The Ordinary Mind Zen School is evolving a style of Zen that is adapted to Western temperaments and ways of life but maintains the rigour and discipline of its traditional roots. The teaching is highly pragmatic. It is less concerned with the concentrated pursuit of special experiences than with the development of insight into the whole of life. It favours a slower but healthier, more responsible development of the whole character, in which psychological barriers and emotions are addressed rather than bypassed.

It sees practice as working with whatever comes up in our everyday lives, including being in a relationship, family life, the workplace as well as the formal and structured practice of Zen.