ADVANCED TRAINING
Forest Bathing as a Shamanic Practice: Rewilding Your Spirit Through Nature’s Medicine

Forest Bathing as a Shamanic Practice: Rewilding Your Spirit Through Nature’s Medicine

Jul 9, 2025 | Nature

Engagement with the Element of Nature at BEZA’s Zen Academy in Cape Town, Western Cape, highlighting mindfulness and spiritual growth through outdoor meditation practices and natural connection.

Nature - Way of Medicine

– Composed by Letitia Webber

Part 2 of a 4-Part Journey

This is an invitation to awaken the medicine within you, to listen deeply to the voice of Nature, and to discover what it means to live in harmony with your truest authentic self.

In recent years, forest bathing—known as shinrin-yoku in Japan—has captured global attention as a powerful way to reconnect with nature and restore wellbeing. Rooted in mindful immersion in the forest, it offers profound health benefits such as stress reduction, immune support, and mental clarity. But beyond these physical and psychological effects lies a deeper, spiritual dimension that shamanism has long embraced.

At Born as the Earth Zen Academy, we invite you to explore forest bathing as a shamanic practice—a sacred journey into the living world where nature spirits, ancient wisdom, and the medicine wheel guide your path. This practice is not just about being in the forest; it’s about rewilding your spirit, awakening authentic connection, and discovering the transformative power of nature’s medicine.

Across Europe and beyond, seekers are turning to ancient woods—like the Black Forest in Germany or the Caledonian Forest in Scotland—not only for their beauty but for their spiritual potency. Join us as we dive into this rich tradition and offer practical ways to deepen your own forest bathing experience through shamanism.

What is Forest Bathing?

Forest bathing originated in Japan in the 1980s as a nature therapy practice designed to encourage people to slow down and immerse themselves fully in the forest environment. The term shinrin-yoku literally means “taking in the forest atmosphere” or “forest bathing.”

The Science Behind Forest Bathing

Numerous studies show that spending time in forests can:

  • Lower cortisol (stress hormone) levels
  • Boost immune function through exposure to phytoncides (natural chemicals released by trees)
  • Improve mood and reduce anxiety
  • Enhance focus and creativity

These benefits have led to forest bathing’s popularity worldwide, especially in urbanized societies craving nature connection.

Forest Bathing vs. Shamanic Forest Bathing

While modern forest bathing emphasizes health and mindfulness, shamanic forest bathing goes deeper. It recognizes forests as conscious, living beings inhabited by nature spirits—guardians of the earth’s wisdom. The forest becomes a sacred teacher and healer, inviting you into a relationship rather than just a place to visit.

forest bathing

Shamanic Forest Bathing: A Deeper Connection

In shamanism, the forest is not a backdrop but a vibrant, sentient realm. Trees, plants, animals, stones, and waters are all alive with spirit and intelligence. Shamans journey into these realms to communicate with nature spirits, seeking guidance, healing, and transformation.

The Medicine Wheel and the Forest

As you walk through the forest, you are invited to connect with the elements:

  • Fire: The sun’s warmth on your skin, the energy of transformation and passion that stirs within the forest’s heart.

  • Water: Streams, dew, and rainfall—cleansing, flowing, and carrying the wisdom of renewal through every living thing.

  • Earth: The rich soil beneath your feet, the roots grounding you in stability, nourishment, and belonging.

  • Nature: The living tapestry of plants, animals, fungi, and the wild unpredictability that brings the forest to life.

  • Stone: Ancient rocks and boulders, silent witnesses to time, holding memory, strength, and the deep wisdom of the land.

This elemental awareness deepens your immersion and aligns you with the unique rhythms and teachings of the forest.

The Academy Medicine Wheel at BEZA’s Zen Academy in Cape Town, South Africa, used for spiritual growth and healing, integrating mindfulness, Zen meditation, and Shamanic practices.

Ancient Woods and Modern Seekers

Europe is home to some of the world’s oldest and most sacred forests, such as:

These forests have long been places of spiritual significance, where indigenous peoples and modern seekers alike find connection and healing. Today, many are rediscovering these landscapes through forest bathing, shamanic retreats, and nature spirituality practices.

Caledonian Forest

Rewilding the Spirit

Forest bathing as shamanic practice is about rewilding—returning to your natural, authentic self. It’s a process of shedding societal conditioning and reconnecting with your primal essence. The forest’s unpredictability teaches surrender and trust, inviting you to embrace change and transformation.

Practical Shamanic Forest Bathing Techniques

1. Setting Your Intention

Before entering the forest, take a moment to set a clear intention. What do you seek? Healing, guidance, presence? Speak or silently hold this intention as a sacred invitation.

2. Grounding and Creating Sacred Space

Stand barefoot if possible, feeling the earth’s energy (Read: Earth’s Deep Hum – The Schumann Resonance). Visualize roots extending from your feet deep into the soil. You may call in your spirit guides or nature allies for protection and support.

3. Mindful Walking and Sensory Awareness

Walk slowly and attentively. Engage all senses:
Listen deeply to bird songs, rustling leaves, and the forest’s hum.
Touch bark, leaves, and stones, feeling their textures and energies.
Smell the earth, flowers, and pine.
Observe colors, shapes, and light patterns.

Allow yourself to be fully present.

4. Listening and Communicating with Nature Spirits

Pause to sit or stand quietly. Open your heart and mind to receive messages—through images, feelings, or intuitive knowing. You might sense the presence of a tree spirit, an animal guide, or the spirit of the stream (Read: Since The Beginning, Water Announces Life).

5. Rituals and Offerings

Offer gratitude by leaving small gifts—water, herbs, or natural objects—respectfully and without harm. You can also sing, drum, or speak prayers to honor the forest’s spirit.

6. Reflection and Journaling

After your forest bath, take time to journal your experiences, insights, and any messages received. This deepens your integration and awareness.

Amazonian Shamanism- Forest Spirits and Plant Guardians

Forest Bathing and Authenticity: Lessons from Nature’s Unpredictability

The forest is a living teacher of authenticity. Its cycles of growth, decay, and renewal mirror our own spiritual journeys. Nature’s unpredictability invites us to let go of control, embrace vulnerability, and trust our inner wisdom.

Shapeshifting—the ability to embody animal or elemental spirits—is a powerful metaphor in shamanism for transformation. As you bathe in the forest’s energy, you may feel called to embody the strength of a bear, the agility of a fox, or the stillness of a stone. (Read: Nature Spirits in Shamanism: Guardians and Guides of the Natural World). These experiences guide you toward authentic expression and personal growth.

A Call to the Seekers

If you feel called to rewild your spirit and deepen your connection with nature’s medicine, explore Born as the Earth Zen Academy’s meditation and shamanic training. Our programs provide tools, teachings, and community support to help you walk your authentic path.

Sign up for our newsletter to receive guided practices, insights, and invitations to upcoming workshops.

Discover more about our Apprentice Training and begin your transformative journey today.

Apply Now

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: What is the difference between forest bathing and shamanic forest bathing?
A: Forest bathing generally focuses on mindful immersion and health benefits, while shamanic forest bathing includes spiritual practices that connect you with nature spirits and the medicine wheel for deeper transformation.

Q: Can anyone practice shamanic forest bathing?
A: Yes, with respect, intention, and openness, anyone can begin to cultivate this sacred relationship with the forest.

Q: How often should I practice forest bathing to feel benefits?
A: Even short, regular visits to natural spaces can be beneficial. For deeper shamanic connection, longer immersive sessions or retreats are ideal.

Q: What should I bring or prepare for a forest bathing session?
A: Comfortable clothing, a journal, water, and a small offering if you wish. Most importantly, bring an open heart and willingness to listen.

Medicine of NATURE Module

Way of Medicine

16 July - 30 August 2026

Born as the Earth Zen Academy | BEZA | Elemental | Zen | Mentoring | Meditation | Generational Healing | Ancestors | Divination | Shamanic | Shamanism | Gatekeeper | DANA | Community Council | Buddhism | Spirituality | Nature | Mindfulness | Enlightenment | Awakening | Daido Roshi | Consciousness | Holistic | True Self | Wisdom | Medicine

Make Way for your Truth - The world needs your undomesticated, truest self in this moment. This training is for the committed ones who are eager to uncover their authentic selves and give the gift of their unwavering Truth to the world. We will explore the subtle and spontaneous workings of Nature as a guide to bringing you into a more intimate relationship with your originality and genuineness. Read the signs around you. Meet unpredictability with authenticity and curiosity. Trust your medicine to meet revolutionary moments with truth. In this Module we study medicine gifts; transformation; the trickster; authentic expression; transformation; shapeshifting and truth.

Apply Here

Personal Shamanic Training with Nangaku

These private training sessions are a unique opportunity to learn various shamanic practices. It is recommended for you to plan for ongoing weekly or monthly personalized training sessions. The first session would engaged to discern where your particular inclination lies in the realm of shamanic practices: Dreamwork; Divination; Rituals; Healing; Intuition; The Medicine Wheel; Myths; Spirit Work etc..

Once on your path of self-exploration, individualized training and practices will be offered to you in which you will be guided to acknowledge, affirm and nurture your unique gifts on your path to becoming a healer.

Register Here
Engagement with the Element of Nature at BEZA’s Zen Academy in Cape Town, Western Cape, highlighting mindfulness and spiritual growth through outdoor meditation practices and natural connection.

Why explore Shamanism?

I want to learn various shamanic practices

I want to expand my consciousness 

I want to access my inner wisdom

I want to know what my unique spiritual gifts are

Benefits of Shamanism

PERSONAL SHAMANIC TRAINING

R500 per session (Africans)

€75 per session (Internationals)

Live training sessions with Ekan Nangaku (50min session)

Tues – Thurs  1-5pm SAST

Register Here

2. Advanced Training Track

Advanced Training begins with becoming an Apprentice through the Apprentice Gate. Once at least 2 Elemental Modules have been completed you may progress through the Student gate and then on through the Facilitator Gate.

GATEKEEPER APPRENTICE TRAINING

Apprentices enter Advanced Training through participating in one 2-month elemental module, or by journeying through all 5 elemental modules around BEZA’s Medicine Wheel which lasts 10 months.

Includes:

  • All of The 5 Gates offered in the Guest Track above
  • Zen & Elemental Meditation Guidance Training
  • Advanced Circle of Connection Training
  • Personal Divination sessions
  • Regular Mentoring sessions
  • Prerequisite to enter the Student Track

2 Months of Comprehensive Training per module

2 x R1500/€225 monthly DANA subscription payments per module

Learn more

“There are mountains hidden in hiddenness…”

“There are mountains hidden in hiddenness…”

Sep 19, 2024 | Beyond the Edge, Stone

Shamanic Gatekeeper Apprentice Training:

Creative module of STONE.

Dear Beautiful Creative Being,

Starting on the 5th October, a cohort of deeply curious and dedicated BEZA students and apprentices will embark on an 8 week deep dive into the creative power of stones.

 

THE CREATIVE POWER OF STONES!?  Yes, you read that right!  

 

“When we connect with our bones, the stones of our bodies, we connect with the powerful medicine of the mountains.”

Sharmanic Gatekeeper Apprentice Training

Creative module of STONE

Dear Beautiful Creative Being

Starting on the 5th October, a cohort of deeply curious and dedicated BEZA students and apprentices will embark on an 8 week deep dive into the creative power of stones.

THE CREATIVE POWER OF STONES!?  Yes, you read that right!  

“When we connect with our bones, the stones of our bodies, we connect with the powerful medicine of the mountains.”

Spiritual seekers have been going into the mountains for millennia. They have gone into the spacious, hidden mysteries of the stones to clarify, ground and empower themselves, returning back to the villages to heal and liberate all beings.

You are invited to come and learn with us – to become channels for the wisdom that originates from Mother Earth herself. We will learn how the stones – our bones, the mountains, minerals and metals, when combined or collided, create form – a resonating vibration that travels into the world.

By traveling into the deep memory of your bones, you will come to realize and embrace yourself as the creator! With this response-ability you’ll find power, and with this power an ancient knowing – that what you experience is a reflective resonance of your creation.

The stones and our bones are condensed energy – condensed power. Power and creation are synonomous. Entering our bones we access the power of the creativity to manifest who it is we are.

The time is now to bring that powerful force of creation into manifestation!

This training is for the committed, eager to uncover their limitless creativity. It is through resonance – telling our story, communication, leading, organizing and networking that we manifest our lives. When we study stones we re-cognizethat the bones of our body and their connection to the ancient stories of our being can be engaged to supercharge our creative ability – and hence our freedom.

We explore Stone’s intrinsic power and strength; their capacity for recording and storing information; and how their minerals are the structural building blocks of our bodies and minds, and all communication or transmission channels.

Stones hold a storehouse of secrets. Our evolution has depended on them. They were our first tools; our first art; symbolised our first myths; and the first sounds and languages. Stones have oriented our human collective from conception through to memorialised immortality. Gatekeepers to unknown realms, they inspire us to their noblest peaks and, they become barring barriers and porous boundaries.

The Stones and Mountains – they give us perspective and concepts like duality and unified fields of infinity. They are a record of our travels through tyrannical times to the sweetness of space. By their power and grandeur, our bones – the stones, propel us forward. They fuel our reach as far as far can lead – often to forgetfulness. Yet, they help us remember. Since forever, it has been so.

We all can remember The Way – to those ‘mountains hidden in hiddenness’ where, in their darkest depths, ‘stone women with nothing but eyeball’s in their skulls’ are mystically giving birth to ‘newborns in the night’.

We invite you to join the Creative Stone Module and remember who you are in your bones – to know your purpose, and work with the Stones to express yourself and make yourself whole with the Earth.

All you could ever wish to know is in your hands – a Gatekeeper you are, a Mountain of infinite wisdom. You know this in the stoney-bones of your Earthen body.

Just Ask is the translated name of the powerful mountain shaman who brought me back home through the stones. All you have to do to come back home is just ask.

Ekan Nangaku

Born as the Earth Zen Academy | BEZA | Elemental | Zen | Mentoring | Meditation | Generational Healing | Ancestors | Divination | Shamanic | Shamanism | Gatekeeper | DANA | Community Council | Buddhism | Spirituality | Nature | Mindfulness | Enlightenment | Awakening | Daido Roshi | Consciousness | Holistic | True Self | Wisdom | Medicine
Make Way for your Creative Expression!
  • Return home to your true, whole self and become a Facilitator in the New Earth Consciousness Revolution
  • Regain sovereignty over your spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical intelligence.
  • Access your full potential and serve all beings through wisely dispensing your Medicine Gifts
Throughout the training you will have access to empowering wisdom:
  • Personal development within a spiritual community
  • Integrative training supported by Level II & III students
  • 80hrs contact time per elemental module
  • Inclusive of supportive embodiment modalities: meditation, mentoring, community council, divination, yoga, Qi Gong, breath work, creative arts, movement and more.
Apply Here
Born as the Earth Zen Academy | BEZA | Elemental | Zen | Mentoring | Meditation | Generational Healing | Ancestors | Divination | Shamanic | Shamanism | Gatekeeper | DANA | Community Council | Buddhism | Spirituality | Nature | Mindfulness | Enlightenment | Awakening | Daido Roshi | Consciousness | Holistic | True Self | Wisdom | Medicine
Make Way for your Creative Expression!
  • Return home to your true, whole self and become a Facilitator in the New Earth Consciousness Revolution
  • Regain sovereignty over your spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical intelligence.
  • Access your full potential and serve all beings through wisely dispensing your Medicine Gifts
Throughout the training you will have access to empowering wisdom:
  • Personal development within a spiritual community
  • Integrative training supported by Level II & III students
  • 80hrs contact time per elemental module
  • Inclusive of supportive embodiment modalities: meditation, mentoring, community council, divination, yoga, Qi Gong, breath work, creative arts, movement and more.
Apply Here
BEZA turns Two!

BEZA turns Two!

Sep 19, 2024 | Beyond the Edge

The Road Less Travelled:

Making a difference.

Dear BEZA friends,

It was two years ago on the 2nd of September 2022 when BEZA welcomed our first 3 Apprentices for our opening training aptly named the Visionary Fire Module. Working with the energy of a new moon, the initiates gained entry to age-old methodologies and learned how to access inspiration, intuition, and heal generational wounding.

The Road Less Travelled

Making a difference

Dear BEZA friends,

It was two years ago on the 2nd of September 2022 when BEZA welcomed our first 3 Apprentices for our opening training aptly named the Visionary Fire Module. Working with the energy of a new moon, the initiates gained entry to age-old methodologies and learned how to access inspiration, intuition, and heal generational wounding.

This 2nd anniversary is a marker on our short journey. It is a moment to peek over our shoulders and see the less travelled road we had taken, and how it has made all the difference.

Without any budget, media platforms, name recognition, or desire for compensation, we opened the gates to BEZA’s online curriculum. With trust, a deep vow, open-hearted generosity, and a vision of merging two ancient spiritual lineages we began offering their conjoined wisdom.

Within 2 weeks of our launch back in 2022 I became a monk. This came with responsibility, empowerment and resolute faith to practice the first teaching I received from Seido Roshi at the ordination. Knowing little of what was before me, I asked Roshi for any guidance he had to offer…

“Open hands,” was his simple answer. And so, opening my hands, I let go of any expectation of what BEZA may become, and vowed to receive and serve the immeasurable perfection of the Buddha Way, the profundity of the Dharma, and the rare jewel of Sangha.

Since then we have been facilitating the homeward journey of over 120 awakening Buddhas in our steadily growing Sangha, 10 of whom have become formal students, two of whom are student facilitators. Together have planted over 300 indigenous trees – one for each who has come to taste the Dharma.

We continue to teach and learn with the cycles of the moon. As we approach the culmination of our second year of Apprentice Training, 16 apprentices will conclude the Medicine of Nature Module as they journey around the Medicine Wheel. Attendance in our daily meditations is regular and growing. Community Council has introduced the ancient art of the talking circle to over one hundred people. Since our birthing, we have had the privilege of performing over 200 divinations and 500 mentoring sessions for aspirants along the way.

Recently, BEZA hosted its first international student for a 21 day shamanic journey into the culture, landscape and spirituality of South Africa -an expanded journey is planned for November 2025. In May next year, a group of BEZA students and apprentices will travel to Japan and meet Seido Roshi at his international training monastery to receive the Buddhist precepts.

By the end of 2024, Born as the Earth Zen Academy will be registered as a non-profit.

Though we have only just begun, and as yet do not have our own land, BEZA is grounded firmly in the spirit of lineage. We take refuge in having received the baton from thousands of years of teacher-student transmissions and willingly carry this responsibility to share these sacred teachings with generations to come.

From no thing at all, BEZA, its Dharma and Sangha are blooming into flower. Noble seekers have come, received and offered gifts of generosity into a space created with, and for, well… generosity. The teaching of ‘Open hands’ is opening hearts. This spirit is materializing into substance, a new ground of abundance, where friends find new eyes and new pathways to horizons beyond the edge of what they thought was possible.

For all sentient beings, indeed for a New Earth, this is happening beyond any expectation.

May we each continue to water anuttarasamyak-sambodhi – the absolute ground of being, with love.

Honey in the Heart, 13 Thank-you’s.

Ekan Nangaku 

The Transformative Power of Talismanic Art

The Transformative Power of Talismanic Art

Sep 28, 2023 | Earth, Nature, Zen Buddhism

~ by Alison Evans

In May 2023 I went to a talk in Stanford, WC. A sign caught my eye – “Born as the Earth – a Zen Heart School”. I went over for a closer look and landed up in a conversation with Nangaku, its founder, who is a Zen monk and initiated shaman.

A 6 month course was starting in July. Little did I know, my life was about to change forever. We kicked off with the Visionary Fire Module.

I set an intention for the month. We were given instruction on how to practice Zazen Meditation. Then I was trained in the Protocols and the Agreements of Community Council. My first Council was amazing. I cried my way through it and felt so supported. The guidance was just lovely – like a warm hug. I learnt the importance of speaking from the “I”.

We received a whirlwind of information about our relationship to our ancestors, inspiration, passion and the transmutational power of Fire. I was tasked with building a home-altar. The ritualistic creativity was right up my street! I learned how to communicate with my ancestors by using the rhythm of a stick drumming on a stone to mimic my heartbeat.

We were encouraged to grieve with them – healing tears are gifts for the ancestors. It was as though someone had uncorked all that I had been suppressing for so many years. The tears came, and with them my healing began. Gathering up sticks of all I needed to transmute, I placed them on my altar. I burnt my sticks in a powerful healing ceremony. I released, and again cried and cried.

I received 2 monthly coaching sessions, and a divination – which was intriguing. I listened to my divination 6 times before I started integrating what had being communicated. We closed off our Fire Module which allowed my healing to marinate before starting the Compassionate Water Module.

Slightly more educated and better prepared, I packed up all my altar pieces and photos of my ancestors to create my Water shrine while travelling through Italy. I created temporary altars every second day. I set a new intention for the month.

Water and I resonated immediately – it all made so much sense. Water, the great balancer returns to equilibrium as fast as possible with its medicine of solving dilemmas, compassion, reflection and transparency.

I meditated my way across Italy, practising observing what my internal waters were doing. I experimented with my emotions and how they affected my water and felt very empowered to regain control over external influences.

I had 2 fantastic coaching sessions with Nangaku when I learnt that my angels always look out for me. I learnt too, that “those” demons are mine. They dedicated to keeping me safe – a big lesson for me. While people come into my world as angels they may leave as demons. Others may experience me as both an angel or a demon depending on how they respond to me. The lesson here for me was Oneness.

I loved my Water ceremony to whom I offered eggs, milk and honey, along with messages and symbolic gifts to release old blockages.

We closed off our Water Module and allowed the medicine of Fire and Water to deeply integrate.

The Grounded Earth Module began in September. I am collecting sacred items, as I have always done (though more consciously now), to create new altars for each month’s Elemental Training.

My altar is becoming my safe space. As I find my voice and become more empowered I am loving the Wednesday evening Community Council. My tears are drying up. I feel calmer, more grounded and centered. I learnt a valuable lesson on how to stay in balance by being in my centre. When off-balance, I can simply return to my centre and detach from my constant internal dialogue.

My intentions are more resolute and clear. Through meditation I am creating longer pauses between triggering stimuli and my habitual responses to them. My emotional waters are calming and my intuition is sharper!

We are about to end our Grounding Earth Module, and I am preparing to gift Mother Earth my homecoming collections.

“I have become aware that the art I had been instinctively creating using sticks, stones, feathers and bones, is my unique medicine gift to the world. I completed my first “conscious” Talismanic Art Piece. I based it on my journey with Born as the Earth School so far.”

The unlocked padlock and key represents the Gate of the Gatekeeper Apprentice Training.

This wisdom is made readily available and generously shared by Nangaku and his apprentice Raine.

The circle represents the medicine wheel as experienced in my divinations with Nangaku.

I bring the ancestors and a candle in as tribute to the Fire Dragon.

Seashells and yin-yang duality, purposely off-balance, represent the Water Dragon.

The centre piece, Mother Earth, is connected to the other 4 Modules.

Although I haven’t completed the Nature Module yet, I have chosen a feather and seed pods as representation.

The stones in the Stone Module are self-explanatory – they and the sand and seashell mix remind me of “As Above, So Below.”

The coins carry 2 messages. They represent coins from my divinations and the price paid for my impact on the environment.

The chain, symbolic of each one of us working together to carry the gift that is Earth School – its strength dependent on the weakest link. Each link the same, carrying the whole.

The “tree”, larger than life, grows out of the circle reaching out into new realms.

Nothing can be unheard or unseen. The wisdom I have already gained through this experience with Nangaku and Earth School has changed my very being. I know it will continue to do so – nothing will ever be the same again – thank God!

Artificial Intelligence vs Authentic Intelligence: A Zen Buddhist Perspective on Consciousness

Artificial Intelligence vs Authentic Intelligence: A Zen Buddhist Perspective on Consciousness

Sep 27, 2023 | Earth, Nature, Zen Buddhism

– Composed by Duane Steffens, and Edited Glenn Nangaku Leisching

Introduction

In the age of rapid technological advancement, the debate surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) versus authentic intelligence has gained considerable momentum.

While AI has transformed our world with its computational prowess, it is worthwhile to consider how Zen Buddhism views these concepts, especially concerning consciousness.

This article delves into the intriguing comparison between artificial and nature’s authentic intelligence from a Zen Buddhist perspective.

“Everything we are talking about, AI or computing power, will never be able to beat the complexity that nature presents to us. The real intelligence is Nature’s Intelligence. AI is good, but AI is just a tool to serve Nature’s Intelligence. Nature’s Intelligence is four and half billion years old. To think that something that is less than a hundred years old can beat something that is four billion years is a bit of an extension.” – Agam Khare

 

Understanding Artificial Intelligence

Defining AI

Artificial intelligence refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines, allowing them to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. These tasks encompass problem-solving, language comprehension, and even decision-making.

The Growth of AI

Over the years, AI has evolved significantly, thanks to machine learning, neural networks, and deep learning algorithms. These technologies enable AI systems to adapt and improve their performance based on data and experience.

AI’s Impact on Society

AI has found its way into various aspects of our lives, from virtual assistants on our smartphones to self-driving cars and recommendation algorithms on streaming platforms. It has streamlined processes and made our lives more convenient.

Nature’s Authentic Intelligence in Zen Buddhism

The Zen Approach to Consciousness

Zen Buddhism places a strong emphasis on mindfulness, meditation, and self-awareness. Through inner exploration in meditation (an ancient technology) practitioners de-condition themselves from the veil of mental programs to experience the pre-existing state of enlightenment – their authentic state of natural intelligence.

Consciousness and the Self

Zen views consciousness as a complex interplay of thoughts, emotions, and sensations. It questions the nature of the self and the concept of ego, seeking to transcend these barriers to attain a higher level of consciousness.

The Quest for Authentic Intelligence

In Zen, authentic intelligence is not about computational power or problem-solving abilities; it’s about the ability to perceive reality and respond with natural authenticity – without the filter of ego and desires. It involves being fully present in the moment and achieving a deep understanding of the self and the universe.

Bridging the Gap

Finding Harmony

While artificial intelligence and authentic intelligence may seem worlds apart, there is a way to find harmony between them. Zen teaches us to use all technologies mindfully, ensuring it enhances our lives without overshadowing our authentic experiences or causing harm.

The Role of Technology

From a Zen perspective, technology can be a tool to aid in our quest for authentic intelligence. Online meditation and self-awareness training, for instance, can guide us on our journey to awakening, making authentic intelligence more accessible in our fast-paced world.

It is important too, to remind ourselves that spiritual technologies and their instruments to support our human well-being have existed for thousands of years. Modern, digital technologies have at their root, these ancient, practical technologies which were created from the interconnection between humans and the intelligence of nature.

The Intelligence of Nature – Examples of Nature’s Authentic Intelligence

In contrast to current AI methods that focus on specific tasks and rely on large amounts of offline data and extensive, slow, and mostly supervised learning, natural intelligence is quick, versatile, agile, and open-ended.

 

Fungi – The Original Internet?

With an estimated 1.5m species of fungi, their fine fungal threads called mycelium act as an underground, natural ‘internet’, linking the roots of different plants. Up to 90 per cent of land plants are in a mutually-beneficial relationship with fungi. By linking into the network, plants share nutrients and information with neighbours and can sabotage unwelcome plants by spreading toxic chemicals.

 

Birds have (GPS) Global Positioning Systems!

For centuries, scientists dismissed birds as being less intelligent than mammals. Now they’re finding a new place in the pecking order. Tests have shown rooks and crows to be better than eight-year-old children at reaching treats by making and using wire hooks. Birds can remember where they hid thousands of pieces of food even after landscapes are covered in a metre of snow. Birds can find their way home after migrating thousands of miles. Arctic terns, for example, travel an average of 44,000 miles per year.

 

Plants – The Sensorial Superconductors

Humans have five basic senses. Scientists believe plants have at least 20. Plants release pheromones to warn of insect attacks and other plants respond. They also send distress signals, attracting predators of the insects that threaten to eat them. Plants are sensitive. Every root apex can detect 20 physical and chemical parameters, from light and gravity to humidity and pathogens. There are at least 600 species of animal-eating plants, including the venus flytrap. Plants can survive even after losing 90 per cent or more of their biomass.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is the essence of artificial intelligence?

Artificial intelligence aims to replicate human intelligence in machines to perform various tasks.

2. How does Zen Buddhism view consciousness?

Zen Buddhism sees consciousness as a complex interplay of thoughts and emotions, seeking to transcend the ego and attain higher awareness.

3. Can technology enhance our quest for authentic intelligence?

Yes, technology can aid in our journey toward authentic intelligence by providing tools and guidance for self-awareness.

4.Is it possible to balance technology and authentic experiences?

Absolutely, finding harmony between technology and authentic experiences is attainable through mindfulness and conscious use of technology.

Conclusion

In the clash of artificial versus natural, authentic intelligence, it’s vital to remember that they need not be mutually exclusive. Zen Buddhism teaches us that both can coexist harmoniously, with technology serving as a means to enhance our understanding of consciousness. Embracing this duality can lead to a more balanced and fulfilling life.

What’s important to remember is that intelligence, like language, is a tool used by nature and humans. Be wise! Maintain your sovereignty by not allowing yourself to be used, limited or manipulated by any tool.

In today’s tech-driven world, the relationship between artificial and authentic intelligence is more relevant than ever. By integrating the wisdom of Zen Buddhism into our lives, we can navigate this complex landscape with mindfulness and a deeper understanding of consciousness.