A Buddha Zen Story
- Dec 11, 2025
- 2 min read
Today we enter… A Buddha. A story so brief you might think it has no teaching at all. But its simplicity hides a pivot, a turning of the whole mind.
Let’s walk in quietly.
Let the Story Unfold
A man once asked the Buddha:
“What are you?”
The Buddha replied:
“I am awake.”
Nothing more.
Not a god. Not a prophet Not a magician. Not a philosopher.
Just:
“I am awake.”
Sit With the Meaning
The man wanted identity. A category. A definition he could hold.
The Buddha offered a state, not a self.
Awake.
Not as a title, but as a condition of being:
Nothing clung to.
Nothing defended.
Nothing chased.
Nothing resisted.
To be awake in the Buddhist senseis not to possess some cosmic insight.
It is to meet every moment without being pulled into the dream:
the dream of self-image,
the dream of fear,
the dream of achievement,
the dream of “what should be happening instead.”
The Buddha’s answer cuts the question at the root:
“What are you?” is the wrong inquiry.
The right inquiry is:
“What is here when the dream falls away?”
Awakening is the absence of confusion, not the acquisition of knowledge.
It is a subtraction, not an addition.
It is the simplest thing in the world —which is why the mind keeps missing it.
Turn Inward With Your Parts
Which part of you searches for an identity solid enough to feel safe?
How does your system respond to the idea of being “awake” instead of “someone”
Is there a protector that believes awakening must be earned or proven?
What happens inside when you imagine letting go of every story about who you are?
Let Expression Rise
IFS Journaling
Write from the part that needs a name, a role, a definition. Let it speak honestly about what identity protects.
IFS Parts Art
On one side of the page, draw “the self with many labels.” On the other, draw what “awake” feels like in your system —pure sensation, pure presence, no roles.
Somatic IFS
Sit with eyes open.
Let your gaze soften.
Feel your breath move without managing it.
Notice the moment you stop leaning into identity and simply are.
Rest in that.
And if none of these practices call to you, simply sit with the sentence:
I am awake.
Let it echo. Let it dissolve .Let it return as silence.
Stay here with your parts as long as you like, and we’ll meet again in the next story.
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