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Buddhist philosophy very often comes in lists. To the modern reader and practitioners this may strike as a tiring, incoherent and indeed often boring trait. Yet, when taken seriously as tools on the practical path that Buddhism is, the boredom and confusion actually makes way for a very interesting and empowering experience. Moreover, lists enabled the Buddha to drive home a central aspect of his teaching: there is no core to it, just as there is no core in ourselves.

Using (basic) neurological research, the book aims at explaining why Zen meditation is at the same time very easy and extremely difficult. Next, it links the workings of formal seating meditation to the challenges of daily life, using the Buddhist mythological concept of 'the six world of transmigration' as a typology of psychological situations.

A collection 22 short texts on as many aspects of Zen meditation as 'merely sitting', based on traditional and new metaphors, complemented with a short historical and philosophical background.