--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Zen has been called the \"religion before…" description: "\"“Zen has been called the \"religion before religion,\" which is to say that anyone can practice, including those committed to another faith. And that phr..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a8/peter-matthiessen-5795_awe_zen-has-been-called-the-religion-before_2161316.jpg" --- # Zen has been called the "religion before religion," which… ![“Zen has been called the "religion before religion," which is to say that anyone can practice, including those committed to another faith. And that phrase evokes that natural religion of our early childhood, when heaven and a splendorous earth were one. But soon the child's clear eye is clouded…” quote by Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a8/peter-matthiessen-5795_awe_zen-has-been-called-the-religion-before_2161316.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a8/peter-matthiessen-5795_awe_zen-has-been-called-the-religion-before_2161316.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6a8/peter-matthiessen-5795_awe_zen-has-been-called-the-religion-before_2161316.jpg) > ““Zen has been called the "religion before religion," which is to say that anyone can practice, including those committed to another faith. And that phrase evokes that natural religion of our early childhood, when heaven and a splendorous earth were one. But soon the child's clear eye is clouded over by ideas and opinions, preconceptions and abstractions. Not until years later does an instinct come that a vital sense of mystery has been withdrawn. The sun glints through the pines, and the heart is pierced in a moment of beauty and strange pain, like a memory of paradise. After that day, at the bottom of each breath, there is a hollow place filled with longing. We become seekers without knowing that we seek, and at first, we long for something "greater" than ourselves, something apart and far away. It is not a return to childhood, for childhood is not a truly enlightened state. Yet to seek one's own true nature is "a way to lead you to your long lost home." To practice Zen means to realize one's existence moment after moment, rather than letting life unravel in regret of the past and daydreaming of the future. To "rest in the present" is a state of magical simplicity...out of the emptiness can come a true insight into our natural harmony all creation. To travel this path, one need not be a 'Zen Buddhist', which is only another idea to be discarded like 'enlightenment,' and like 'the Buddha' and like 'God.”” [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Zen is a universal, innate sense of wonder that becomes obscured by concepts, and rediscovering it restores present‑moment awareness and longing for unity. **In simple terms:** Zen reveals a natural, childlike wonder hidden by ideas. Key Takeaway Cultivate present‑moment awareness. Themes spirituality mindfulness longing nature Mood contemplative nostalgic Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal meditation - nature walks - creative work - daily mindfulness Key Concepts Zen nondualism presence Questions to Reflect On - How can you notice moments of natural wonder? - What habits cloud your present awareness? A Different Perspective The path may feel abstract without concrete practice. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Awe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/awe/) [Buddhism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/buddhism/) [Early childhood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/early-childhood/) [Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) [Meditation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meditation/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [True nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/true-nature/) [Zen buddhist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/zen-buddhist/) ## Related quotes > [To practice Zen means to realize one's existence in the beauty and clarity of this present moment, rather than letting life unravel in useless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-daishin-buksbazen/to-practice-zen-means-to-realize-one-s-existence-in-the-beauty-and/) [John Daishin Buksbazen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-daishin-buksbazen/) > [“Zen is often called the Sect of Buddha-mind, as it lays stress on the awakening of the Mind of Buddha.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kaiten-nukariya/zen-is-often-called-the-sect-of-buddha-mind-as-it-lays-stress-on-the/) [Kaiten Nukariya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kaiten-nukariya/) > [“What is Zen? 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They are balanced and grounded.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/people-who-practice-zen-correctly-are-not-spaced-out-or-unrealistic/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [“Activities such as chanting, bowing, and sitting in zazen are not at all wasted, even when done merely formally, for even this superficial encounter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-harold-cook/activities-such-as-chanting-bowing-and-sitting-in-zazen-are-not-at/) [Francis Harold Cook](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-harold-cook/) ## More by Peter Matthiessen > [Alec Wilkinson is a spare, clear, and lucid writer who works in stylistic simplicity with material that is not simple at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/alec-wilkinson-is-a-spare-clear-and-lucid-writer-who-works-in/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [Figures dark beneath their loads pass down the far bank of the river, rendered immortal by the streak of sunset upon their shoulders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/figures-dark-beneath-their-loads-pass-down-the-far-bank-of-the-river/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [I think in any writing you're paying attention to detail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/i-think-in-any-writing-you-re-paying-attention-to-detail/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [The great stillness in these landscapes that once made me restless seeps into me day by day, and with it the unreasonable feeling that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/the-great-stillness-in-these-landscapes-that-once-made-me-restless/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [“...experience was static in the valley; it was older than time itself, for time was a thing of but two generations, dated by moons…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/experience-was-static-in-the-valley-it-was-older-than-time-itself-for/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [“The central feature of the practice of meditation and hard work known as Zen is that, as Matthiessen says, it “has no patience with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/the-central-feature-of-the-practice-of-meditation-and-hard-work-known/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [Be light, light, light - full of light!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-matthiessen/be-light-light-light-full-of-light/) [Peter Matthiessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-matthiessen/) > [For some time I watch the coming of the night? 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And that phrase evokes that natural religion of our early childhood, when heaven and a splendorous earth were one. But soon the child's clear eye is clouded over by ideas and opinions, preconceptions and abstractions. Not until years later does an instinct come that a vital sense of mystery has been withdrawn. The sun glints through the pines, and the heart is pierced in a moment of beauty and strange pain, like a memory of paradise. After that day, at the bottom of each breath, there is a hollow place filled with longing. We become seekers without knowing that we seek, and at first, we long for something \"greater\" than ourselves, something apart and far away. It is not a return to childhood, for childhood is not a truly enlightened state. Yet to seek one's own true nature is \"a way to lead you to your long lost home.\" To practice Zen means to realize one's existence moment after moment, rather than letting life unravel in regret of the past and daydreaming of the future. 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