When we sit down in Zazen,
We leave all our daily habits and our tendencies behind and concentrate fully on the practice in this moment.
That is,
Through taking on a graceful posture,
Focusing on the verticality,
As if the spine would be a hyphen,
Connecting heaven and earth.
Let the posture be strong.
Put a lot of energy in sitting straight.
And instead of becoming a rigid sitting statue,
The posture also remains flexible.
And that flexibility comes through attuning with the rhythm of the breathing.
So the back is straight and strong,
Vertically connected to heaven and earth,
Well grounded.
And the front is supple,
Flexible,
Moving in and out with the breathing.
Instead of getting entangled in our thoughts and all kinds of mental constructions,
We are simply content with the simplicity of this living reality in the present moment.
This body,
Here,
And this breath,
Now.
Focusing on just that allows us to make our body a place of awakening,
A temple.
Zen teachers throughout the centuries all have pointed at the fact that realization always happens,
Here and now,
Through embodied awareness,
Through becoming one with the breath.
When we let go of all identification,
Of all projection,
Then we can find back our normal condition and in a playful way enter into this field of deep absorption,
Completely interconnected with the entire cosmos.
Then our body and our breath become magic,
Because we are fully aligned with reality as it is.
One way of expressing the importance of this continued practice of aligning with the present moment,
Becoming totally one with body and breath,
Is expressed in the story of Mass Yakuza,
Who lived in the 9th century in China.
By the end of his life,
When he was 83 years old,
He walked around the temple,
Just shortly before he passed,
And he said,
The halls are falling down,
The temple is breaking down.
All the monks left their quarters and started supporting the pillars that held up the roof.
Now,
Sayaku-san simply went to sit down in Zazen,
And most of the monks really didn't understand what this was about,
But then he passed while sitting in Zazen,
Quietly,
In total acceptance.
There's many layers to this story,
But one direct,
Easy to understand,
Is that our body is the temple.
There is no other awakening or realization than through this body.
Therefore,
Continue sitting with all your energy,
This body,
This breath,
Right here,
Right now.
What a joy.
