Zazen

Zazen (literally "seated meditation"; Japanese: 座禅; simplified Chinese: 坐禅; traditional Chinese: 坐禪; pinyin: zuò chán; Wade–Giles: tso⁴-ch'an², pronounced [tswô ʈʂʰǎn]) is a meditative discipline that is typically the primary practice of the Zen Buddhist tradition.[1][2] The meaning and method of zazen varies from school to school, but in general it can be regarded as a means of insight into the nature of existence. In the Japanese Rinzai school, zazen is usually associated with the study of koans. The Sōtō School of Japan, on the other hand, only rarely incorporates koans into zazen, preferring an approach where the mind has no object at all, known as shikantaza.[3]

Kodo Sawaki practicing zazen

Significance

Zazen is considered the heart of Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhist practice.[1] The aim of zazen is just sitting, that is, suspending all judgmental thinking and letting words, ideas, images and thoughts pass by without getting involved in them.[3][4]

Methods

Sitting

A young master Hsuan Hua sitting in full lotus

In Zen temples and monasteries, practitioners traditionally sit zazen as a group in a meditation hall, usually referred to as the zendo. The practitioner sits on a cushion called a zafu,[2] which itself is usually placed on top of a low, flat mat called a zabuton.[2]

Before taking one's seat, and after rising at the end of the period of zazen, a Zen practitioner performs a gassho bow to their seat, and a second bow to fellow practitioners.[5]

The beginning of a period of zazen is traditionally announced by ringing a bell three times (shijosho), and the end of a round by ringing the bell either once or twice (hozensho).

Long periods of zazen may alternate with periods of kinhin (walking meditation).[6][7]

Posture

The posture of zazen is seated, with folded legs and hands, and an erect but settled spine.[8] The hands are folded together into a simple mudra over the belly.[8] In many practices, the practitioner breathes from the hara (the center of gravity in the belly) and the eyelids are half-lowered, the eyes being neither fully open nor shut so that the practitioner is neither distracted by, nor turning away from, external stimuli.

The legs are folded in one of the standard sitting styles:[2]

• Kekkafuza (full-lotus)
• Hankafuza (half-lotus)
• Burmese (a cross-legged posture in which the ankles are placed together in front of the sitter)
• Seiza (a kneeling posture using a bench or zafu)

In addition, it is not uncommon for modern practitioners to practice zazen in a chair,[2] often with a wedge or cushion on top of it so that one is sitting on an incline, or by placing a wedge behind the lower back to help maintain the natural curve of the spine. One can sit comfortably, but not too comfortably, so as to avoid falling asleep. While each of these styles is commonly taught today, Master Dogen recommended only Kekkafuza and Hankafuza.

Types

In his book Three Pillars of Zen, Philip Kapleau says that practitioners in the Rinzai school face in, towards each other with their backs to the wall, and in the Sōtō school, practitioners face the wall or a curtain.[9] Kapleau quotes Hakuun Yasutani's lectures for beginners. In lecture four, Yasutani describes the five kinds of zazen: bompu, gedo, shojo, daijo, and saijojo (he adds the latter is the same thing as shikantaza).[10]

Instruction

Very generally speaking, zazen practice is taught in one of three ways.

1. Concentration
2. Koan Introspection
3. Shikantaza (just sitting)[11]

Koan practice is usually associated with the Rinzai school and Shikantaza with the Sōtō school. In reality many Zen communities use both methods depending on the teacher and students.

Concentration

The initial stages of training in zazen resemble traditional Buddhist samatha meditation in actual practice, and emphasize the development of the power of concentration, or joriki[12] (定力) (Sanskrit samādhibala). The student begins by focusing on the breath at the hara/tanden[13] with mindfulness of breath (ānāpānasmṛti) exercises such as counting breath (sūsokukan 数息観) or just watching it (zuisokukan 随息観). Mantras are also sometimes used in place of counting. Practice is typically to be continued in one of these ways until there is adequate "one-pointedness" of mind to constitute an initial experience of samadhi. At this point, the practitioner moves to one of the other two methods of zazen.

Koan introspection

Main article: Koan

Having developed awareness, the practitioner can now focus his or her consciousness on a koan as an object of meditation. Since koans are, ostensibly, not solvable by intellectual reasoning, koan introspection is designed to shortcut the intellectual process leading to direct realization of a reality beyond thought.

Shikantaza

Main article: Shikantaza

Shikantaza is a form of meditation, in which the practitioner does not use any specific object of meditation;[3] rather, practitioners remain as much as possible in the present moment, aware of and observing what passes through their minds and around them. Dogen says, in his Shobogenzo, "Sitting fixedly, think of not thinking. How do you think of not thinking? Nonthinking. This is the art of zazen."[14]

See also

• Walking meditation
• Ango
• Jing zuo
• Keisaku
• Sesshin
• Suizen
• Zuowang

References

1. Warner, Brad (2003). Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies, & the Truth about Reality. Wisdom Publications. p. 86. ISBN 086171380X.
2. "Zazen Instructions". Zen Mountain Monastery. December 30, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
3. Warner, Brad (2003). Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies, & the Truth about Reality. Wisdom Publications. pp. 189–190. ISBN 086171380X.
4. Suzuki, Shunryū (2011). Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. Shambhala Publications. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-159030849-3.
5. Warner, Brad. "How To Sit Zazen". Dogen Sangha Los Angeles. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
6. Heine, Steven; Wright, Dale S., eds. (2007). Zen Ritual : Studies of Zen Buddhist Theory in Practice: Studies of Zen Buddhist Theory in Practice. Oxford University Press. p. 223. ISBN 9780198041467.
7. Maezumi, Hakuyu Taizan; Glassman, Bernie (2002). On Zen Practice: Body, Breath, Mind. Wisdom Publications. pp. 48–49. ISBN 086171315X.
8. Suzuki, Shunryū (2011). Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. Shambhala Publications. p. 8. ISBN 978-159030849-3.
9. Kapleau, Philip (1989). The Three pillars of Zen: teaching, practice, and enlightenment. New York: Anchor Books. p. 10(8). ISBN 0-385-26093-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
10. Kapleau, Philip (1989). The Three pillars of Zen: teaching, practice, and enlightenment. New York: Anchor Books. pp. 48–53. ISBN 0-385-26093-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
11. Deshimaru, Taisen (1981) The Way of True Zen, American Zen Association, ISBN 978-0972804943
12. Carl Bielefeldt (16 August 1990). Dogen's Manuals of Zen Meditation. University of California Press. pp. 137–. ISBN 978-0-520-90978-6.
13. Eihei Dogen; Taigen Dan Leighton; Shōhaku Okumura; John Daido Loori (16 March 2010). Dogen's Extensive Record: A Translation of the Eihei Koroku. Simon and Schuster. pp. 348–349. ISBN 978-0-86171-670-8.
14. Dogen. "Principles of Zazen". Soto Zen Text Project. Retrieved April 24, 2013.

Further reading

• Austin, James H (1999). Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness. The MIT Press. ISBN 0262011646.
• Buksbazen, John Daishin (2002). Zen Meditation in Plain English. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0861713168.
• Tanahashi, Kazuaki (2004). Beyond Thinking: A Guide to Zen Meditation. Shambhala Publications. ISBN 1590300246.
• Harada, Sekkei (1998). The Essence of Zen: Dharma Talks Given in Europe and America. Kodansha. ISBN 4770021992.
• Humphreys, Christmas (1991). Concentration and Meditation: A Manual of Mind Development. Element Books. ISBN 1852300086.
• Loori, John Daido (2007). Finding the Still Point: A Beginner's Guide to Zen Meditation. Shambhala Publications. ISBN 978-1590304792.
• Loori, John Daido; Leighton, Taigen Daniel (2004). The art of just sitting: Essential writings of the Zen practice of shikantaza. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 086171394X.

External links

• How to sit Zazen