During Zazen,
We are constantly bringing back our mind to posture and breath.
Instead of getting entangled in our thoughts,
We embrace the simple living reality of the present moment.
Practicing the way of the Buddha is realizing the living reality of the present moment.
When practicing this way,
We stay in the world of phenomena.
We keep our eyes open,
Even if we may have a tendency to close them,
But we develop a soft gaze,
A gaze that is not attached to anything,
That doesn't grasp anything,
That doesn't look at anything in particular,
A wide gaze.
This wide gaze can be realized by letting the eyes rest,
Turn the focus off by letting them dwell on the floor or the desk in front of you,
Under a 45 degree angle more or less,
Slightly downward.
And relaxing all the muscles around the face,
Especially around the eyes,
The cheeks,
Around the mouth,
In the front.
Practicing the way in this world of phenomena is practicing the way is meditation in the midst of right and wrong,
Good and evil.
It is a world in which causality clearly exists.
By making time for stillness,
We can go beyond good and bad,
Right and wrong,
Between all these mental categories that oppose reality or parts thereof,
To find back unity in our lives.
That way we access a kind of different world,
A world beyond opposition,
When there's nothing to project,
Nothing to plan for,
Nothing to evaluate.
There is no right or wrong there,
There is just being fully present,
Attentive to what presents itself here and now,
Without attachment,
Without getting entangled in these thoughts,
Without rejecting them either.
When we fully concentrate on Zazen,
That is,
With a strong posture,
Energetically,
In embodied awareness,
Through using the breath as a way to become smooth,
Relaxed and natural,
We decondition ourselves from all these mental categories,
Good,
Bad.
In Zazen,
We can simply don't speak any bad word,
Because we stay silent.
No bad thoughts are created,
They're just some thoughts coming up and going back to where they come from,
Out of nothing,
Out of the interconnected world of phenomena.
Instead of getting conditioned in the world of phenomena,
In Zazen we become deconditioned,
We find back our natural state of being.
Beyond all karma,
Beyond all intention,
Without any particular goal,
Without wanting to gain something,
We simply don't do anything anymore,
Not even Zazen.
We justly are fully present.
We abandon all intention,
Including that of becoming a Buddha,
Getting awakened.
When we practice like that,
In full presence,
We practice true liberation.
That is,
The return to the unity of our lives,
Before any separation.
So during Zazen,
Stay fully attentive.
No need to think about karma,
Satori or Buddha.
Simply stay fully present to the living reality of this moment,
Attentive to this embodied awareness.
With regards to this quest,
One day,
A disciple of Master Yakujo asked,
Who is Buddha?
Yakujo responded,
Who are you?
So let me ask us,
Who are we,
Right here,
Right now?
