Zozen started out as a nickname.
From today’s perspective, the story goes back to around 1991 or 1992—though I couldn’t pin it down more precisely than that.
The name was born in the mind of a friend of mine. Even back then, he was deeply drawn to the “magic” of the East, with Zen practice and karate playing an important role in his daily life. He noticed a sense of calm beginning to emerge in me and, without much thought, started calling me by this name.
In the 1990s, I knew almost nothing about Zen. My image of it was mostly limited to Japanese monks drawing patterns in the sand, seemingly content with that activity. I carried the name, but it didn’t hold much meaning for me at the time.
My understanding didn’t grow much in the years that followed. I drifted away from the “East,” and for shorter or longer periods, calm felt very far from me as well. I went on my way without meditation, Zen, presence, balance, or inner stillness—though it might be more accurate to say that I wandered here and there, searching for my own path.
It took more than 30 years for the name Zozen to come alive again within me and begin to unify the activities I’ve pursued since. About that much time was needed for me to see in myself what a few friends had already seen back then.
Even today, I wouldn’t call myself a “typical” Zen practitioner, but I’m closer to it than ever before. For me, Zen means presence. It is the path of now.