{"id":28045,"date":"2021-01-30T12:01:07","date_gmt":"2021-01-30T20:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?p=28045"},"modified":"2021-01-30T14:13:48","modified_gmt":"2021-01-30T22:13:48","slug":"what-is-zen-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2021\/01\/what-is-zen-meditation.html","title":{"rendered":"What is Zen Meditation?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

So. What is Zen meditation?<\/p>\n

We know it is the practice of a Buddhist<\/a> spiritual tradition that, while it claims Indian roots, seems to have sprung up within the rich soil of ancient China. It has spread and has adapted variations in Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. And from these different places, it has begun to spread to the West.<\/p>\n

What we can say is that it is not Vipassana, nor is it Samatha. Although it shares some family resemblances.<\/p>\n

I usually summarize Zen meditation as a practice of intimacy. When giving basic instructions I say sit down, shut up, pay attention. When someone wants a little more, I suggest spending. year or two or three counting the breath. Following the tradition as I was taught it, I use one of the simpler versions, suggesting counting one on the first observed inhalation, two on the exhalation, three on the next inhalation, repeating the process until hitting ten. Then starting over.<\/p>\n

At some point I think it good to drop the counting, and, well, just sit. In recent years within that just sitting I\u2019ve suggested experimenting with an extended out breath, which has become part of my practice in my dotage.<\/p>\n

Of course it can be said in fewer<\/a> words. Or, if you like, more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Just sit.<\/p>\n

Zazen. Seated Zen.<\/p>\n

And if we drop the sitting, then its just Zen.<\/p>\n

This calls me to something I just read on one of the Facebook Zen pages. Someone cited the wonderful teacher Norman Fischer\u2019s Mountains and Rivers Sutra,<\/a> where he says:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the Chinese encountered the word \u2018dhyana\u2019, the Pali word for meditation, they translated it into something that sounded like \u2018dhyana\u2019 in Chinese. They chose the word \u2018Chan\u2019 which became \u2018zen\u2019 in Japan. But \u2018Chan\u2019 or \u2018zen\u2019 doesn\u2019t mean meditation, it only sounds like the Pali word that means meditation. The literal meaning of \u2018Chan\u2019 is \u2018to bow before mountains and rivers.\u2019<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

He, the citer, then asked if anyone could verify that definition for the word. This opened quite the range of comments. Mostly of the posturing sort. That old standard with a couple of amateur Zen masters sneering about the inferiority of dualistic thought, of course. Another offered a view of whether the word dhyana is Sanskrit or Pali, certain this was particularly meaningful, rather than a small correction.\u00a0Others were more serious.<\/p>\n

As sometimes happens out there in the inter webs one commentator seemed to actually know what he was talking about. Nelson Ho, I know nothing about him other than he brought what seemed pretty deep knowledge of Chinese along with just a hint of exasperation to the thread. He suggested the word Chan which was picked up in Chinese because it sounded like the Sanskrit, means \u201cworshipping the Heaven.\u201d He continued to dig and found a very early use where it means \u201cmaking sacrifice to the Earth.\u201d In conclusion Mr Ho suggested there was no natural connection to \u201cmountains and rivers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Venerable Fischer is a poet. He is also a practitioner of the discipline. And a teacher of our intimate way.<\/p>\n

And wherever he picked up that \u201cThe literal meaning of \u2018Chan\u2019 is \u2018to bow before mountains and rivers\u2019\u201d I personally find a connection between worshiping Heaven, Sacrificing to the Earth, and bowing to the Mountains and Rivers, and just sitting.<\/p>\n

So, my take away from this?<\/p>\n

What is Zen meditation?<\/p>\n

Our teacher Hakuin Ekaku (who is pictured doing zazen) sang to us the heart of this practice. (This version by another of our teachers, Robert Aitken)<\/p>\n

All beings by nature are Buddha,<\/em>
\nas ice by nature is water;<\/em>
\napart from water there is no ice,<\/em>
\napart from beings no Buddha.<\/em><\/p>\n

How sad that people ignore the near<\/em>
\nand search for truth afar,<\/em>
\nlike someone in the midst of water<\/em>
\ncrying out in thirst,<\/em>
\nlike a child of a wealthy home<\/em>
\nwandering among the poor.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lost on dark paths of ignorance<\/em>
\nwe wander through the six worlds,<\/em>
\nfrom dark path to dark path we wander,<\/em>
\nwhen shall we be freed from birth and death?<\/em><\/p>\n

For this the zazen of the Mahayana<\/em>
\ndeserves the highest praise:<\/em>
\nofferings, precepts, paramitas,<\/em>
\nNembutsu, atonement, practice\u2014<\/em>
\nthe many other virtues\u2014<\/em>
\nall rise within zazen.<\/em><\/p>\n

Those who try zazen even once<\/em>
\nwipe away immeasurable crimes\u2014<\/em>
\nwhere are all the dark paths then?<\/em>
\nThe Pure Land itself is near.<\/em><\/p>\n

Those who hear this truth even once<\/em>
\nand listen with a grateful heart,<\/em>
\ntreasuring it, revering it,<\/em>
\ngain blessings without end.<\/em><\/p>\n

Much more, if you turn yourself about<\/em>
\nand confirm your own self-nature\u2014<\/em>
\nthat self-nature is no nature\u2014<\/em>
\nyou are far beyond mere argument.<\/em><\/p>\n

The oneness of cause and effect<\/em>
\nis clear,<\/em>
\nnot two, not three, the path is put right;<\/em>
\nwith form that is no form<\/em>
\ngoing and coming never astray,<\/em>
\nwith thought that is no thought<\/em>
\nsinging and dancing are the voice<\/em>
\nof the Law.<\/em><\/p>\n

Boundless and free is the sky of samadhi!<\/em>
\nBright the full moon of wisdom!<\/em>
\nTruly is anything missing now?<\/em>
\nNirvana is here, before your eyes,<\/em>
\nthis very place is the Lotus Land,<\/em>
\nthis very body the Buddha.<\/em><\/p>\n

Just this.<\/p>\n

And.<\/p>\n

When we take up Zen meditation, that unique practice of intimacy offered in our school, we indeed worship the heavens, we absolutely make sacrifices to the Earth, we are with our whole beings bowing to the mountains and rivers. That\u2019s Zen meditation.<\/p>\n

We find that our body is the body of the Buddha. That\u2019s Zen meditation.<\/p>\n

We discover this very place is Heaven, this very spot the Pure Land.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s Zen meditation.<\/p>\n

Just this.<\/p>\n