Dog and Zen

Yes, there are of course great similarities between Buddhist mindfulness meditation and dog-centered meditation.
And both represent a way of dealing with suffering in the world and the possible destructive reactions to it.
But unlike Buddhism, which sees life and thus joy as the source of all suffering and therefore wants to avoid and block it out, dog-centered meditation turns to life and joy, to the reality in which our dogs live.
Because life is also suffering – but not only suffering.
Suffering is good for nothing, not even for a supposed life after the death of the martyrs.
Joy requires the courage to suffer and to die, to accept suffering and death as a part of life.
…
It is the fourth path, which I have already described using the example of the Titanic disaster.
The first three known ways are:
– attempting to save one’s life
– meditative retreat into introspection
– continuing to dance out of ignorance.

A short story:
When the Titanic sank, there was a psychologist on board who heard that some passengers simply kept dancing.
So he went and asked them why they kept dancing, didn’t they know the ship was sinking?
One of the people interviewed replied, “Yes, I know.”
“But why are you still dancing then?”
“Because I know!”