Perhaps speaking of a goal is antithetical to Zen practice. Yet no person engages in any practice, especially one requiring discipline over a long period of time, without having some kind of general goal in mind. What is this most general goal in the case of Zen Buddhism?
Zen is, most basically, a set of practices and a way of life with one, central objective, which is to abide in the immediate awareness of phenomena exactly as they appear.
Some might wish to make compassion the central objective of Zen or at least a central objective. But I suspect that universal compassion is one of those essential features of phenomena as they appear to human beings. So, one who attends to the central objective should discover compassion for his or herself as well as for all sentient beings. Even so, those who have yet to make this discovery in their own experience are encouraged to practice compassion for its beneficent effects and as one of the practices which tend to promote true awareness.
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