Simplicity and Zen

The other day, I happened to notice a book in my house called The Zen Commandments: Ten Suggestions for a Life of Inner Freedom. Apparently it was on Oprah's Book List, which made me wonder if the idea of living simply and "in the moment" was becoming more popular as people start to realize how unnecessarily hectic their lives are. Zen, a form of Buddhism that emphasizes living a life of meditation and simplicity, very much reminded me of Emerson and Thoreau's ideas. Because I was not all that familiar with the guidelines of Zen, I looked them up online and found two "essential rules to living like a Zen monk" which bore a striking resemblance to Emerson and Thoreau's opinions. The first rule was to "think about what is necessary", because a Zen monk "doesn’t have a closet full of shoes, or the latest in trendy clothes." Thoreau would agree with these ideas, as in "Economy," when questioning the necessity of clothes, he says "Each generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new" (19). The other rule was to live simply, "And so to live simply is to rid your life of as many of the unnecessary and unessential things as you can, to make room for the essential. Now, what is essential will be different to each person. There is no law saying what should be essential for you — but you should consider what is most important to your life, and make room for that by eliminating the other less essential things in your life." Thoreau, who wishes learn what "the gross necessaries of life" are, aspires to live as simple a life as possible, and Emerson would not only agree with living simply, but also with the idea of spending time doing what is essential to you. In "Self Reliance," he says, "What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think" (23). If Oprah chose this book about Zen to be on her list, then simplicity must be gaining popularity in our chaotic world!