Instructions for Sitting in Zazen (Meditation)
By Arthur Wells Roshi (Zen Teacher)
Zazen is awareness of the present moment with particular attention to body, breath and sound. A line in a story by James Joyce goes: “Mr Duffy lived a short distance from his body.” We laugh, but it’s our problem too. When we are lost in thought we inhabit a disembodied realm. In zazen we return to physical groundedness.
Begin by attending to four aspects of body-awareness. First, straighten your back and push the crown of the head upwards while tucking the chin back. Without losing the strength of your posture, relax so there is no strain in back or neck. Second, let go of tension in the face, relaxing the muscles around the eyes and mouth until the face is soft and mask-like. Third, release all tension from your shoulders, allowing them to settle in the lowest comfortable position. Let the arms and hands be soft and relaxed. Fourth, relax the abdominal wall so your breath flows freely. Feel the downwards pressure of the diaphragm on the viscera with the in-breath and this pressure release with the out-breath.
Return repeatedly to the present moment. When you become aware that you have become lost in thought, return to feeling the breath, hearing sounds or noticing your body sensations. Meditation should not be tightly controlled, but nor is it entirely passive – it requires a conscious choice to return to the present moment many times before the mind quietens down. Usually after perhaps 10 or 15 minutes you will reach a steadier awareness of the present moment and spend less time caught up in imaginary dialogues, worrying, or planning. Then the remaining minutes of sitting are very precious.
Cultivate a sense of the whole body participating in and enjoying each breath. The whole body moves subtly with breath, as you discover if you attend to the tiny movements of the head and neck, back and shoulders, and even the hips and legs as you breathe. If you are able to develop a whole-body awareness in zazen, it is only a small step to including the warmth or chill in the room, the breeze, the play of light in the vicinity, and the sounds that you are hearing (receiving them without inner comment). Including your surroundings brings a feeling of spaciousness. The sense of a firm boundary between ‘self’ and ‘other’ begins to dissolve.
Forget the separate self. When meditation has become a regular practice you will commonly experience a falling away of the sensation of being separate from everything. There is no need to seek out this experience. We hear it grandly described in terms such as “becoming one with the universe,” but it is not such a big deal. The separateness of self was only ever an illusion conjured up by the mind. From earliest childhood we were always “one with the universe.”
Sit in a spirit of kindness. The Buddha taught that loving-kindness (metta) should first be extended towards yourself. Notice the places of tension or holding back, where there may be emotional pain from the past still locked into your body tissues. To breathe in a way that includes the whole body begins to open these areas of locked-in tension. Notice where your fear and anger ‘live’ in the body and breathe through that area to soothe and release the aching and tension. In genuine zazen there is nothing we refuse to acknowledge and include in our field of awareness.
© Arthur Wells, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Arthur Wells Roshi is a Zen Teacher in the Diamond Sangha Zen tradition.
Zazen is awareness of the present moment with particular attention to body, breath and sound. A line in a story by James Joyce goes: “Mr Duffy lived a short distance from his body.” We laugh, but it’s our problem too. When we are lost in thought we inhabit a disembodied realm. In zazen we return to physical groundedness.
Begin by attending to four aspects of body-awareness. First, straighten your back and push the crown of the head upwards while tucking the chin back. Without losing the strength of your posture, relax so there is no strain in back or neck. Second, let go of tension in the face, relaxing the muscles around the eyes and mouth until the face is soft and mask-like. Third, release all tension from your shoulders, allowing them to settle in the lowest comfortable position. Let the arms and hands be soft and relaxed. Fourth, relax the abdominal wall so your breath flows freely. Feel the downwards pressure of the diaphragm on the viscera with the in-breath and this pressure release with the out-breath.
Return repeatedly to the present moment. When you become aware that you have become lost in thought, return to feeling the breath, hearing sounds or noticing your body sensations. Meditation should not be tightly controlled, but nor is it entirely passive – it requires a conscious choice to return to the present moment many times before the mind quietens down. Usually after perhaps 10 or 15 minutes you will reach a steadier awareness of the present moment and spend less time caught up in imaginary dialogues, worrying, or planning. Then the remaining minutes of sitting are very precious.
Cultivate a sense of the whole body participating in and enjoying each breath. The whole body moves subtly with breath, as you discover if you attend to the tiny movements of the head and neck, back and shoulders, and even the hips and legs as you breathe. If you are able to develop a whole-body awareness in zazen, it is only a small step to including the warmth or chill in the room, the breeze, the play of light in the vicinity, and the sounds that you are hearing (receiving them without inner comment). Including your surroundings brings a feeling of spaciousness. The sense of a firm boundary between ‘self’ and ‘other’ begins to dissolve.
Forget the separate self. When meditation has become a regular practice you will commonly experience a falling away of the sensation of being separate from everything. There is no need to seek out this experience. We hear it grandly described in terms such as “becoming one with the universe,” but it is not such a big deal. The separateness of self was only ever an illusion conjured up by the mind. From earliest childhood we were always “one with the universe.”
Sit in a spirit of kindness. The Buddha taught that loving-kindness (metta) should first be extended towards yourself. Notice the places of tension or holding back, where there may be emotional pain from the past still locked into your body tissues. To breathe in a way that includes the whole body begins to open these areas of locked-in tension. Notice where your fear and anger ‘live’ in the body and breathe through that area to soothe and release the aching and tension. In genuine zazen there is nothing we refuse to acknowledge and include in our field of awareness.
© Arthur Wells, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Arthur Wells Roshi is a Zen Teacher in the Diamond Sangha Zen tradition.