Zen is the practice of inquiry, the act of studying the self, of looking into the matter of our lives, of investigating the fundamental questions that arise from our sentience: Who are we? Why are we here? Why do we suffer? What is our correct role in this world and our correct relationship to others? How can we truly help?

Zen Master Dae Gak, in his book Going Beyond Buddha, describes entering Zen through the practice of Listening:

"Listening is the fundamental practice of any spiritual path. By definition, 'to listen' means to pay attention in order to hear, to heed, or to attend. In listening, we perceive things as they are. To perceive is to become one with our experience. Becoming one is to manifest in the moment, alive and immediate. If our listening is partial, there is still an 'I' who is listening, and our listening is tainted by this. It is only when listening is complete that the enlightened mind appears.

Listening as a practice can be a very direct way to take spiritual practice into everyday life. Because listening is a part of both the spiritual and mundane realms, the barrier between 'Zen' and life dissolves in listening practice. Zen practice is functional whether listening to the breath or listening to a friend complain, whether sitting in a temple or riding on a bus, while attending the most sacred ceremony or listening to the screech and clatter of a busy hospital emergency room. It takes no particular skill or understanding to listen. It only takes trying. So we say, Try, try, try for ten thousand years. Because we are humans, we are compassionate by nature. But our compassion becomes lost in self-interest. Listening is a practice that returns us to our true way. The way of human beings. The way of compassion."

Zen Master Seung Sahn says this about Zen in his book The Compass of Zen:

"Entering the gate of Zen practice simply means returning to your mind as it naturally is before thinking arises. This point is universal substance and your true nature. People sometimes call it true self, or nature, or Buddha, or God, or energy, or mind, or consciousness, or holiness, or the Absolute. People call it many, many things, but originally this point has no name and no form. That is because this point is already before thinking. It cannot be grasped with conceptual thought. If you call it anything, or give it any kind of name, this is only thinking and understanding, and none of that can help you. The great Chinese Zen master Nam Cheon said that attaining our true self is "not dependent on understanding, and not dependent on not-understanding. Understanding is illusion; not-understanding is just blankness." Your relationship to this world and your relationship to yourself are not based on thinking. Your correct relationship to this life does not come out of any kind of understanding. You cannot reason life or death. So if you want to pass the gate of Zen, first you must completely cut off all attachment to thinking, and return to your mind before thinking arises. For teaching purposes , we sometimes call this point don't-know mind. Attaining it is very simple, and not far away. Simply ask yourself, very deeply, "What am I?" What appears is only "Don't know..." This is already your true nature."