In Defense of Zazen - Part 1: Its Merit As Secular Practice

This post will be mirrored at Bayou Buddhists at HoustonBelief.com, my first actual post there.  If you came here from there, thank you for reading. Check out the archives and come back soon.  Otherwise enjoy the post.

 Due to our "peaceful and accepting" reputation outside of our community, it may surprise some that even Buddhists suffer the problems of sectarian differences.  There are fundamental basics that are more or less undeniable, but not all Buddhists believe the same things.

Very much like the Judeo-Christian-Islamic family tree, throughout history there have been divides.  Maybe I'll go into this deeper some other time but for now just know that at the very least, we have either agreed to disagree or just ignored each others' differences. We practice Buddhism to free ourselves from the selfish demands of the ego, not because we have already.  So of course we still get caught up in the delusion of my tradition is better than yours.

One of the issues circulating is that of the importance of meditation.  In the Zen tradition it is known as zazen, a Japanese term handed down to us through the Chinese chán from the Sanskrit word dhyana which basically boils down to "meditation."  While other traditions place different emphasis on meditation, in Zen this is it.  There are other ways of practicing, but zazen is the foundation and all other ways are just derivatives.

In some other traditions, meditation is a good description of what you do when you sit.  Dictionary.com defines meditation as "continued or extended thought; reflection; contemplation" and "devout religious contemplation or spiritual introspection."  Other traditions focus on an ideal to cultivate, whether compassion or the emptiness of suffering or something else.  There's nothing wrong with any of those, but it's not zazen.

So if it's not really meditation, what makes it so different? 

As most people know, a tenet of Buddhism is that existence is suffering.  Well this suffering is caused by desire.  These are simplified statements that actually have much deeper meanings, but for my purpose here, they'll work.

Desire is wanting something you don't have, but it's so much more than that.  In essence, the suffering caused by this desire is discontent with our current situation in the moment.  Why do I stress "in the moment?"  Because our discontent pushes our thoughts to plans, hopes, fantasies and worries about the future, or regrets and nostalgia for the past.  This prevents us from living life in the "concrete" world of the present, accepting life with an open mind and heart will bring peace.

In zazen, we sit.  That's it.  It's most descriptive term for what is actually going on.  In Japanese it's called shikantaza ("just sitting").  The sister tradition of the Zen tradition I practice, Soto, is Rinzai and they do things a little differently.  So from here on out I'm only discussing Soto practice. I will refer to zazen in English as sitting to distinguish it from meditation.

There's an anecdote told in our tradition concerning what's going on during shikantaza.  One monk asks his teacher about it and the teacher replies "it's thinking the thought of not-thinking."  The monk asks for clarification and the teacher's response is "it's different than thinking."  Yeah, it's confusing and humorous as Zen banter is often considered, but it has real meaning.  The thinking that it's different from is the calculating, reminiscent, fantasizing thought of daydreaming.  The thought of "not-thinking" is being present in the moment.  To think the thought of not-thinking is to not chase trains of thought around in your brain.

This youtube video is a fantastic example of how to sit.  From the beginning it stresses  that zazen is not a strictly Buddhist practice, or even a religious one at that.  This is the point that I'd like to drive home for you non-Buddhist readers.  Some people are sticklers for correct posture so this is a good resource for that care of Brad Warner.  I couldn't care less about enforcing posture, but I do know that your results will only be as serious as your effort.  An upright mind can only life in an upright body.  (Improved posture is actually a wonderful side effect.)

Zazen is a concentration exercise.  In Zen, other things may happen when practiced in that context, but essentially it is a secular tool that can be used by everyone.  Sitting is excellent as a secular tool because there are no visualizations or mantras or anything.  You just sit and stare at a wall, trying to be present.

Even if you don't buy the logic that living in the present without worrying, regretting, or fantasizing, everyone's a sucker for building concentration and focus.  There are supplements and medications marketed for this purpose.  I myself, was diagnosed with ADD at a young age and hated the medications I took.  I have found myself not saved by my faith, but by the practice of sitting mindfully concentrating on the present.

Everyone has those moments where they find themselves day dreaming and snap back to reality.  Maybe you walk into a room and can't remember what you came in for.  Or you may find yourself in a stressful situation and can't concentrate on what's at hand because you're worrying about what will happen if you do something wrong or what people are thinking about you, etc. Sitting won't cure you of these ailments, but it can help.

How you ask?  I'll lean on a metaphor that I came up with that explains the importance of sitting but that I also apply to practicing martial arts and potentially other things as well.  

Sitting is like going to the gym.  Just as we exercise our bodies, we must exercise our minds.  The gym is a controlled environment where we can work on specific muscles in a controlled way.  By eliminating outside influence and variables from a routine, specific muscles are strengthened in the most efficient way.  It may be boring, but it's the still the most efficient.  Getting fit in the gym allows for better performance when playing sports.  Sure just playing sports will exercise the body, but there are uncontrolled factors.  In something like tennis, you may not have to run all over the court or end up only returning forehand shots.  You don't work on cardio and one side of your body doesn't get used.

Our minds are muscles, too.  To quietly sit on a cushion is to limit outside influences to a very controlled setting.  It's unbelievably boring as I've explained before,  but you're not there to have a good time.  It requires discipline just like going to the gym.  And just like going to the gym, you won't see immediate results.  You won't even feel like you're doing it right after years of experience until you accept that it's about the exercise, not the results. 

So what does it exercise?  Sitting is the most efficient way to strengthen concentration.  Without the added distraction of activity outside your mind, errant thoughts are your only concern.  If you can't stay focused in this situation, how can you expect to keep your cool while taking that big exam, flying an airplane, or performing open heart surgery? 

Sure there are other activities to hone your concentration, but none are as efficient as sitting.  As this activity becomes a habit, grooves will wear into how your mind functions and you find it easier to find and fall into that "concentration place."  Throughout the day, you may be able to accomplish more with better results as your mindfulness increases.  Your mind may still wander, but when you notice, it will be easier to come and stay back.

If you've gotten down to this, the end of part one, you've already proven to have an open mind that may tolerate some boredom.  So give it a try, set aside a few minutes... say ten a day for a week and just sit.  Don't judge yourself, follow the instructions in the video above.  It may be a little painful or uncomfortable, especially if you're not used to sitting like that, but that's part of it and it will get easier. There's nothing religious about so don't think as soon as you sit down, Pow! You're a Buddhist!  I'll get into the interfaith issues next time.

New Opportunities

So after my "fantastic" weekend, some awesome opportunities opened up for me.

The first I didn't know about until yesterday, but actually happened Friday.  Andy, author of the Bayou City Buddhist invited me to join in on the Buddha bus at the Bayou Buddhist Houston Belief site.  Of course I said yes, so that's in the works right now. <<<EDIT: It's up now>>

The second, and somewhat expected but still exciting, was the first leadership meeting we had at the dojo concerning the future developments my teacher wants to make for the school.  Lots of volunteering for various things occurred, one of the more notable for me that of dealing with organizing food for our parties.  The other was formally signing up to be instructors for private lessons as well as administrative duties, which should bring me some much needed cash.  We also intend to have Zen meditation to complement our class occasionally, so I was volunteered to (help?) organize that due to my experience.  So all of that's pretty exciting.

The last has to do with business at the zendo.  The Rohatsu Sesshin is coming up in December and me being without a job/money wanted to see if there was something I could do in exchange to be allowed to attend.  Seeing as I have yet to even attend a 1 day sitting, I though offering my services in the kitchen would be a nice transition into such intensive practice.  Since the preparation and service of food is formal practice as well, I won't really be missing out on anything but a little extra boredom and aching legs.

My offer was received with great enthusiasm.  It turns out the tenzo has held the position for two years and done most of the work all by himself so an assistant would be wonderful.  I was told today that someone had provided a scholarship for me to attend.  I kind of thought they came from the community as a whole, but it seems like I have an anonymous sponsor.  If that's the case, I may have a feeling as to who it is but know if they wanted me to know, I would so I'll just be grateful to the community at large.

I've also been asked to help in the kitchen for a couple other occasions before the sesshin that won't be as formal so I jumped at those as well out of gratitude and the opportunity for experience.

So once again, I'm grateful for the generosity of the communities I find myself a member of, inspiring me to return the favor.

---------------------------------

I also applied for a job yesterday that I'm pretty excited about, but won't know anything about that for a little while

Well, It Is About Experience, Right?

At the beginning of the summer, I thought I'd learned my lesson.  Well, I'd learned a lesson, at least.

With the fifth Grave Precept traditionally being translated as having to do with avoiding, or at least not abusing, intoxicants, I discovered its reason to be the hard way.  I kind of let myself go since there was no driving involved, but I was basically hung over for the whole weekend.

So being more mindful, and armed with the memory of experience, I watched myself Saturday night and enjoyed the drinks I had at a friend's party for their flavor while socializing.  What I didn't realize, is the cumulative effect of alcohol over several hours even if you don't get drunk.  I had slowly poisoned myself over almost six hours.

That by itself would have probably been enough of a pain to deal with, but out of generosity I'd also donated blood Friday afternoon.  I had waited the twenty-four hours before consuming alcohol as told, but I think I went overboard starting at the twenty-eight hour mark.

So with a body low on vital fluids having consumed a rather substantial amount of alcohol, I woke up after a little less than six hours of sleep feeling not too bad, just a stopped up head.  But as the day progressed, it all went downhill.

The sinus congestion was the icing on the cake, reducing my oxygen intake by making breathing a chore, which wore me out even more.  But the heart of the matter was the body and stomach aches.  It felt like the flu.  We were out and about running errands, but I did my best to suck it and accept the consequences for what I'd done.

To describe any more would just be gratuitous whining about something I shouldn't have done in the first place so I'll stop with that.  I'm still not at 100%, but I'm getting better.  I just needed some juice and rest.

Have I learned my lesson?  Well, I learned another lesson and I know that I've got even more to learn.  Will I swear off alcohol?  No, for the same reason I still eat meat.  The Precepts aren't commandments and I'm ready to deal with whatever consequences arise from stepping outside of them.  Culturally, consuming alcohol and meat are acceptable, if not expected behaviors.

Would I miss them if I stopped?  Meat, hell yes, people are omnivores and to deny ourselves meat is going against evolution.  While I respect others and their contrary view points, I also respect the efforts of all forms of life to live according to their natures.  Alcohol, I wouldn't really miss it for it's intoxicating effects.  They're nice but alcoholic beverages also taste good.  I've never been a huge fan of how they make me feel, so I'd probably have a harder time giving up soda.  As long as I keep the spirit of the Precepts in mind and that they exist for a reason, practicing moderation isn't an issue.

Musubi and Timing: Proactive and Reactive

Last night we had an Aikido kyu review, which is basically a test/demonstration of techniques we've learned either since the last review or since our last promotion.  They're usually a lot of fun.  Everybody gets all nervous and does their best to overcome it.  Every once in a while some people will have a bad time and we'll take turns recounting our own bad experiences and try cheering them up and put things back in perspective.

To relieve the stress and celebrate the event we always either go out to eat or my sensei hosts a party.  Last night we went out to eat.

Although we do talk about other things, as the night wore down the topic turned more towards the philosophical aspect of our practice and it's life applications.  Just like texts written by Zen teachers, Aikido teachings can get a little abstract.  My post on marubashi and ikkyo being a good example.  Unless you approach it with the right mindset or have been pointed towards the deeper meaning, it's easy to miss.  We do get that Aikido is more than just it's physical aspects pounded into our heads rather often, but last night it seemed like some eyes were opened to see its full depth.

Most of what we discussed was similar to my post above since I found myself doing most of the talking.  It felt good to see it sink in but the last discussion was cut short as our waitress told us it was closing time.  I didn't really see the truth of the matter until I was on my way home so I'll put it out there now and hope I'm able to pick it up some other time.

It started with a comment about a physical aspect that some find troubling.  Like many of O-Sensei's students, many of my fellow students brought a lot of experience in other arts with them when they came to Aikido.  While the rest of us have to learn how to give appropriate attacks so that our partners can perform the techniques correctly, they already know how to.  They have issues with the way appropriate energy is being presented as throwing your balance if your target moves.

What I wasn't able to express was that I find this to be an exaggeration because more people are erring on the other side of not giving enough energy with the attack, so our teacher would rather we overdo it and reel it back in as we gain experience than undershoot it and have the attack be ineffective.

What I did express was that I thought it was because we're supposed to draw out the attack with a concept called musubi which has to do with making a connection with our partner that connects us with their center of gravity to influence their movement.  In a way, it's like hacking into their body and suggesting a new direction for their movement in a subtle way that provides nothing for them to resist.  It sounds esoteric, but it's really just body mechanics.

While this is true sometimes, we do occasionally take our opponents balance in the direction they're moving as they reach full extension, sometimes as in the case we were discussing, the opposite is true.

When someone attacks with a swinging motion, either from over head or from the side, there are only two points to make contact.  The first is when they wind up, at this point you charge in, irimi, like I mentioned before and push their balance before they change direction and swing towards you.  If you don't get the timing right, they are too strong and momentum is already built.

The second is after they swing and have missed, which they have because you got out of the way.  They will of course recoil for a second attack and this is the moment you enter to make contact.  With their recoil going back, you contribute the energy of your irimi to throw them back in the direction of recoil.  This was the preferred timing of whom brought it up.

At both of these points the strength of the attack, and its ability to harm you are at their least.  Aikido is full of this technique of over-correcting balance.  Your opponent wants to move forward, so you draw them forward until they change their mind and want to go back, so you let them and push them back until they've changed their mind to go forward again.  With each change of direction, the momentum builds until they can't maintain their balance.

But how does this tie into daily life?  The first, meeting the attack before its energy comes towards is you, is being proactive. The other, getting out of the way and waiting for it to pass before acting, is reaction.  In the full force of the attack, without sufficient strength, nothing effective can be done.

So in life, if we're able to see an unfortunate situation coming, we have two options.  Either charge in and meet it before it builds enough strength to manifest, or get out of the way to avoid its damage and acting to prevent it from happening again.  Sure you can just continue to get out of the way, but eventually a mistake may be made so it must be stopped.

The concept of musubi comes into play here especially when dealing with individuals.  I commented with the following in response to a post of Nathan's on Dangerous Harvests on his proposed list of ways to handle the downward spiral of confrontational discussion on blogs:

They bring to mind a list I'd like to share that I learned through Aikido, although it didn't originate there.

"How to harmonize with that which oppresses you.
1. Correct your position
2. Connect with the other person
3. Employ the spirit of yielding"

While it may sound formal and stilted, it's actually very practical.

To correct your position, you (as you stated) try to see where they're coming from. Give them the benefit of the doubt long enough to try on their shoes.

In doing this you'll be able to connect with the other person. Even if they don't return the favor at least you'll be on the same page.

To employ the spirit of yielding, admit to yourself at least that they're right at least from their experience. If they're not, banging on the door louder will only scare them into piling more furniture behind it.

Doing this, the worst you could come away with is a bruised ego and a lesson learned if you're wrong.

This is the daily life application of musubi, you connect with someone else to, hopefully, diffuse a situation before it gets out of control.  The reactive side of this is in making apologies.

After having gotten out of the way, by allowing others their opinions, we make amends by identifying with where they were coming from, remembering that they are humans also with egos to struggle with.

In the end, there are very few real truths in the world so everyone is going to disagree from time to time.  The best thing we can do when someone does is check our egos and apologize, at the very least state your sorrow at their holding that opinion and agree to disagree.  But provide a resolution to prevent it from continuing.

Vow for the September Moon

So today has been the September full moon.  I didn't do too bad last month and finished up only tossing some milk and a handful of grapes.  A couple stalks of celery almost didn't make it, but I sliced them up and pickled them by packing them in aka miso for a day.  I hadn't tried that before, but it was pretty good.

New month, new vow, fortunately, it was an easy decision. 

Since I haven't been running around waiting tables all summer, my activity level has not matched my caloric intake.  On top of that one of my classes was Plated Desserts, so yeah, that was healthy.  Plus, in keeping with last months vow, I had to eat things to keep them from going bad.

So this month, for my benefit and my girlfriend's benefit ("about time," she'd say) I'm going to watch what we eat.  This is essentially an attempt to live the fifth Grave Precept the way I see it: to not pollute the mind, body, or environment. 

We have the added benefit of me being enrolled in a class called Principles of Healthy Cuisine, so this should be easy.  I've already made progress through some of last month with cooking more often.  But a big help is thanks due to the federal government.

While I'm not the last person to get up and defend what the government does for us, I'm certainly not the first, but they've provided an unbelievably good service to citizens with MyPyramid.gov.  Everyone should go here and check it out.

While it's not news to me that a meal should include a starch, vegetable, and a protein, I wasn't really doing the balance right.  I've decreased the protein portions greatly, increased the veggies, and paid more attention to how much butter and oil I add.  Sometimes I'm even lucky enough to throw some fruit in there as well.

It's important for people to remember that lowering your caloric intake instead of increasing your physical activity is not an acceptable substitute.  You have to move to burn fat and if you don't, you trick your body into slowing your metabolism down.  This actually causes more weight gain when you lapse in your diet than if you'd just skipped the diet completely.  And on top of that you have to reset your metabolism in addition to everything else.

We'll see how it goes as I try to keep up last months commitment and implement this months.