Zazen

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Zazen (坐禅; Chinese zuochan [Pinyin] or tso-chan [Wade-Giles]) is at the heart of Zen Buddhist practice. The aim of zazen is just sitting, opening the hand of thought. This is done either through koans, Rinzai's primary method, or whole-hearted sitting (shikantaza), the Soto sect's method. (Rinzai and Soto are the main extant Zen schools in Japan; both originated in China, as, respectively, the Linji and Caodong schools.) Once the mind is able to not be hindered by its many layers, one will then be able to realize one's true Buddha nature. In Zen Buddhism, zazen (literally "seated meditation") is a meditative discipline practitioners perform to calm the body and the mind and experience insight into the nature of existence and thereby gain enlightenment (satori).

The posture of zazen is seated, with folded legs and hands, and an erect but settled spine. The legs are folded in one of the standard sitting styles. The hands are folded together into a simple mudra over the belly. In many practices, one 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 not distracted by outside objects but at the same time is kept awake.

1 History and Tradition
2 Methods
3 Comparison with other practices in Buddhism
4 Misconceptions about Zazen
5 See also
6 Further reading
7 External links

[edit] History and Tradition

Long periods of zazen, usually performed in groups at a zendo (meditation hall), may alternate with periods of kinhin (walking meditation). The beginning of a zazen period is traditionally announced by ringing a bell three times (shijosho), and the end of a round by ringing the bell once (hozensho). Before and after sitting on the zafu, zen practitioners perform a gassho bow to the cushion, to fellow practitioners, and to the teacher.

In Japan, seated zazen is traditionally performed on a mat called a zabuton while sitting on a cushion called a zafu. The common positions used to sit on the zafu are:

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 sit zazen in a chair, often with a wedge behind the lower back to help maintain the natural curve of the spine.

[edit] Methods

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

Concentration
Koan Introspection
Shikantaza (just sitting)

Shikantaza is usually associated with the Soto or “gradual” school, and koan practice with the Rinzai or “sudden” school. In reality many Zen communities use both methods depending on the teacher and students.

Concentration

The initial stages of training in zazen will usually emphasize concentration. By focusing on the breath at the hara, often aided by counting, one builds up the power of concentration, or “joriki.” In some communities or sanghas, the practice is continued in this way until there is some initial experience of Samadhi or “one-pointedness.” At this point the practitioner moves to one of the other two methods of zazen.

Koan Introspection

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

Shikantaza (just sitting)

Shikantaza is objectless meditation, in which the practitioner does not use any specific object of meditation, but uses the power developed in concentration to remain completely aware of all phenomena that arises and passes in the present moment.

[edit] Comparison with other practices in Buddhism

Concentration practice in Zen is likened to the practice of samatha (concentration) in other schools of Buddhism. One apparent difference is that the eyes remain open in Zazen, whereas in the Theravada tradition they do not. Tibetan Buddhist practioners keep their eyes open during samatha practice.

Concentration is foundational to most other forms of meditation in Buddhism. In actuality, all meditative practices, Buddhist and non-buddhist, take concentration to execute, and therefore are concentration practices in and of themselves. Some teachers do not teach concentration as a separate practice, believing that it is developed through other practices.

Koan introspection and shikantaza are more likened to the vipassana (insight) practice in Theravada, but are sometimes considered to be a condensation of vipassana and samatha into a single practice. For this reason, shikantaza can also be referred to as samatha-vipassana. Similarly, koan introspection, while leading to insight, requires an immense amount of concentration on the object of meditation (the koan).

[edit] Misconceptions about Zazen

To many in the West, zazen is an almost completely unfamiliar practice, which leaves an opportunity for many misconceptions to spring up. One common misconception is that zazen meditation entails the shutting out of all worldly stimuli in order to reach some special, superior state of mind. For example, in the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the character Li Mu Bai (李慕白) (played by Chow Yun Fat) describes reaching a frame of mind during meditation which is "pure light." While the zazen experience is inherently different for each practitioner, and such phenomena are not at all out of the question, such states of mind are not the goal of zazen.

However, to many who practice zazen there is a direct correlation between the cultivation of a focused state of mind and a relaxed body (Johanus Itten, Elements of Color) which is often achieved in martial art activities as well as Chinese, Japanese, and even Western practices of painting and calligraphy, for these are Fine Arts. In these arts the medium is unifying and technique must be "correct" therefore one has to begin with this "zanshin" state of being before executing the work of art, so that the work is executed with an almost certain action. This process takes "endless practice, and many mistakes that have to constantly be corrected in detail." Meditation to the zen practitioner does not take on a dogmatic theological pantheon of worship, but instead is considered the foundation of a rational and natural inquiry into the reality of nature. Enlightenment is theorized as a focused state of mind and a relaxed body that allows one to approximate certainty about the reality of nature. The arts in these cultures were often used as a way for perfecting this discipline, but were not meant to inflate the ego as a desire for greatness in the particular field that such practices occurred. Instead, it seems that they would use the practices to further their ability to meditate and reach a certain truth about nature. It is important to note that Zazen holds meditation as foundational and self-evident, and this has an interesting correlation to Western philosophy's a priori Rationalism, which stemmed from René Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy. It is a particularly interesting position in human culture, but it does not necessarily resolve the problem of mind and solipsism in philosophy, however the practice is a cogent one and not to be misunderstood. Like Western philosophy, it is a critical discipline.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

"The Three Pillars of Zen" (New York: Anchor Books, 2000) ISBN 0-385-26093-8, the author is Philip Kapleau roshi, also available through "Red Dot Publishing 1997"
Harada Sekkei, "The Essence of Zen: Dharma Talks Given in Europe and America", 1998, ISBN 4-7700-2199-2
Humphreys, Christmas. (1991) "Concentration and Meditation: A Manual of Mind Development". Element Books. ISBN 1-85230-008-6
John Daishin Buksbazen, Peter Matthiessen (Foreword). (2002) Zen Meditation in Plain English. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-316-8.
Austin, James H. (1998) Zen and the Brain: toward an understanding of meditation and consciousness The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-01164-6
Maezumi, Hakuyu Taizan; and Glassman, Bernard. (2002) On Zen Practice: Body, Breath, Mind Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-315-X.

[edit] External links

Khan, Adam (May 6, 2006). Zen. YouMe Works. Retrieved on 2006-05-12.

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