From Firewood to Insight: A Zen Journey with Eno and Shinzan Roshi

Exploring Zen with Eno and Shinzan Roshi

This week, I shared a session focused on two remarkable Zen teachers: Eno (a simple, illiterate lumberjack whose life changed through a single moment of insight) and Shinzan Roshi, whose teachings form the foundation of the Zenways lineage. I chose Eno simply because I resonate with his story—a man living an ordinary life and completely unremarkable in the conventional sense.

Eno’s turning point came when he overheard a verse from the Diamond Sutra: “Abide nowhere and let the mind come forth.” In that moment, he realized that all ideas about self, others, good, and evil are not fixed truths but mental constructions. Nothing mystical appeared—rather, something fell away. This “falling away” is what Zen calls awakening.

Shinzan Roshi emphasized a similar clarity through the concept of kensho, which simply means “seeing into one’s true nature directly.” For him, the three priorities of Zen practice were all kensho:

  1. Seeing clearly: Not automatically believing every thought, understanding that the mind constructs stories about the self and the world.
  2. Letting arise and pass: Allowing thoughts, emotions, and judgments to come and go without grasping or rejecting them.
  3. Living awakening: Bringing this clarity into daily life, letting insight guide our speech, actions, and relationships.

A key point is that awakening does not require special circumstances. Eno’s insight happened while working, not in a temple. Zen practice is about seeing life clearly as it is, whether washing dishes, walking down the street, or listening to another person. Ordinary moments are the canvas of insight.

In the session, participants reflected on two questions in pairs:

  1. Where does your mind get caught in ideas about yourself?
  2. Have there been ordinary moments where something loosened, where you simply flowed with life without trying to fix it?

Through Eno’s story and Shinszan Roshi’s teaching, we see that awakening is not reserved for the educated or spiritually impressive—it is available to anyone willing to see clearly in this moment. Zen, in its essence, is about presence, simplicity, and clarity, even in ordinary life.