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Zazen
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I found this article online and I thought that others might be interested. The original is posted at:
http://www.artedojo.com/zazen.htm

Zazen means sitting in silence, a state of being in non-judgmental awareness.

The Japanese word Zazen is not easy to translate. Terms like "concentration" or "meditation" are somehow not suitable, because they imply that the mind centers itself around an object. Even the common term "meditation" originally describes a process of contemplating about an object. But what is Zazen?

One day seeing Yakusan sitting in Zazen, Sekito asked him: "What are you doing?"
Yakusan answered: "I'm not doing anything at all."
Sekito said: "In that case, you are sitting idly."
Yakusan replied: "If I were sitting idly, the I would be doing something."
Sekito asked: "You say you are not doing anything. What is this 'not doing'?"
Yakusan replied: "Not even the ten thousand sages know."

Zazen is doing nothing. We are however used to constantly doing something. "To do" something without goal or purpose seems an unnecessary waste of time to us. Activity gives us the feeling of continuity regardless of the actual sense or nonsense of our actions. Therefore we prefer to engage in thousands of other things rather than starting with Zazen. Most of our problems are rooted in the inability to sit silently. Particularly western people are very restless. We waste our live in endless activities. Our mind never quietens. We are carried away in an never ending cycle of events. Unaware of the deeper motives of our actions, we remain involved in an endless chain of cause and reaction.

Zazen is stopping. But usually we are ready to do this only if we find that our motives and actions do not lead to the desired success. We rather tend to project our thoughts and we do things to make impressions on others. We want to be seen in certain ways by others. But in this way we are constantly looking on others, loosing ourself. As long as one does not know oneself, one wants to become something or is imagining to be something and is disappointed if one is not loved.

Zazen is not goal-oriented, it is without purpose and without supportive devices. Zazen is observation and let go. Zazen is to be here and now. However, we experience the present moment only once our consciousness is free from the processes of thought and identification. It is not the achieving of a goal, but the state of being awake, which then has it's own meaning.

Zazen is direct seeing into the nature of one's own being. There is no conception, no object, over which one meditates. Our brain forms and stores emotional, conceptual and graphical samples and interprets them. Zazen is awareness without anticipation. All interpretations are the attempt to derive the future from the past. This way we miss the direct perception of the world. To let go of accumulated knowledge seems dangerous to us, because it means the end of routine and security.

Zazen is silence, stability and openness. The body is like a mountain, the spirit is like the sky. If too many thoughts are clouding the perception, we not only loose contact with ourselfs, we also loose compassion and humanity. But even when it is cloudy, the sun is shining behind the clouds. If thoughts and emotions are calming down, we start remembering the nature of ourselfs. Like undisturbed water, our consciousness returns to it's natural state.

Zazen is not an auto-hypnotic technique and has nothing to do with any kind of visualisations. The awareness is wide and open and not focused in any way. It is not pondering and wandering around terms or phantasies. Zazen means to become aware of the film which is playing on the screen of our mind, seeing thoughts come and go without judgment or fixation.

Zazen is not concerned with metaphysical speculation or spectacular experiences; it has nothing to do with mystification, esoterics or new age.

Zazen is not asceticism. Zazen is not a dry and serious affair. Zazen is a play, the highest play you can play, alone or with others.

Zazen is returning to the source, becoming intimate with oneself.

The spirit flows freely without holding on to anything. The journey is completely open. Eased and open one enters with the whole being, without spending energy. Our memory constantly projects new movies onto the internal canvas. If you find yourself lost in thoughts, just let go. As if before a mirror, everything passes by. Here there is no work to do, no right or wrong, no confusion. The awareness is total, without judgment. The heart and the mind are quiet. Without conceptions of space and time one is here now. Simply sitting, and that's it. One is free and at the same time conditioned by everything.

February 11, 2008 | 11:10 PM Comments  0 comments

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