These Zen meditations for modern times can help you find calm amid chaos.

Conflict is a part of life. Zen Buddhism was even founded in conflict. No one can give anyone else peace: It comes to those who seek it—in the moment and for the moment only.

But even as the pace accelerates and problems escalate, it's possible to gain inner peace. The past is gone and the future is unknown—so there's no time like the present to use these 108 meditations. They offer a very contemporary respite from internal and external conflict, well suited to the breakneck pace of life today. Their number and their form, however, is steeped in tradition. One hundred and eight is a sacred number in Buddhism, in which there is also the tradition of meditating with malas, strung beads which come in multiples of nine—27, 56, or 108. Their form follows Buddhist tradition as well: They are modern koans, or riddles to ponder, and dharma stories.