A Little
About Zen Practice...
(To get the rest you have to
come in and experience it for yourself. In the
meantime...)
The
Practice
Zen
practice offers a place where we can discover that there
is fundamentally no separation between ourselves and
others, that what we seek is always so close, always
right here.
In the
Lotus Sutra’s parable of the burning house, the only
escape from our greed, anger, and ignorance is said to
be through a “narrow door.” The narrow door, and any of
a number of metaphors point us in the direction of our
own realization. A door or a gate or a threshold also
implies that there is effort, movement, investment in
transformation.
At the heart of Zen practice is zazen, seated
meditation. One master said that listening and thinking
are like being outside the gate, and zazen is returning
home and sitting in peace. Zazen is really a very simple
practice and does not involve complicated instructions.
When one studies the ancient Zen meditation manuals, it
is always surprising how brief and plain they are. While
they speak of the possibility of attaining the freedom
and naturalness of a tiger in the mountains or a dragon
in the water, the actual instructions are so concrete:
Sit in the proper posture and attend to the body,
breath, and mind.
Make a Place
to Sit
It is best
to have a place set aside for regular zazen. Whether it
is a room or just a corner, the space should be clean
and uncluttered. Place a mat on the floor (a folded
blanket will do) and on it a zafu, another type of
comfortable sitting cushion, or a bench. If floor
sitting is too difficult, simply use a chair.
Preparing to
Sit
When you do zazen,
wear loose, clean clothes. At the beginning of a sitting
period, it is traditional to bow to an altar, offer a
stick of incense, and bow once more. Then, as you stand
before your seat, bow toward your cushion, bench, or
chair. These acts help us to realize intention and
respect. The incense is offered with the intention that
this session is for all beings, for all creation, not
just for oneself. The standing bow to our seat
actualizes our respect for our practice and for those,
whether present or not, who practice with us.
The physical act of
bowing, of folding our body down, placing our head in a
traditionally respectful position of vulnerability,
gives the ego a big break, an opportunity to let go.
When you are seated—whether cross-legged, kneeling, or
in a chair—settle into the zazen posture: Place your
hands on your lap or thighs, in the cosmic mudra, your
right hand holding your left one, palms up, with your
thumbs barely touching, forming a circle.
Become aware of your breath, maintaining your posture,
sitting still—for the 20-minute period of zazen. Then
notice that urges to move—to scratch your nose, to tug
on your ear—are usually ways to move away from the
energies in your body. Instead of moving, stay with
them, observe them, and bring your focus back to the
breathing.
Learn to notice how these urges fall away, only to be
replaced by others, demonstrating the second noble
truth: the cause of suffering is craving. All the
disparate ideas, thoughts, impulses—everything comes and
goes, and yet you sit. And little by little, the chatter
drops away and your body, breath, and mind are one.
Zazen is so simple. We focus on our posture and on
counting our breath, and this develops samadhi, a
unified mind. But the practice is not about reaching any
particular goal or preconceived idea about
enlightenment.
Just let the body
settle, let the breath settle, let the mind settle.
Don’t worry about whether your practice is working,
don’t judge your performance, don’t tell yourself
stories or find other ways to avoid this very moment.
These are just ways of separating from our deepest
intention and our zazen. When you do zazen, just do
zazen. Just sit. Just do it. That’s enough.
Posture
Your posture in
sitting is vitally important. Sit on the forward
third of your cushion or chair, so that your hips are
higher than your knees and your belly is free to move in
and out without stress on your lower back. Your
ears are in line with your shoulders, your head balanced
gently on your neck, your eyes are slightly open, gazing
down about three feet in front of you. Your chin
is pointing neither up nor down, but is slightly tucked
in. Place your tongue just behind your teeth on
the roof of your mouth. Sway from side to side until you
find your center point.
The Breath
Now attend to the
breath. Breathe naturally. Breathing in, allowing
the breath to fully enter your body until your lower
belly expands; then, breathing out, softly allowing the
breath to ease out through your nostrils. Notice how the
breath seems to travel through the main avenues of your
torso. Your belly should rise and fall naturally with
each breath. Let the breath fill your lower abdomen as
if it were a balloon. Later, you may notice that even
the bottoms of your feet are breathing in and out.
The Original
Self
In the Genjokoan
(Actualizing the Fundamental Point),
Zen Master Dogen writes:
"When one first seeks the dharma, one is far away
from its environs. When one has already correctly
transmitted the dharma to oneself, one is one’s original
self at that moment."
Dogen Zenji’s teaching reminds us of our initial
separation from what is ours. When we begin to seek the
Dharma, there is an “I” that looks for it over “there.”
But the dharma is already alive in us, and requires only
that we realize it, which is what he means in the second
sentence: having “correctly transmitted the dharma to
oneself,” one is one’s real self in that moment.
All of us yearn to experience ourselves as whole and
complete, to live our lives fully and freshly in each
moment. But something blocks us, and Zen training is one
way to see that, all along, we have what we need. This
is called the realization of the original self.
The Daily Practice: Be Consistent
The zazen
period we recommend is 20 minutes. You may find that you
will want to do more—or less— and that is fine. What
is important is consistency. To keep your
practice consistent, remember Nike Buddha's Rule: “Just
do it.” Don’t concern yourself with trying to
get to some particular place or state of mind. Each
day’s zazen will be a little different, just like the
rest of life. We practice steadiness in our daily
meditation—alert, sleepy, focused—we just practice each
day, through the high points and the low. When you mess
up—and you will—just say, “Okay, back to my cushion.”
The Japanese say, "Fall off a horse eight times, get
back on nine."
When you
are sitting, you may realize that you are thinking about
something else. At that moment, take a deep breath and
recognize that, in that moment of realization, you have
come back to now.
As an old meditation manual says, as soon as you are
aware of a thought, it will vanish! When we are thinking
of a thing, we are lost in it, lost in thinking about
“x.” But when we become aware of our thinking,
then we are in a secondary state. The actual
thinking of “x” is gone, and there is either just
awareness or we begin a new thought based on that
awareness. Either way, the original thinking is
gone. If we practice daily, soon we are able to stay
more often in that space of pure awareness without an
object. Just breathing, just being present—we call this
being naturally unified.
Zazen is a form that allows us to practice the no form
of boundless emptiness. The freedom that is made
available to us through form is one of those grand
paradoxes of life. When we organize ourselves and
create a structure, we also create the means to be free
of structure. Form helps us by organizing and
directing our energies. But we can carry our form
lightly, with respect and appreciation for its gifts.
This subtle discipline—settling, unifying, letting be—is
called the dharma gate of peace and joy.
In addition to zazen and bowing, there are other aspects
of Zen practice that help us on the way. One is
setting up a home altar, which encourages the
actualizing of respect and devotion. To place something
on an altar is to meet it, to hold it in esteem.
Traditionally, in Zen monasteries, the altar in the
zendo (meditation hall) had as its focus a statue of
Manjushri, the bodhisattva representing transcendent
wisdom. Manjushri holds a sword that cuts away
delusions, thus clearing our minds. By putting such an
image on our altar, we vow to take on that strong energy
of slicing away at our delusions, our ignorance, our
greed and anger. We vow to be clear. For your home
altar, place a statue or image of any Buddha or
bodhisattva who evokes in you the aspiration to realize
those qualities— wisdom, compassion, peace—that he or
she embodies. You may place an incense bowl and incense
(which is a fine way to time your zazen); a flower,
which evokes transient beauty; water, an element of
nourishment; and a candle to brighten the space.
The Precepts
Zen is a
"relational path" which
leads to the realization of our interdependence and
interrelatedness with all beings. Traditionally we
take up the practice of the sixteen bodhisattva
precepts. These precepts are not commandments;
rather, they are guiding principles for living a life of
freedom and service.
The precepts are
themselves worthy of a lifetime of study and practice.
Indeed, in some Zen traditions, they are part of formal
koan study, with each precept appreciated from various
perspectives. Make them your own, be intimate with them.
Rather than simply trying to follow them, embody them,
in much the same way in which you “become” your zazen.
Sitting With
Others
I remind
you that Zen like any "authentic spiritual practice" is
relational. Everyone who steps into this pat is
encourage to step up and experience Zen practice in the
Zendo or Dharma Hall at Pine Wind with others.
While we are trying to provide you with what you need to
get a solid start in establishing your own daily home
practice, Zen is not a solitary practice.
As we chant at the end of our liturgy, “May we live our
lives as a benefit for all the many beings.”
Sitting with others, studying with others, working with
others, talking with others—all these are integral to
the life of Zen.
So we
encourage you as well to join with others whenever
possible. Come to a Zen meditation event or a
similar event or class, and sit with other people.
Again Master Dogen teaches:
"The dharma is amply present in every person, but
without practice, it is not manifested; without
realization, it is not realized."
