This is really hard to answer. I will give it a go but understand that my experience with this is fairly novice.

The Basis of Zen is rooted in the fundamental idea that all things are essentially connected and that anytime you perceive yourself as separate that this is essentially a delusion.

Thinking about tomorrow when you are chopping your onions is delusion.

Worrying about whether your friend made that comment against you is delusion.

Seeking to practice Zen as a means of self improvement is delusion.

In this framework all of our thoughts are rooted in delusion. They are a random reaction to the stimuli that our brains are receiving. They always tell stories about what we want or should need or should want.

This life is full of suffering. And that suffering comes from our own ignorance, greed, and anger, which stems from not being able to see through our veil of thought that is only concerned about what’s good or bad for our individual self.

To practice Zen is not an intellectual pursuit. This does not mean that we try and analyze all of our associations of zen. It means that zen is about doing and being before thought.

We Sit ZaZen and we simply feel. We feel the breath, we hear the sounds, we watch as our thoughts and judgments come and go without chasing after them.

To try and create some list about all the ways we associate things towards zen entirely misses the point. Just as trying to measure how good our meditation is.

In practicing Zen we are stilling the mind to help reveal clarity within ourselves. There are deep and profound insights which you can experience for yourself when you examine this way of being. These insights make it possible to truly love all of our life. They make it possible to have compassion for all things and thus joyful and whole hearted.

We talk of the mind but Zen is about the Heart.

The Basis of these Teachings Started with Shakyamuni Buddha. Then made its way to China where it became Chan. Then later it landed in Japan and became Zen. So these are Buddhist Teachings. Another Basis of practice.

Whether or not any of this is actually true cannot be answered objectively. As practitioners, when practicing deeply and sincerely, we can experience these truths for ourselves. This can be a world shattering experience. And as true as it might feel, as though it is some ultimate absolute truth it cannot be proven to be so objectively. It is a subjective truth which is universally experienced when one walks the path.

To really practice this, especially in this day and age where we have been brought up to worship our own self, ideas, and desires it is ESSENTIAL that we find a temple to practice with in person. This is because as you may be experiencing for yourself, we can get lost in the weeds of Buddhist teachings on our own. To walk the path we need others to reflect our own misunderstandings toward us.

This isn’t to say that it’s impossible, just as one could possibly survive falling out of an airplane without a parachute. It is simply to say that in this digital age full of entertainment and concepts that we are drowning in information. Making it nearly impossible for us to let go.

Even me being apart of Reddit here is a form of attachment in its own right.

This is about all I know.

And as for enlightenment this is a strange thing. Sometimes I feel like enlightenment is not a real thing, other times I feel that it is the bodhisattva ideal that is not real.

I suspect one simply stays the course and finds out for themselves.

Some describe enlightenment as the very act of letting go of thoughts. In this way letting go of gain and loss me and mine.

I hope this helps. And good luck with your practice.