Zen masters teach people: Attune yourself to nature by attuning to your own awareness of what is all around you, in each passing moment. Then you’d discover the peaceful moment that is always there as a potential. You can be aware of the whole, experiencing the wonders of nature with your own wonder. You are no different: You are nature itself.

There is not external standard in nature. Each flower, every tree, expresses its own nature, complete and perfect. If you go out into a forest, you will see tall trees and short ones, wide ones and narrow ones. Even within species, there are individual differences. Yet, trees don’t aspire to be taller or shorter: They just grow to the height they grow. This way of nature is our way, too. People become disturbed when they engage in comparisons or aspirations to be different from what they truly are. Meditation can help people to become aware of and the fully accept their true nature. Problems then fade away. Nothing is missing, and in this moment living in accord with our true nature, we are complete just as we are. -- Pg 67,

 “The handkerchief is one whole, one piece of woven silk. By my tying knots nothing has changed except its appearance. It is still a handkerchief”

Buddha’s point was that our senses, our ideas, our thoughts are all simply part of the flow of consciousness. Even though things fill our consciousness, our original mind is always clear and calm. Sometimes, we identify ourselves more with our problems (like the knots) that with our clear mind (the handkerchief), and this identification brings discomfort. We feel trapped, experiencing ourselves tied up in problems instead of recognizing that the problems are only a quality of our being, not our being itself. Anxiety can be overcome as clients begin to recognize hoe they are creating it by mistaking the knots for the handkerchief. --Pg 142

Zen Meditation in Psychotherapy, -Simpkins, A.