The practice of zazen - Kanshoji zen buddhist monastery

In this poem, Master Dôgen describes the practice of zazen:

Round moon

A boat with loose moorings is drifting,

driven by the night breeze.

Unifying body and mind

If we are not careful, we can transform the practice of zazen into a purely corporal, purely sports practice or, on the other hand, into a psychological practice in which we study the mind, we study the forms of the mind, we analyse. Zazen is neither a purely physical practice, nor a purely spiritual practice. Master Dôgen says: “It is about unifying body and mind.”

Without intention

If we practise without intention, without being blinded by the idea of profit, we can calmly see all sorts of things appear and disappear before our eyes. At every moment we can see thoughts that have a connection with our karma, with our ignorance, greed or aversion. If we do not move, we see them all, clearly, none of them escapes us. This is called practising awakening: seeing with our eyes of deep wisdom all aspects of reality, both external and internal. This is the practice of zazen.

Pure existence

Practising zazen means to taste pure existence, pure of any commentary, of any greed, of any aversion. It requires being awaken, refining one’s sensitivity, to cleanse one’s mind of all greed, of all aversion…

Letting go

The practice of zazen allows us to become fully alive again, without relying on our personal power or knowledge. This cannot be learned at university. It is only a question, precisely, of abandoning the crutches of power, the crutches of knowledge, of letting go. Just giving up, just giving wholeheartedly.

The practice of Awakening

When we practise zazen, we practise Buddha, the awakened state, open, present to the world. This presence is effective when the five doors of the senses are totally open, when they are not parasitised by personal noise or by sleep; when we listen with an open ears, empty of any judgment; when we see with eyes washed of any thought. It is very simple. The five doors of the senses can receive all information and put us in direct contact with the universe.

Transcendental wisdom

In zazen, the body unfolds between heaven and earth and becomes consciousness, from the tip of the feet to the top of the head. Zazen then enables wisdom to manifest itself, transcendent wisdom, that which is not based on the mind, that which is proper to life.

Fluid, available mind

So that we do not to pursue thoughts, Zen masters invite us to bring our attention back to what exists, to what is deep, to the position of the body-mind – head on the shoulders, the neck in the extension of the back, pushing the sky with the top of the head, pushing the ground with the knees.

If we wish to maintain this attention, this presence to the world, we cannot at the same time follow our thoughts. They appear and disappear by themselves. The practice of zazen is freedom of the mind. It thinks, but we do not intervene in this process. When we are sitting zazen, in the normal condition of body and mind and when we experience the pure existence, the thinking mind is not useful. If the thinking mind functions when we do not need it, it is the beginning of madness. Buddha invites us to return to the normal condition of the mind in its original form.

The entire universe practises zazen

When you look at it closely, you can see that universe as a whole is not chasing after anything. In fact, from all eternity, the universe, the galaxies, the moon in the sky, the tree in the forest, the cat in the house, all practise zazen. We ourselves, here and now, are practising zazen. We do nothing special, we only experience pure existence, pure of any commentary, of any analysis, of any point of view. We taste the deepest reality of our life.

Inconceivable freedom

[…] You remain in this place before the commentaries arise, before the discriminating conscience becomes agitated. From there you begin to understand, to see the true nature of all things, the true nature of your mind, your thoughts, the attachments to your points of view – and you glimpse an inconceivable freedom in which you realise that the clouds passing through the sky do not disturb the vast sky. You understand that the thoughts that appear and disappear do not disturb the original mind, which is always clear, always pure. That is how through the practice of zazen, you can walk without fear on the vast earth, facing all situations with a free mind, without fear, without attachments.