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Okay, so my first zen teacher, Seung Sahn, taught the practice of “putting it down.”

What does that mean? Well, it’s the practice of not hanging on to perceived insults, aggravations, grudges, bad feelings, etc. Lots of people think that if you practice zen, it means you don’t have aggravations or anger — but that’s ridiculous. Of course you have those things, at least if you are human. The point, though, is to practice putting them down.

First off, it’s interesting to think about why you have those things in the first place. If you take a moment, when you’re livid, to observe your feelings, what you’ll find (pretty much 99.9% of the time) is that you are pissed because your concept of your self is being offended somehow. It’s all about what Seung Sahn called “my-me-mine.” It’s all about you being the center of your own little universe, and when something doesn’t go the way you think it should, you have an internal hissy fit.

LOL!

Try it, though. Okay, so you’re driving and someone cuts you off. Anger flares! But wait a minute! Why is it there? Because someone has offended ME! Someone has not acted the way I want them to!

So you have the huge rush of anger. What does it mean, then, to practice putting that down? It means that when you feel that rush, you feel it, and then you dismiss it.

Or what if someone says something and it makes you feel insulted? What?! How dare they?!

Go ahead and try this: Put it down.

Yup. Simple as that. Practice it over and over. And when the little voice in your mind brings the insult back up again (again, and again, and again!), put it down. Again, and again, and again! The interesting thing you’ll find is that you are probably a little addicted to feeling that it’s IMPORTANT that you wring every drop of anger and insult out of your experiences. You’ll find that you think the angry insulted feeling BELONGS to you. That it’s IMPORTANT and REAL. That you shouldn’t just drop it.

So try dropping it. As a little experiment.

And if you like the results, you can keep putting things down. Over and over, every time it happens.

You know what you’ll probably find? That you don’t miss it. That it isn’t important. Imagine that: something that YOU feel isn’t all that important. LOL!

Welcome to some pretty delicious freedom.