How Royal Way Incorporates Zen

The founder of Royal Way Spiritual Center, master teacher Michael Gottlieb, drew from a number of spiritual traditions and cited the teachings of many other great masters in the course of guiding his students to their innate divinity, to the experience of God. Michael was a great scholar as well as a spiritual master. He traveled widely throughout the East and West and was deeply versed in a diverse range of spiritual traditions and theologies. Always, of course, Michael brought his own unique energy to the conveyance of these ancient truths. His being was uniquely original. And because he was so deeply devoted to the Royal Way spiritual community, he understood how to transmit ancient teachings to modern-day seekers.

Prominent among the spiritual traditions Michael drew from were Yoga, Zen, Sufism, and Hasidism—“eternal truths reborn,” he called them. Each of them “moved away from the enclosed walls of their established religions and found the ultimate sky that permeates all.”

Is Zen Just One Hand Clapping?

Michael had a particular reverence for the teachings of Zen, while also acknowledging that Zen has been almost laughably misunderstood in modern culture. “Zen is perceived as just a collection of incomprehensible riddles, impossible situations, koans, if you will—you know, “the sound of one hand clapping”—and a few funny stories.”

A quick scan of the cultural zeitgeist reveals just how greatly this ancient tradition has been misunderstood. Ironically, while true Zen emphasizes nonattachment, all sorts of material goods and services have been branded as “Zen”—furniture, food, apps, sleep products, spas, and online tech support, to name a few. Zen gets simplified down to a synonym for conflict avoidance: “Be Zen about it.” Or to any style of minimalist décor that is vaguely Japanese or Scandinavian.

“This is not because of malice,” Michael writes. “There is no malice here.” Rather, it is understandable given the challenging nature of true Zen teachings. Michael continues: “It is only because Zen is intrinsically one of the most subtle and difficult teachings the world has ever known. Zen challenges the foundations of all our comfortable theories and philosophies. Mostly, it questions our so-called spiritual truths. Seemingly simple and easy, it is in fact subtle and difficult.”

So What Is Zen Really?

True Zen emerged out of India in the fifth or sixth century AD through the teachings of a monk named Bodhi Dharma. Originally known as Chan Buddhism, it later traveled to Japan and became known as Zen Buddhism, or simply Zen.

Michael explains that Zen is a crossbreeding of Buddhism and Taoism, embracing the teachings of Buddha and Lao-tzu, the master of Tao.

“It is a great meeting,” Michael writes. “The greatest that ever took place. That is why Zen is more beautiful than Buddhism or Taoism. It is a rare flowering of the highest peaks and a meeting of those peaks. Buddha’s thoughts and Lao-tzu’s thoughts met. India and China met, and Zen was born.”

As Michael said, Zen is challenging, subtle, and difficult. It calls for flowing with whatever happens. It calls for living strictly in the present moment, with no regard to the past or future. It calls for us to accept that which is, always that which is. It calls for silencing the mind.

The words of a Zen master are like seeds, Michael says. “If you are ready—ready to become the soil—then these words, these seeds, will enter into your heart and you will be totally different through them.”

Following are some of the ways Michael Gottlieb Michael instilled the beautiful seeds of Zen in the teachings and practices of Royal Way.

The Zen of Purposelessness

Rather than spending all our time working and living for tomorrow—living with purpose, which is inevitably dedicated to the future—Michael teaches us to live fully in the moment. He cites the Zen teaching of purposelessness, because, he writes, “Purpose is always in the future. Purpose is always for tomorrow, for next year, for the children, for the grandchildren, for the future. The moment has no purpose.”

The Zen emphasis on purposelessness can be a challenging concept to a Western mind dedicated to “getting ahead,” to storing up for the future. As Michael teaches it, purposeless does not mean to live like a leaf blown in the wind. Rather, he wants us to understand that the true meaning of life is found only in the moment. “And the beauty of the moment, the hidden beauty of the moment, is its purposelessness. There is never purpose in the moment. Purpose is always in the future.”

The Zen of the Here and Now

Because purpose is always in the future, Zen—and Michael—teach the importance of “here and now.” Whereas many assume that the concept originated in Gestalt therapy, it is actually an ancient Zen teaching that says to live each moment. In Michael’s words, “moving moment to moment with what is, what is, what is.”

Living the Zen way doesn’t mean living a life without meaning. It’s the opposite. It is the key to a rich and fulfilling existence. When we live moment to moment, life is never boring. It’s filled with meaning and excitement.

“You will be more efficient in living it if you are intensely living this moment,” Michael stresses. “You will be able to more efficiently live tomorrow if you are intensely living life today. This is the greatest richness in life. There is no other richness.”

The Zen of No Direction

Remember, Michael tells us that “Zen challenges the foundations of all our comfortable theories and philosophies.” Here’s another Zen teaching that does exactly that: “Do not have any direction. Do not have any desire.”

But aren’t we supposed to pursue success, establish a definite direction in life, pursue and achieve our various goals and desires?

The problem with living that way is, again, that direction and desires are focused on the future. And what happens if we don’t achieve these arbitrary desires and directions? We suffer. And all the while, we miss out on the beauty of the present—the present moment where the richness of life is.

“No direction, no desire,” is indeed a challenging teaching, but Michael offers a beautiful explication of that concept that feels both appealing and achievable:

“That does not mean to repress desire. It simply means to rejoice in every desire. Rejoice in every moment, whatever is available, whatever has come across your path—that is what is. To live this way is to always be in love, to always be friendly, to always be kindly, to always be giving, because your totality, your whole presence, brings itself to each moment. Then you do not have any demands. When you have demands, you are always suffering.”

The Zen of “Ah So”

Michael Gottlieb often cites a concept contained in a two-word Zen expression: “ah so.” It means “that’s okay too”—the opposite of taking a stand on every little issue.

“Think of the thousands of little items and large items in the world where we could make life so much more pleasant if we simply had the attitude of ‘that’s okay too.’ I want this, but that, that’s okay too.” Of course, life presents instances where it’s critical to take a stand, to say “That’s not okay.” But for most of life, moment to moment, “ah so” is a beautiful and freeing way to live.

The Zen of Silence

The teachings of Zen, Michael says, tell us that the mind is ill-equipped to know truth—that the mind is fine for learning “how-to” things like cooking, driving, flying, or building, but to know truth, we must learn to silence the mind through meditation. Meditation is key to every aspect of Royal Way. Every Royal Way retreat or workshop offers an experience of meditation. Through meditation, we experience silence. And silence is so critical in our hurried, harried world.

“More than anything,” Michael declares, “the world needs silence. Since all inner noise is in and of the mind, it follows that inner silence happens only when we drop the mind. A state of no-mind is a state of inner silence.”

Silence, no-mind, no direction, no desire, living moment to moment—all are Zen teachings incorporated in the spiritual community of Royal Way through the teachings of Michael Gottlieb.