Zen Meditation
Mindfulness
Zen is about living in the present with complete awareness.
Practitioners turn off the automatic pilot that most of us operate from throughout the day -- we don't really notice all the things that are going on around us or within our own minds.
They try to experience each moment directly. They don't let thoughts, memories, fears or hopes get in the way.
They practice being aware of everything they see, hear, feel, taste, and smell.
Another way of looking at this is to say that a Zen practitioner tries to be completely aware in the activity of any particular moment -- to the extent that they are one with what they are doing. So, for example:
- when they eat they focus totally on the food and on the act of eating;
- when they meditate they open the mind to the reality of the moment, not allowing thoughts, feelings or sensations to preoccupy them, not even thoughts about enlightenment or Buddhism;
- when they work, they only work;
- when they brush their teeth, that's all they do -- they don't think about other things at the same time.
Zen practice is to realise that thoughts are a natural faculty of mind and should not be stopped, ignored, or rejected.
Instead, thinking, especially discursive thinking, is to be acknowledged but then put to one side so that the mind is not carried away by worries, anxieties, and endless hopes and fears.
This is liberation from the defilements of the mind, the suffering of the mind, leaving the truth of this vast, unidentifiable moment plain to see.
Stilling the mind
In Zen Buddhism the purpose of meditation is to stop the mind rushing about in an aimless (or even a purposeful) stream of thoughts. People often say that the aim of meditation is "to still the mind".
Zen Buddhism offers a number of methods of meditation to people - methods which have been used for a long time, and which have been shown to work.
Zen Buddhists can meditate on their own or in groups.
Meditating in a group - perhaps at a retreat called a sesshin or in a meditation room or zendo - has the benefit of reminding a person that they are both part of a larger Buddhist community, and part of the larger community of beings of every species.
Zazen
The key Zen practice is zazen. This involves sitting in one of several available positions and meditating so that you become fully in touch with the true nature of reality.
Different schools of Zen do zazen in different ways: Soto meditators face a wall, Rinzai meditators sit in a circle facing each other.
Posture
Meditation is possible in any stable posture that keeps the spine fairly straight. Sitting quietly in a chair is perfectly acceptable.
The classic posture for Zen meditation is called the Lotus Position. This involves sitting cross-legged with the left foot on top of the right thigh and the right foot on top of the left thigh.
The lotus position is difficult and uncomfortable for beginners, and there are other sitting positions that are a lot easier to achieve, such as the half lotus (in which only one foot is put on top of the opposite thigh) or simply sitting cross-legged or sitting on a cushion with knees bent and lower legs tucked under upper legs.
Methods of meditation
Some classic meditation methods use the meditator's own breathing. They may just sit and concentrate on their breathing… not doing anything to alter the way they breath, not worrying about whether they're doing it right or wrong, not even thinking about breathing; just "following" the breathing and "becoming one" with the breathing.
But there are many methods of meditation - some involve chanting mantras, some involve concentrating on a particular thing (such as a candle flame or a flower). Nor does meditation have to involve keeping still; walking meditation is a popular Zen way of doing it, and repetitive movements using beads or prayer wheels are used in other faiths.
Self-discipline
Meditation teaches self-discipline because it's boring, and because the body gets uncomfortable. The meditator learns to keep going regardless of how bored they are, or how much they want to scratch their nose.
Koan Meditation
Koans are questions or statements, often paradoxes, that provoke spiritual understanding. They are often used by masters as a way of teaching pupils, and also to test enlightenment.
Don't think that the koan and its solution are themselves wisdom and truth. They may be, but their particular importance here is their use as tools to help you understand the true nature of yourself and of everything, and to increase your awareness of what is.
A well known koan is "In clapping both hands a sound is heard; what is the sound of one hand?"
Koans can't be solved by study and analytical thought. In order to solve a koan, the pupil must leave behind all thoughts and ideas in order to respond intuitively.
Koans don't have a right answer. Western pupils often find this very frustrating, since most westerners are used to trying to get the right (and only) answer to a problem. For the same reason, the truths of Zen can't be learned just by reading a scripture or getting a solution from a a teacher or a text book.
The best way to work with koans is with a teacher. Without a teacher it can be too easy to fool yourself into thinking that you've solved a koan.
The first collection of koans was made in the 11th century CE. They are a favourite teaching tool of the Rinzai school of Buddhism.
The sound of one hand
Here's an example: In the book Zen Flesh, Zen Bones there is the story of the pupil being asked by the master, "You can hear the sound of two hands when they clap together. Now show me the sound of one hand."
The pupil goes off to meditate on this matter. He hears some geisha music through his window and thinks that this is the answer. So he returns to his teacher, and on being asked the question he plays the geisha music as his answer. No! The teacher sends him away to meditate further.
While contemplating the question again, the pupil hears water dripping from a gutter. Back he goes to the teacher and imitates 'the sound of one hand' as dripping water. No! "That's the sound of dripping water, not the sound of one hand," says the teacher, and sends him away to practise more.
The pupil keeps trying. 'The sound of one hand' is the sighing of the wind. No!
'The sound of one hand' is the hooting of an owl. No!
'The sound of one hand' is the chirping of locusts. No!
At last, after almost a year, he went to his teacher. "What is the sound of one hand?" asked the teacher. But now the pupil was different; he had transcended all sounds and come to the soundless sound, the sound of one hand, and he demonstrated his realisation to the teacher.