“The steadfastness we develop in meditation is a willingness to stay. It may seem silly, but meditation actually isn’t too unlike training a dog! We learn to stay.”
Pema Chödrön, “Making Friends with Oneself”
What do we do – Our Practice
We practice Zazen together which is “just sitting”. The practice is an intention simply to sit in open awareness and notice what arises both internally and externally without trying to change anything. We take this as an opportunity to become more intimate with our habits and thoughts, rather than thinking we should be reaching a specific state, and of course this is not easy, so we sit together to support one another.
Each sangha offers the same forms and some different practices, such as studying texts, listening to talks, and mindful walking. Whatever practices we are engaged in though, we are being part of a sangha, part of the human condition and learning from each other’s strengths and vulnerabilities.
Like all forms of the Buddha’s teaching, Zen is something to be experienced rather than a doctrine. It is a practice which helps us to meet the experience of being human and to recognise and soften the ways in which we may cause ourselves and others unnecessary suffering. The practices and the forms support us to fully embody Buddha’s way in our everyday lives.
Formal Practices – The Forms
The forms are part of the way in which we embody the teachings; for example, our sitting posture represents and embodies an intention to be fully present, upright and alert. Forms such as bowing and saying chants (verses) are ways to link us to the tradition that has been passed on to us, and to remind us to pay attention to what we are doing. They also create a structure which gives us an opportunity to really notice our preferences or aversions without being led by them. We may like or dislike these forms and that is simply something to notice.
The forms are not ‘holy’ or ‘sacred’ in themselves. In choosing to follow them, we have opportunities to notice and study our responses to them. They also assist in the creation of a shared container for our practice.
Sitting – Zazen
With Sitting practice, even within our own homes, we would encourage you to approach the sitting period with: some mindful awareness, a moment of preparation, an awareness of being with yourself and with others, in an upright and dignified way.
When we are in the actual zendo, (traditionally the room devoted to zazen in a zen monastery) we are invited to sit, whether that is on a zafu (cushion), bench, or on an ordinary seat, in a way that allows our attention to stay open. We find a posture that supports us to feel balanced and upright. We are encouraged to soften our gaze, with eyes open, attentive to the present moment, turning towards the whole of our experience. We maintain silence and this steady posture.
There is no requirement to try to enter into a particular state, or to stop thinking.
Bowing
‘It is traditional to bow to and away from your seat when entering the Zendo (the meditation space). You bow toward your place of sitting as a way of saying with your body, “This is the seat of awakening. This is where I will take my seat—the Buddha’s seat.” And as you turn and bow toward the room you are also communicating, “And these are my friends and my fellow pilgrims along the way. I honour their intention and feel grateful for their support as we sit together. I couldn’t do it without them.” So it is a way of honouring what we are engaging in and also suggests that this is not an ordinary or casual activity. It has a little dignity and a bit of ceremony involved.’
Flint Sparks
Gassho
When we meet in person we practice bowing to our seat, the seat of Buddha and to the other Buddhas around the room. Gassho is a bow from the waist with our hands placed together, elbows horizontal, palms together. In our virtual zendo we practice a seated form of gassho while saying the chants.
The posture of gassho expresses our Buddha nature; upright, alert and reverential of others and the world. Our two hands coming together signifies the coming together of the absolute and the conditional.
Using forms like gassho is one of the ways we create a sacred space, a zendo. By all using the same forms we can practice mindful attention, especially studying our impulses and build a practice container together. Within this space we can offer our intention to remain still and focussed to support each other in “Waking Up.”
Kinhin
Kinhin, mindful walking, is a way of moving in steady way, staying connected with yourself and with the whole group. We take small steps, not pausing between each step but keeping a flow of movement and energy. It is traditional to walk with your hands held at chest level, with one hand over the other. It is an opportunity to be with your body in motion, noticing how your feet touch the ground and leave it. Some people find it helpful to name ‘lifting,’ and ‘placing’ with their breath. Kinhin can offer us an opportunity to stay fully present, as we find our place in the whole moving community and to notice our beliefs and ideas about leading, following and ‘getting it right.’
The Bell
We use striking a Bell to signal to each other the phases of the practice; Three strikes of the bell signals the beginning of a period of sitting. Two strikes, that we are moving into a period of walking, and one strike, that a practice is completed.
When we are practicing kinhin, we use wooden clappers in the same way as the bell is used for zazen.
The Just This Chants
The Robe Chant
Vast is the robe of liberation
A formless field of benefaction
Wearing the universal teaching I realise the one true nature
Thus harmonising all being
“To think about ourselves as separate squashes life into a very small space, when actually it’s much bigger than that. That’s one of the reasons why… we chant… “Vast is the robe of liberation, a formless field of benefaction”. It’s clear that liberation doesn’t take any particular form; it takes every form… It’s not limited to God in the sky, or some teacher or some person, or some state of mind; it’s vast, liberation is vast. We normally think that suffering is vast; it doesn’t hold a candle to liberation, which is unbounded. We’re ‘wearing’ the teachings to bring them into our body, to remind us we’re alive and included in that is our discomfort, our willingness to ask ourselves to be still and silent, to do walking meditation; it’s a way of waking up and attending to this aliveness that has form, that we call “all my ancient tangled karma”.
Flint Sparks
The Confession and Repentance Chant
All my ancient tangled karma
From beginningless greed, hate and delusion
Born through body, speech and mind
I now fully avow
This is not a confession in the sense of castigating ourselves for being sinful, it is about recognising all that we are, and taking responsibility whilst at the same time understanding that we are a result of all the causes and conditions that created us.
“This chant is a way of saying; “I now stand up in the middle of my life and acknowledge all that I am.”
“All my tangled karma” is pointing to the interdependent nature of everything, that everything arises together, it’s a big mess, it’s a big tangle. There aren’t actually individual threads that stand alone. We pick out individual things, we attend to individual things, but they don’t actually exist independently. And so, we start by turning towards ourselves and turning towards everything, and turning towards every moment with this understanding that it is a function of all the causes and all the conditions that have ever arisen and that continue to arise and will continue after us as this vast network of interdependent arising.”
Flint Sparks
The Bodhisattva Vow
Beings are numberless, I vow to free them
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them
Dharma gates are boundless, I vow to enter them
Buddha’s Way is unsurpassable, I vow to embody it
You will notice that these vows are impossible ones. This is the nature of a vow.
“Vows are energies. Vows are aspirations. They are larger than life. Endless sources of inspiration, vows differ from goals, which are limited in scope. Goals can be met. Vows can be practiced but never exactly completed, for they are essentially unfulfillable, and it is their very inexhaustibility that propels us forward, opens us up, shapes our desire and actions.”
Norman Fischer – Zen Priest and Teacher
The Four Noble Truths (The Practice Principles)
Caught in the self-centred dream, only suffering
Holding to self-centred thoughts exactly the dream
Each moment, life as it is, the only teacher
Being just this moment, compassion’s way
“We are both ‘caught’ by our thoughts, not able to get free, and ‘holding’ on to them, not wanting to let go either. Even as we suffer, we are afraid of the alternative, which, even if it means freedom, also means losing control. The verse says a teacher is always at hand – that sounds like good news. The bad news is that the teacher is life-as-it-is and that is the only teacher.
Compassion’s way is the way of letting go, of loosening our grip. We’ve had our teacher by the throat and have been squeezing the life out of her. We can only become compassionate toward our life and toward those around us when we are no longer preoccupied with trying to control the uncontrollable.”
Barry Magid – Ending the Pursuit of Happiness: A Zen Guide