zazen

Zazen

Principles for writing code with focus and clarity, designed as a Claude Code plugin.

What is Zazen?

Zazen (座禅) means "seated meditation" in Japanese. Like the practice of sitting in focused awareness, Zazen helps developers write code with mindfulness - clear structure, proper naming, and zen-like simplicity.

Zazen provides universal principles that apply to any programming language - the foundational practices for clean, maintainable code.

Installation

bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/daviguides/zazen/main/install.sh)"

Philosophy

The Way of Mindful Code (座禅)

Just as Zen practitioners seek clarity through seated meditation, this plugin defines the principles of mindful coding: structure, naming, and simplicity that bring peace to any codebase.

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few." — Shunryu Suzuki

Core Principles

Principle	Zen Virtue	Purpose
Clear Structure	Form (形)	Logical organization; every piece in its place
Proper Naming	Truth (真)	Names reveal intent; self-documenting code
Zen Simplicity	Emptiness (空)	Remove the unnecessary; embrace minimalism
Error Clarity	Awareness (覚)	Handle errors with grace; fail meaningfully

Relationship with Other Plugins

Zazen is the meditation from which specialized practices emerge:

Plugin	Philosophy	Focus
zazen	Zen (座禅)	Universal principles (any language)
shodo	Calligraphy (書道)	Python standards
kinhin	Walking meditation (経行)	TDD practices
arche	Greek (ἀρχή)	LLM behavioral principles

        ┌────────┐
        │ zazen  │  ← Universal principles
        └───┬────┘
            │
    ┌───────┼───────┐
    ▼       ▼       ▼
┌───────┐ ┌───────┐ ┌────────┐
│ shodo │ │kinhin │ │ kyudo  │
└───────┘ └───────┘ └────────┘
 Python     TDD      Actions

Project Structure

zazen/
├── spec/                    # Normative specifications
│   ├── universal/           # Language-agnostic principles
│   └── principles/          # Zen principles
├── context/                 # Applied examples
│   ├── guides/              # Implementation guides
│   └── checklists/          # Verification checklists
├── prompts/                 # Workflow orchestrators
├── commands/                # User-facing commands
└── skills/                  # Skill definitions

Usage

/zazen:load                  # Load zen principles

License

MIT License

---

"Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water." — Zen proverb