Our way is to practise one step at a time, one breath at a time, with no gaining idea.
Suzuki Roshi
About Zazen - Sitting Practice
Intimacy, meeting life as it is, is implicit in all the teachings of our ancestors and in the expression of our zen practice in our lives now.
Dale Wright says, “There is no end to the need to open ourselves to the world.”
We sit to meet ourselves fully, to open ourselves to the world, to become intimate with and appreciate this precious life. We are supported in this by those sitting beside us, either online or in person and, in turn, we support others through our presence in this simple act of non-doing.
We will probably come to practice with ideas about what we will gain from it and how it will be for us. However, in zazen we are invited to just sit, with no gaining idea, even if we have one.
In the words of our teacher Flint Sparks:
“How simple can you allow this to be.”
We say, in a modern version of the four Noble Truths:
Caught in the self-centred dream only suffering,
Holding to self-centred thoughts, exactly the dream,
Life as it is, the only teacher,
Being just this moment, compassion’s way.
This is at the heart of what we are meeting as we sit, opening to life.
A brief description of zazen can be found on the website of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association (SZBA).