John Lennon, Zen, and the Plans We Never Make
We all know the line. It may be his most famous line after all the various ones pulled from the lyrics of Imagine; John Lennon sang, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” It has become so common it risks sliding into the pile of fortune-cookie wisdom. But if you stop and sit with it, the words point to something deeper, something the Zen masters have been saying for centuries.
In Zen, attachment to the future is just another way of being asleep. We construct plans, chase after imagined outcomes, and in doing so forget that the only thing that is ever real is this moment. The next breath. The bird outside the window. The hum of the refrigerator. Everything else — the schemes and schedules, even our long-term dreams — is just thought. And that ultimately is just static in our head — nothing more than chemically induced fever dreams of our monkey mind — and no more real than Superman or an ethical US president.
Now let’s be careful: Lennon’s line doesn’t denounce planning outright. After all, life needs a bit of order. Zen monks keep strict schedules; farmers have to plant in spring. University students who smoke too much weed and dabble in Zen ideas make the excuse that no future means there is no need for schedule. Plans are not bad and are in fact necessary, but the danger lies in being swallowed by plans, in thinking of life as something that will happen later, after we “get there.” There is no getting there. If we take that approach, we will be sorely disappointed.
Alan Watts covered that best in this talk:
Zen would say: there is no “there.” The only place is here. The only time is now.
The Zen Echo
Lennon, whether he knew it or not, struck the same chord as classic Zen teachings:
- The famous saying “chop wood, carry water” reminds us that enlightenment is not elsewhere: it is found in the ordinary.
- Dōgen wrote that to study the self is to forget the self. When you forget the self, you forget the planner and rediscover the immediacy of life.
- Bashō advised: “Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise; seek what they sought.” That is, don’t copy the plan — live the seeking, the now.
Plans as Illusions
Think of how plans tend to fall apart. You imagine the perfect vacation, but it rains. A little ironic, dontcha think? Yeah yeah — bear with me. You plan the ideal career, but life’s twists send you another way. In Zen terms, this is the universe gently laughing, reminding you that the map is not the territory. God is laughing at you, but not cruelly: it is a laugh that invites you to join in as soon as you realize how silly mistaking the blueprint for the house can be. The plan is not the living.
We suffer when we cling too tightly to the imagined. Yet when we allow the interruption, the detour, the so-called failure, we find that this too is life. The moment we didn’t schedule becomes the one that matters.
A Lennon Koan
So maybe Lennon gave us a koan disguised as pop lyric:
“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”
It’s a paradox you can sit with. Do we stop planning entirely? No. But do we remember that the plan is only a ghost, and life itself — the one thing we cannot plan — is here, always. (Or as Jeff Goldblum once put it: life, uh, finds a way.)
Closing Thought
The line may be over-quoted, but that’s only because it points to something true. Life is not waiting in the distance. It’s happening now, as you read these words, as I type them, as Lennon once sang them.
Everything else is just other plans.
❦
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David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Bluesky. |
Wow! Ok, so this hits so many notes familiar to me. I've pondered the difference between being old and being young. There is the imminence of death when one is old...but death is always imminent. We just pretend it's not. Age just has more constant reminders. There is infirmity, that's true. But infirmity is not exclusively a condition of the old. The real difference is in a vision of the future. People spend their lives planning for a future. Until they are old. Then what? I think this accounts for the peaceful countenance one may encounter in the aged. They have arrived. They understand. The moment. It's now.
I've often heard it said, "If only I knew what I know now when I was younger..." Maybe this is one of the insights that would have served well in youth. Don't live for the future. Live in the moment.
Anyway, you can see you hit a note, a familiar note.
Great blog. Love the quote from Bashō .
I think you are right. When we get older, we just can't ignore it anymore. Having death stare us in the face has a way of making things more clear.
"life is not waiting in the distance, it's happening now". Words of wisdom, reminding us that every minute of life shapes the future we expect. We don't fold our hands waiting for it, because it's already here. We only shape today's life we live, to have tomorrow we expect to see. I love that!
Glad you enjoyed reading!
I think we all fall into the trap of living for the weekend or some major event and we lose sight of what is right in front of us. Life happens in the mundane everyday moments and we need to savor those.
Yep, exactly!
I love the bit about monks keeping a tight schedule yet not getting lost in it. That nudges me to hold plans like a paper boat, useful until the water shifts, then let it go. My to-do list still tries to stage a coup every morning, so I need reminders to look up and notice the room. Do you have a quick anchor you use when plans start to swallow the day, maybe a breath or a sound cue?
Couldn't have said it any better myself!
I do Zen meditation twice a day, so that helps. Being mindful also helps. Recognizing small things such as "if I'm planning for more than a few minutes, it's probably more avoidance than planning". But no, there is no secret trick. The thing is, it happens to all of us, even the enlightened. The best thing I can tell you is a beginner technique in meditation. Try to focus on the breath and ignore the mind, but if you later find yourself having a conversation with the monkey in yoru head, just move your focus back to the breath. That's it. No becoming angry with yourself, no trying to figure out tricks for not listening to the monkey mind, no nothing, just gently try again.
That “if I’m planning for more than a few minutes, it’s probably avoidance” is a clean tell. I’ll pair it with your loop: notice the monkey, back to the breath, no drama. Do you ever add a tiny label like “planning” on the exhale, or do you keep it pure breath? Either way, the paper boat stays afloat until the water says otherwise.
If we are talking meditation time, then no, no labels. Just listen and try to avoid engaging with the mind. If planning, I just try to pay attention to what I'm doing and not get sucked into future dreams or other untrue things. These days I often just keep a simple list in a notebook. Anything more complex than that is usually overkill.
No labels in the sit and a simple notebook list feels clean. How do you notice when planning slips into a dream and not a real next step? Do you check the list at set times or only when a task is done? I usually realize I drifted when my breath gets tight, then the anchor helps.
I think for me, it's just a time thing. If I've spent too long planning, it's not planning. As for checking the list, I usually have it in front of me on the desk or somewhere in sight, so there is not much need to check. Out of sight out of mind, so if I hid it away somewhere, I'd probably forget about it.
I came here in response to your comment on my nature post. You express nature in words so beautifully.
I totally agree with this. Some people may feel challenged or confused when they hear the concept of Zen, thinking, “Then we can’t do anything!” But nature always follows the seasonal order, and there is a natural sense of rhythm. Animals and Indigenous people are always preparing for the next season. However, they don’t move in the same way the capitalist system does… They don’t waste time or materials like our modern society does.
My husband likes Alan Watts and Jack Kerouac. He also enjoys the Beat poet Gary Snyder. Here is the song with a Jack Kerouac poem, shared from my husband to you!
I love Kerouac. He wrote a lot of haiku in his time. Gary Snyder was also great. The Beats were interesting people. Maybe I could have some interesting conversations with your husband. Tell him thanks for the music — I loved it!
I’ll tell him for sure! I think he’ll find you through Twitter (X) someday soon!
something I need to work on.. living in the present. I am too worried about the future often. but then again, I dont understand how some ppl can just live in the moment and not even seem to care about tomorrows..
Because tomorrow doesn't exist 😃