Why Now Is the Perfect Time to Learn About Zen

#ai #zen

Hey it's Buono. I'm not a Zen expert by any stretch. This post is basically me thinking out loud. But I had to get it down because something clicked recently and I want to share it.

Here's the thing: right now might be the best moment in modern history to learn about Zen. And I say that as someone who came to this conclusion completely by accident.

Two Waves Are Rewriting Everything

We're in the middle of two massive shifts happening at the same time:

The AI era — obvious, everyone feels this one
The plateau society — the era where growth is no longer the default (I've written about this separately)

A lot of people haven't fully registered the second wave yet, but trust me, it's real.

When TWO waves this big are hitting at the same time, of course the old playbook stops working. How could it not?

And yet most people are still clinging to the old values. Still trying to force the old way of living to work. Still miserable with no exit in sight.

I was there too. Until pretty recently.

Zen Isn't Just About Sitting Cross-Legged

If that sounds like you, I genuinely think learning about Zen could change things.

I don't know the formal philosophy, I don't know the history, I don't know the terminology. But from the fragments I've picked up, it feels like it was made for this exact moment in time.

Here's what's wild. When I was lost and confused about the future — reading everything I could get my hands on, sitting in silence trying to figure out how to live — I kept arriving at certain conclusions about what a good life looks like. Looking back now, those conclusions were basically Zen. I was reinventing Zen from scratch without knowing it.

So at some point I thought: "Wait, why am I doing all this work when the answer already exists in a 1,500-year-old tradition?" Now I low-key recommend it to anyone who'll listen.

The parts of Zen that feel most relevant to right now:

Valuing the process itself, not just the outcome
Living in the present instead of getting stuck in the past or anxious about the future
Finding joy and creativity in small, ordinary things

Just writing those out hits me in the chest. These are exactly the things I've been trying to figure out for 42 years. Zen basically handed me the answer key.

A lot of people think Zen = sitting meditation (zazen). But that's just the form. The actual substance of Zen is a whole way of living that affirms these principles.

I go for runs and stop by temples to pay my respects along the way. That alone feels like enough. There's a temple near me that holds group meditation sessions — I'm curious about those too and might try one. But you don't have to go full monk to get something out of this.

Everyone Lost in the New Era Should Look Into This

Zen isn't for everyone. I get that. But if you're one of the people staring at a future that no longer makes sense — whose entire framework for life just stopped working — I really think Zen is worth exploring.

I took the long way to get here. Years of trial and error. If you're reading this, you get to skip the detour.

And if the word "Zen" feels too religious or spiritual for your taste — don't worry about it. You don't have to call it Zen. Read books like "How to Find the Impulse to Leave the Rails of Life" or "Every Day Is a Good Day." Keep digging into how to live well in this era and I promise you'll end up in basically the same place. The language is different. The destination is the same.

What I really wanted to say is this: if you're struggling right now, a Zen-style way of living might save you. Not as a religion. Just as a framework that actually fits the world we're in.

Give it a shot.

Catch you later ✌️