To achieve a state of peace, there's no time like the present.

That's easy to say, but hard to achieve.

That's the message Kyoki Roberts, the Soto Zen Buddhist head priest of the Deep Spring Temple, 124 Willow Ridge, Bell Acres, is bringing April 15 to the The Art Center, 344 S. Main St.

Her visit is sponsored by the Crystal Lotus Meditation Group of Butler.

“'Finding Peace in a Crazy World,' how's that for a title?” said Roberts when asked about the subject of her talk.

“The thing we do in meditation is practicing not moving, mind and body. And so then we can be at peace when we are willing to be present,” Roberts said.

“If that is true, we don't have to organize the world, get the world out there organized in order to be peaceful,” she said. “It has to do with our own mental state.

“So, we can just take a breath and be at peace no matter what the situation is. And that's what I call freedom,” Roberts said.

Roberts, who has been studying Zen Buddhism for 30 years, said too often people make the mistake of thinking if they could just achieve something — lose 30 pounds, make peace with a parent, get a raise at work — then they would find peace.

“That's a very common misconception,” she said. “You have just turned it into spiritual capitalism: If I do this, I will get that.”

“Spiritual practice begins when you don't have something to get or gain,” she said.

“You're saying, 'If something changes I will be at peace.' I'm saying you have to be at peace right now. You can't be at peace any other time. You have to be at peace in the present moment,” she said. “I am willing to be here. I am willing to experience this, no matter what.”

Crystal Lotus member Gary Ellison of Butler has been practicing meditation for four years.

“You think it doesn't work, but when you sit down and quiet your mind, it enables you to look at reality from a different perspective,” said Ellison.

Roberts practices a school of Buddhism known as Soto Zen, which emphasizes meditation with no objects or content.

Roberts said the meditator is aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference.

It contrasts, she said, with the second school of Buddhism, Rinzai Zen, which emphasizes the study of koans — puzzling, often paradoxical statements used as meditation aids and a means of gaining spiritual awakening — and physical work done with mindfulness.

As for learning meditation, she said, “It's simple instruction: Take a good posture; allow any thought or sensation to arise; let it go; take a breath.

“It is very easy to learn to meditate, but what's hard is to meditate,” she said. “What's difficult is to do this day after day after day. It's not like this is rocket science, but what's hard is thinking I'm going to take up this practice and do it every day. It's easy to learn; it's hard to do.”

Roberts said she has been practicing Soto Zen Buddhism for 30 years and “am barely scratching the surface.”

She said she began her study in Omaha, Neb.

“I took a world religions course in college; I was enthralled by Buddhism,” she said.

<B>WHAT: </B>Talk by Kyoki Roberts, Soto Zen Buddhist head priest of the Deep Spring Temple in Bell Acres<B>WHEN: </B>6 to 7:30 p.m. April 15<B>WHERE: </B>The Art Center, 344 S. Main St.<B>INFORMATION: </B>Send e-mail to crystallotusmeditation@gmail.com