in a cup of coffee?