The philosophy of Buddhism exists primarily within the minds of those who practice it, guiding the way they view and act in the world around them, with the aim of reducing conflict in their life by seeing things clearly. However, practicing Buddhism is not an entirely mental process, requiring nothing more than mental activity. Buddhist principals are also applied to physical activity such as breathing and walking. Refined physical activities like the arts not only are not only guided by Buddhist principals, but also representative of them. I find that the art of juggling is not only a meditative activity, but is also executed and improved with the application of Zen principles. Lets look at the basic Zen principles and how they relate to juggling.
             First we should look at the reasons why Zen utilizes meditation. Zen differs from other schools of Buddhism in that it believes one can attain satori instantly and without the guidance of a master or a sutra. All schools of Buddhism maintain that we all have Buddha nature, and the potential to become a Buddha, but Zen puts a special emphasis on this fact. As Watts said "one does not practice Zen to become a Buddha; one practices it because one is Buddha from the beginning."(p. 175) This does not mean that one simply has all of the qualities of the Buddha within him. It means that one has the ability to see tathata--the true suchness of things, reality unpolluted by typical human perception and thought.
             The goal of Zen is to bring people to this realization and level of perception. However, the way the human mind has been conditioned makes achieving this difficult. While the potential for full realization lies within us, it is this "us", or identification of ourselves as separate entities, that contains the problem. The cornerstone of Buddhist thought is the first Noble Truth, dukkha, which states that life is suffering. It also states that what we ident...