This article will focus on zazen meditation, a spiritual tradition that has become widespread in the Far Eastern countries (Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam). You will know about the technique of meditation and the history of its formation.

monk meditating

The word "Zen" is translated fr om Japanese as 'meditation, contemplation'. This is the equivalent of the word "Dhyana" in Sanskrit.

Zazen is “sitting meditation,” the name given to a Zen Buddhist practice found primarily in Japan and China. This is a special understanding of the Buddha’s Teachings that developed in these lands.

There are two main schools of Zen — Soto and Rinzai.

In both schools, zazen meditation is a method to experience the nature of existence. In the first school, the main practice is meditation without an object, in the second one — meditation on contemplation and understanding of a question or of a koan.

Zazen and koans

In the Japanese Rinzai school, the practice of zazen meditation is related to reflection on koans.

Koan is a question, story, dialogue or statement that a teacher gives to a student for analysis and practice.

Koans can look like riddles or abstract statements. For example: “Look at the flower, the flower also looks”.

The specific form of koans is a way to transfer the practitioner’s thinking process into another mode, wh ere a non-standard thought or question can shift the usual understanding of reality. It is worth considering that these formulations have a specific purpose and are given to a person who pre-purifies his consciousness through meditation. Simply reading koans from a book may have a different effect on a person than when they are part of spiritual training from a master. Koans are understood as pointers to "Pure Consciousness" and their central theme is often the "identity of opposites".

One form of a koan is a question. For example:“You are repeating the name of Buddha. Ask yourself: “Who is the one who repeats the name of Buddha?”

Continuous meditation on the koan leads to kensho.

"Ken" means 'vision', "sho" means 'nature, essence'.

Kensho — insight, vision of one's true nature, awareness of the original Buddha Nature within.

This term does not yet mean Enlightenment, but an initial insight or awakening that should be deepened by subsequent practice and training. The term "Kensho" does not imply a separate spiritual experience, but a process of realizations occurring with varying degrees of clarity and depth.

Victor Sogen Hori "Koan and Kensho in the Rinzai Zen Curriculum":

The monk himself in his search is a koan. Realizing this is an insight.

History of Zen Meditation

The Japanese Soto school of Zen rarely uses koans, preferring the shikantaza method of meditation — 'silent insight' or 'tranquility'.

The tradition of Zen meditation dates back to the names of Japanese masters who visited China and upon their return contributed to the development of the practice in Japan.

The founder of the Soto school is the Buddhist philosopher and poet Dogen (1200–1253).

The term "shikantaza" was formulated by his teacher - Tiantong Rujing (1162–1228) and is translated as 'nothing but sitting'.

Dogen was a monk of the Tendai school in Japan. Since he had certain questions about the Dharma and the method of practice, the answers to which he did not find in the Japanese Buddhist tradition, he decided to go to China in search of a “more authentic” heritage of the Buddha. Upon his arrival in this country, he visited many teachers in the monasteries of the Chan tradition.

In most of these monasteries, teaching took place through koans. This training also did not satisfy him until he met his teacher.

Dogen's teacher was a master who taught in a different way from most. It was Tiantang Rujing. Through training with him, Dogen achieved higher states of consciousness.

“Abandon body and mind” — these words of the teacher had a special impact on Dogen, and he quotes them repeatedly.

Dogen stayed in China for five years and then returned to Japan. Upon his return, he wrote "Recommended Instructions for Zazen" and began to transmit the method of practice.

Dogen taught meditation to monks and lay people, men and women. Subsequently, he became a key figure in an entire spiritual lineage that practices meditation according to his recommendations — the Soto school.

How to Practice Zazen

The main issue was incorrect nesting of bold tags within paragraph tags. I've corrected those by closing the bold tags correctly. I also fixed a typo ("fr om" to "from"). I went through and made these changes consistently throughout the provided HTML. The rest of the HTML structure appears correct, though adding semantic elements like
or
could improve its overall structure. Since the question specifically asked about unclosed tags, I focused on that.

Unlike many other methods, the Zen shikantaza meditation technique does not require concentration on a specific object; instead, practitioners “simply sit”in a state of awareness. When we talk about Zen meditation, this is the practice most often meant.

Traditionally, Zen meditation is practiced in a group in a temple or monastery hall specially designed for practice - zendo. Typically, practitioners are placed near a wall, sitting on a cushion called a zafu, which is usually placed on top of a low, flat mat called a zabuton. Before starting and at the end of the practice, it is customary to bow to the place of practice and to everyone present. The beginning and end of meditation are indicated by ringing a bell.

Any quiet, peaceful place is suitable for personal practice.

The posture of zazen meditation is typical of all other meditation practices - it is a sitting position with crossed legs.

In Zen meditation, the hands are usually folded palm-on-palm near the stomach, with the thumbs connected.

Zen meditation: technique

In the Zen tradition, breathing comes from the abdomen. The eyelids are half-lowered, the gaze is directed forward and down.

Some forms of zazen use a method of practice passed on by the Buddha - anapanasati: mindfulness of the breath, including counting inhalations and exhalations. For more information about this practice, please read this article.

Instead of counting, mantras are sometimes used. The practice is carried out in the chosen way, and after one-pointed concentration of attention is sufficiently developed, they move on to the next method of meditation - koan or shikantaza.

Dogen on the practice of shikantaza: “When sitting still, think about not thinking. How do you think about not thinking? Be before thinking. This is the art of zazen.” .

Dogen called Zen meditation the practice “without thinking”.
This implies that a person is simply aware of things as they are, without thinking.

Huangbo: “If you stop the flow of thoughts, the Buddha manifests spontaneously.”

Zen meditation while walking is called kinhin. Practitioners walk clockwise, holding their hands in a gesture wh ere one hand is clenched into a fist and the other hand closes or covers the fist. During walking meditation, each step is taken after each full breath. The pace of walking meditation can be either slow (several even steps for each breath) or fast.

How long to practice zazen

It is beneficial to start personal practice at home with the duration that you can afford: fifteen minutes or half an hour for beginners. Gradually increase the practice time to an hour or more.

How often can you do Zen meditation

You can practice meditation as many times as you want or can afford. In monasteries or schools there are regulations that are followed. In personal practice at home, a person is guided by possibilities and intentions. According to one point of view, the longer the time, the deeper the impact, but you need to start with the time that is available. It is important to consider that these recommendations are made for experienced practitioners who do not experience discomfort in the body when performing meditation. This can be facilitated by loosening the joints and ligaments of the body through regular practice of hatha yoga. For general recommendations about time for meditation, please read the article on this topic.

The most suitable time is early in the morning, immediately after waking up, and before bed. Some people practice at the same time every day, and this spiritual discipline works for good.

Why practice zazen

Peace of mind, clarity of thinking, the ability to better understand the causes of observed phenomena - all these are the results of regular meditation practice in general, and Zen meditation in particular.

Positive effect on the reality around

In the first chapter of Dogen's book Bendowa, the topic of why to do zazen is revealed.

Dogen calls meditation “the true gate of joyful change leading to the state of samadhi”.

He writes that all enlightened beings, all Buddhas reside in this state, which in itself is a virtue and has an awakening effect on other beings.

In keeping with the approach of Mahayana Buddhism, wh ere the ideal is one who performs a spiritual discipline with the motive of helping others, zazen meditation is the act of being in a state that has a positive effect on the reality around.

Thomas Kasulis, Chan Spirituality (In: Buddhist Spirituality. Later China, Korea, Japan and the Modern World; edited by Takeuchi Yoshinori): “Enlightenment was understood not so much as insight, but as a way of acting in the world with other people.”

You may have noticed that when your mind is calm, your calm state has a beneficial effect on other people.

When a person is transformed through the spiritual work of concentration, it becomes a benefit to the environment on all levels.

Mind enlightenment

In Zen philosophy there is the idea of the unity of practice and enlightenment.

This means that enlightenment of the mind is not an achievement or a result. Meditation is enlightenment - staying in the original awakened state. Meditation is the act of freeing the mind fr om the veils: emotions, thoughts that obscure this original state.

Every time you sit down to meditate, you can enter this luminous state which you are seeking after. It is not somewhere far in the future, but is present inside the here and now.

According to zazen, meditation is necessary to see the Buddha within. Dogen writes that in order for this to happen, one must “forget oneself.” In meditation, this involves letting go of any expectations about achievement and about yourself as an achiever.

In addition, Zen philosophy differs fr om the Western model of thinking, wh ere an action is performed for a specific result.

The Zen state is a state of contemplation.

To understand the philosophy of Zen and the approach to Zen meditation, one can recall the art of calligraphy, wh ere, in addition to the drawing as a result, the process itself, the state fr om which the action is performed, is important. A good illustration of Zen is the ritual of drinking tea: a calm, caring act of simple action turned into art. Meditation colors every human action with such attentiveness to life, making it more perfect.

The fruit of regular practice is transformation of being. Both the person himself and the environment.

Insight - Shobogenzo

" Shobogenzo" is translated from Japanese as 'Treasury of the True Dharma Eye'.

This word usually refers to the collection of written works of Dogen (ninety-five works), as well as the teachings of the Buddha.

In the Zen Buddhist tradition, this concept refers to the realization of the state of Enlightenment through the transmission of knowledge in a variety of forms, which may be beyond verbal instruction or study of written sources.

In order to understand what “shobogenzo” is, it is necessary to learn more about the tradition of Buddhism in China, wh ere Dogen studied - about the Chan school.

The Chinese word "Chan" is an abbreviation for "channa" (analogous to Sanskrit "dhyana"), which means 'meditation, contemplation'.

The main position of Chan teaching is “the special transfer of awakened consciousness from the heart of the teacher to the heart of the student without relying on written signs.” This means that the teacher can, by certain means, transmit his state of consciousness to the student. The student who has gone through this experience consolidates the state received from the teacher through meditative practice.

The peculiarity of this tradition: the affirmation of the idea that the Buddha, as a manifestation of the enlightened state, is located, first of all, within the person himself and is known through meditation.

For some time this tradition included the demonstrative destruction of sacred images. This was done in order to emphasize that the point is not the ritual component and worship of the statues, but rather the discovery of the Buddha within. When studying Zen philosophy, one can see echoes of this view of reality. Of course, Zen monasteries today have altars and regular rituals with the reading of scriptures and other attributes of the Buddhist tradition, but the practice of sitting meditation has a special place.

Let's return to the term "shobogenzo" - treasury of the true dharma eye .

The concept of “treasury of Dharma” means “written sources” — sutras, that is, the teachings of the Buddha, written down by his disciples. These sutras represent the Three Jewels: Buddha, Dharma (Teaching) and Sangha (Community).

Zen philosophy (like Chan) emphasizes that the real Treasury of the Dharma should be sought not in scripture, but in Buddha Nature itself through meditation.

The ability to see this nature is called the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye.

The concept of "shobogenzo" dates back to the story of Buddha and Mahakashyapa. This episode is often mentioned in stories and parables as a symbol of philosophy and the beginning of the Zen lineage, which Bodhidharma then transmitted to China.

Once while staying on Mount Gridhrakuta , the World Honored One showed the flower to a gathering of monks. They all remained silent, and only Reverend. Mahakasyapa smiled. The Buddha said: “I have the True Dharma Eye, and without relying on words or symbols, I transmit it to Mahakashyapa.”

In the koans this story is called Denkoroku - 'transmission of the Light'.

The Buddha statue on Mount Gridhrakuta.
Recommended reading

If the practice of meditation through the Zen tradition resonates with you, then it is useful to familiarize yourself with the literary heritage of the masters of this line.

First of all it is a series of works by Dogen.

Another teacher who introduced Zen philosophy to the West is Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki.

Shunryu Suzuki in his book “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.” writes clearly and interestingly about Zen meditation for beginners.

The simple and profound books of the Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh can inspire you to practice meditation.

Each cultural environment has its own characteristics of understanding the same phenomenon. Meditation is a practice that expands perception so that it becomes wider than any manifested tradition of the earth. However, in order to deepen the understanding of this method and broaden one's horizons, it is beneficial to study the world's cultural and spiritual heritage.

May your meditation practice be luminous!

In the third month of spring, the fruits are full on the tree of enlightenment;
One night the flowers bloom and the whole world is fragrant.