From Mushin:
Enjoying serenity is the third of the Eight Realizations of an Awake Person. If you want to enjoy serenity, realize it flowing directly in the still point at the very center of this moment. Zazen helps us realize serenity. Serenity in stillness. Leaving separating self aside every time we sit down for zazen, stilling the body and thinking mind, one with all, we refine the soil in which serenity roots. Here we realize the direct quality of an open and sensitive mind, a mind that knows the still center of just this. A mind that has a taste for peace.
When you’re wrapped up in excitement, distraction, entertainment the energy of heart and mind is given over to something outside, looking outside the self for completion. When we do this, we are reinforcing a habit of looking to the ever-changing conditions for satisfaction. And ever-changing conditions don’t satisfy, at least not for long. But serenity is an aspect of our innate quality of heartmind that we awaken to when all fascination with the dream of a separate world has lost its luster. Serenity is not a condition.
We tap into a peaceful heart and mind when we align moment by moment in zazen. This is a fruit of our very simple practice. In zazen the mind naturally develops a habit of equanimity. And this carries over. When the suffering and confusion of the world knocks us out of equilibrium, we can return to the always-available still point at the center of now, in oneness, one with all that’s flowing along. The ability to function on behalf of our own well-being and that of others begins with grounding in steady, right-here-ness.