Zazen is the practice of seeing reality.
It is the practice of seeing things as they are,
Not as we are.
It allows us to see clearly,
To see directly,
Without the filters that prevent us from seeing what is there.
All our many thoughts,
Our biases,
Our ideas,
Our preconceptions,
Our misconceptions,
In Zazen,
Seated meditation,
We let them come to rest like a body of water.
When the mind becomes still,
It allows us to see all the way to the bottom.
And Zazen also creates a space in which to hold what can be difficult to hold,
Thoughts we don't want to see,
Feelings we don't want to feel.
And so in this way,
This practice of seated meditation can be a refuge,
Can enlarge the container that is our body and our mind for us to be with things as they arise and as they pass away.
The first step to begin this meditation is to establish a posture that supports your wakefulness,
A posture that is both relaxed and alert.
So take a comfortable seat,
Either on a cushion,
On the floor,
Or on a chair.
If you're sitting on the floor,
Try to have your legs resting on the floor or on a mat.
So that you don't have to hold yourself upright,
But you're really supported by your sit bones and your legs.
If you're sitting in a chair,
Place your feet flat in front of you so that they're touching the ground and you can be grounded.
Rest your hands in your lap.
Your leading hand,
Your righting hand is placed on first with the other hand on top of it.
Knuckles overlapping and your thumbs touching lightly.
Lengthen your spine all the way through the back of the neck.
Tuck your chin very lightly so that your head is directly over your spine and not leaning forward.
And relax the shoulders,
Relax the back,
Relax the abdomen.
Close your mouth so that you're breathing through your nose and place the tip of your tongue very lightly against the roof of your mouth.
And then almost close your eyes.
In Zazen,
We're not shutting anything out,
But the gaze is inward turning.
And feel how your body supports your wish,
Your aspiration to awaken.
Feel how this posture of the Buddha both creates and reflects that state of mind that you want to cultivate.
Now placing your attention on the abdomen,
Feel its rise and fall as you breathe.
In Zazen,
We use the breath as the anchor of our attention.
If you are a boat in the vast ocean of your mind,
Then the breath is the anchor keeping you tethered to reality,
To this moment.
And so no matter what the storm is raging in the surface of your mind,
No matter how small or how tall the waves,
Deep down you are anchored,
You are stable,
You are grounded through breath.
And so for Zazen,
You will keep your attention on the breath and you will return to breath when you become distracted.
And to help you notice when you have wandered off,
You will count your breath.
So as you inhale,
Silently count one.
Exhale,
Two.
Inhale,
Three.
Exhale,
Four.
And you keep going until you reach 10.
When you get to 10,
You go back to one.
And here it's important to note that the goal is not to see how many times you can get to 10 in a period of Zazen.
The point is to be intimate,
Is to be close with your breath.
And when you become distracted,
To notice and to return.
And so the practice of cultivating concentration is really made up of three steps.
See a thought,
Let it go,
Return to breath.
And in this case,
You'll return to the count of one.
So as we do this together,
Really feel all of your awareness,
All of your attention,
Very firmly rooted in your gut,
In your abdomen,
Feeling the inhale and the exhale as it leaves and enters your body.
And then feel your counting as an apostrophe after the breath.
It's very,
Very light.
The focus of your attention,
The object of your concentration is the breath,
Not the counting.
So we'll begin by ringing the bell three times.
Remember to stay anchored in breath and to simply notice when you've become distracted,
When a thought has entered your mind that takes you away from your breath.
No matter what the thought is,
See it,
Very deliberately release it,
And return and start back at one.
If your mind wanders,
Once again,
Just note that fact without judgment,
Without impatience,
And kindly,
Firmly release the thought taking you away from your breath and return,
Start counting again.
This gives you a taste of the process of Zazen.
And if you found during these few minutes that you were not able to get past two,
Know that every single one of us has been in the same place.
If we have gotten used to using our minds in a distracted,
Fragmented way,
We can expect that it's going to take a little bit of time,
A bit of practice to begin to use our minds differently.
So when I teach Zazen to beginners,
I always say that we need five things in order to establish a meditation practice.
First,
We need persistence,
That desire to keep trying over and over again because we know it will get easier.
Persistence,
And then we need patience,
Patience,
Patience,
Patience.
The Buddha said there's nothing more unwieldy than an untrained mind.
And I think we see this very quickly when we first sit down,
Get quiet,
And look inward.
He also said that there's nothing more powerful,
More skillful than a trained mind.
And so the power of concentration,
That ability to return over and over when we have wandered,
And the power of mindfulness,
Which is the ability to see what it is that we're concentrating on,
And the power of equanimity,
Which is what keeps the mind balanced and stable.
Together,
These three components make up that ability to see with wisdom,
With clarity,
With kindness.
So if you would like to start a meditation practice,
Begin small,
Begin with five minutes,
Five minutes where you will do nothing but be with yourself,
Where you will be with your body,
You will be with your mind,
You will be with your breath.
And remember that if you get distracted 1,
000 times,
And you come back 1,
001 times,
You are returning to awareness,
To presence.
As one of my teachers used to say,
Returning to the breath is reclaiming your life.
I have always thought that Zazen is the most powerful form of self-care.
When we say to ourselves,
This is important,
When we love ourselves enough to give ourselves this time,
To be with our lives uninterruptedly,
So that we don't live just half,
Or a third,
Or a tenth of our lives,
But so that we can be there for all of it.
May you find in stillness and silence a great refuge.
May you find in the clarity that they bring,
The wisdom to live a life fully,
Richly,
For your own benefit,
And the benefit of all beings.
