Zen is not an ideology: not a conceptual framework that needs must be adopted and adhered to. Zen is the furthest of all things from a belief system. Zen is a technology of being so constructed that if applied to ones self with sincerity and diligence there is a reasonable expectation of the transformation of being known as "Satori".
Satori or "Enlightenment" as it is known, is that event where, as if awakening from a dream, the human animal comes into possession of the Transcendental Awareness which is the substrate of all life, and which is experienced as "one's original face before one was born". We are born the children of the earth, and we are capable of rebirth as the children of the Universe. Enlightenment is no less than such rebirth.
The method of Zen is twofold. First, there are certain principles which exert an ordering influence on all subsequent thought: they act as a lens through which light and dark are made apparent. These principles are Emptiness and Suchness. The ordering of our thoughts must have a foundation, and here it is. This could be thought of as the Yan aspect of Zen. Secondly, the mind must become the possession of Awareness. This is attained by the practice of meditation. Meditation is not an end in its self, meditation is the exercise by which we bring the mind under the control of Awareness. When mind has completely surrendered to Awareness we enter the state of "no-mind". This is the Yin aspect of Zen.
When we cultivate the Yin and the Yan aspects of Zen in ourselves we fecund that Transcendental Awareness which is the essence of our existence, and after a period of gestation proper to our state, Enlightenment is sure to follow.
