Zazen Body - Fukan Zazengi (Part 6)

Zazen Body - Fukan Zazengi (Part 6) - Kanshin Allision Tait - May 31 2026 - Suggested Donation $5

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Good morning.

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome back. Shindo san and Shindo san. It's good to see you both on my screen this morning. And welcome everyone to Seattle Soto Zen. So uh we had a a Zazankai one-day meditation retreat last week. Thank you to everyone who participated. And uh thank you to those who didn't participate but sent good thoughts. I think they might have helped. And uh we've been uh studying for the past few weeks, been studying um Dogen Zenji's uh instructions for Zazen for Sudan Meditation, which is uh Fukan Zazengi in Japanese, and it's in your champ books on page 20, if you want to follow along. Um and uh after last week's discussion on uh well dharma talk on the uh Bukan Zazengi, we had a QA, which we don't normally have time for because I talk too much, but uh we were able to fit it into our Zazinkai schedule, and uh you know it was very interesting hearing how um how much the we've internalized the uh kind of cultural teaching that there's a division between body and and mind, that uh our minds and bodies are two separate entities. Uh and this isn't really a teaching in you know traditional Zen Buddhism or traditional Buddhism at all. Um that uh the the idea is you you know there's uh an essay by our founder Dokenzji, he wrote Fukunza Zengi. He wrote a lot of stuff. Fukin Zazengi is only one thing. Uh it's called Body and Mind Study the Way. So uh the idea is that you know we're not some ghost in the machine, we're not a spirit uh that's you know possessing some physical form and piloting around. We are one entity that is a physical entity that has a body. Um Buddhism also acknowledges you know the existence or possibility that uh beings without physical bodies exist or might exist uh in some other plane of existence, but um that's not how we exist. And uh and I think you know we all know that's true. I mean, I've had days where um I was stupid and couldn't do anything right, and I didn't have any friends and nobody liked me, and then I ate a sandwich and everything was okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

And uh I also had a rather embarrassing um event in uh uh my my college days when uh I I thought I I I have asthma and I thought I was having the worst asthma attack of my life and uh was taken to the ER and found out I was just very nervous about my exam. It's like, no, actually, your lungs are fine. Uh do you have an exam coming up? I said, no, that's not it. I really am asthmatic. The doctor said, Yes, I believe you. Uh and this is not an asthma attack. Uh they might have been the first person to suggest I premeditation, actually. Probably should have listened. So uh this particular portion of the Fukunza Zengi uh is really about how mostly about how our bodies study the way. And there's just a little tiny bit at the end, uh almost as a teaser at the end about the mind that we're not even gonna get try to get to today. But uh I uh mentioned in a talk uh a a year or two ago, I said something about how I didn't think um a disembodied brain in a jar could practice sazan. And uh somebody in the audience, I guess, worked with uh artificial intelligence, and and they were actually very offended by that statement. Uh I honestly I'm surprised I don't get called out more often on the stupid things I say, but I was really not expecting that to be one of the things that offended somebody. But you know, and it and it's it they were completely right. I should really not discount the uh capabilities of uh disembodied brains in jars. I've never met one, I have no idea what they can do. But that is not our reality. So we are practicing Zazen with our human bodies. And uh our founder in Japan who lived in the 13th century from uh year 1200 to 1252. Um he also was a human being with a physical body. So his Azen instructions cover that uh sad state of affairs. So he says, at the site of your regular sitting, spread out thick matting and place a cushion above it. So um just a quick etymology lesson. So this is the Zen school of Buddhism, and uh Zen is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word chon, and the Chinese chon is their pronunciation of the Sanskrit jhana, which means meditation. So this is the meditation school. Uh and uh za the prefix za means to sit, so zazen is sitting meditation. And uh thick matting is a zabutan, so it's like a futon, but it's for sitting because it has a za in front of it, and the round cushion we place upon it is a zafu. So it's another, it's a sitting cushion on a sitting mat where we practice sitting zen, which means meditation. Uh there's actually uh a lot in um other schools of of Buddhism that uh that also focus on meditation. They talk about different levels of jhana, meditative absorption. Um, but uh in our particular school, we we don't really teach that. Uh we just practice meditation and uh it's sort of one practice. Uh I I I knew someone um in Canada who was uh a monk and he prac he uh he was ordained in uh Taiwan, I believe, but he studied in a uh Southeast Asian monastery in um uh Burma, I think, for a year. And uh he came when he came back, he was talking about his practice of jhana. Uh and uh I thought he was saying he went to Myanmar and got jaundice. We had a very confusing conversation until I realized what he'd said so at the site of your regular sitting, spread out thick matting and place a cushion above it. Sit either in the full lotus or half lotus position. In the full lotus position, you first place your right foot on your left thigh and your left foot on your right thigh. In the half lotus, you simply press your left foot against your right thigh. So uh this is this is kind of a shorthand. Um you can actually sit either way, and uh it's actually, you know, if you practice a lot, um, like if you have a daily practice over many years, it's it's probably good for your body to actually switch which leg is on top uh every once in a while. You'll tend to find that uh it's easier to cross your legs one way or the other way if you try to if you attempt to sit full lotus or half lotus. Um and I should say uh I I I do know that the surgery has gotten more advanced, but from what I heard, uh if you have had uh hip surgery, especially hip replacement, do not attempt to sit in a cross-legged position. Um, because if you have a replacement hip, it's very easy, much easier than uh a flesh and bone hip to dislocate. So you really don't want to be yanking on your leg in a cross-legged position. But uh there's um, you know, the cross-legged position, especially uh full lotus posture, is uh really emphasized. And I think for good reason, and I also think it's you know, maybe uh a little bit of uh a a uh kind of preoccupation that is not so useful. There was a book that came out a few years ago uh in Japan, which is translated into English as uh Eat, Sleep, Sit, which is was kind of uh an expose on uh the training at uh Eheiji Monastery, the um main Soto Zen monastery in Japan. Although the author said it was not intended as an expose. And one of the young monks that the author practiced with uh was scolded for only sitting half lotus. And he said, Well, I have been able to sit full Lotus since I had a car accident and had to have reconstructive surgery on my right femur. Uh, and his instructor did not accept that as a an excuse, and they actually made him tie his legs together every time he sat so that he could force himself into full lotus, um, which is why it ended up being an expose that uh embarrassed the Sodoshu uh administration in Japan. So don't please don't do that. Uh and there is some basis for it. So there's uh this is from uh another essay by Dogin Senji called uh The Samadhi that is the king of samadis, where he talks about the cross-legged posture, specifically uh full lotus posture. And he says, I have no idea what uh sutra he's discussing, but he's quoting some uh obscure sutra where he says, Shakyamuni Buddha said to his assembly, if you sit in the cross-legged posture, samadhi, which is another word for jhana uh or meditation, meditative absorption, if you sit in the cross-legged posture, samadhi is actualized in your body and mind. The virtue of Zazen is respected by all people. It is like the sun illuminating the world. Sleepiness and lassitude which obscure the mind are removed. The body becomes light, neither tired nor weary. The awareness is also clear and tranquil. Serene sitting is like a dragon lying coiled up. Seeing even a painting of someone sitting in the full lotus posture, the king of demons becomes frightened. How much more fearful will he be if he sees a person awakened to the way actually sitting serenely and immovably? It goes without saying that the merit of an actual person sitting in Zazen is immeasurable. Therefore, sitting in her everyday life is itself unlimited happiness and virtue. It is for this reason that Chakyamuni Buddha told the assembly to sit in the cross-legged posture. He said, non-Buddhist practitioners have sought the way by various practices, such as continually standing on tiptoe, constantly standing, or putting their legs upon their shoulders. Such rigid and narrow minds will sink into a sea of falsehood. Such postures are unstable and uncomfortable. Therefore, the Buddha teaches his disciples to sit in full lotus posture, keeping the body upright. If the body is straight, the mind is easily straightened too. If one sits keeping the body upright, one's mind does not become dull. The mind is upright, the attention is right, and one does not become entangled in thoughts. One must be aware when one's mind runs around in distraction, or when one's body leans or sways, and allow both body and mind to return to sitting upright. Actualize and enter samadhi, being aware of the various kinds of wandering thoughts and distractions. Practice in this way and realize and enter the samadhi that is the king of samadis. So the uh particular instructions for sitting well for sitting generally, but for especially for sitting in the cross-legged posture, uh the most important thing is that the back is straight. Uh second most important thing is you want a firm and stable base. So uh it's like uh they they say in in China it's like uh uh a three-legged cauldron or a three-legged stand for a cauldron with the the three legs make it very stable and firm. So when we sit in the cross-legged posture, we want to have our weight evenly distributed between these three points of contact, and that means we want uh to have our seat on the cushion, and we also want both knees touching the Zabatan, the mat in front of us, and that can be very difficult to do, especially if you have you know tight hips. So we have these support cushions, which are not mentioned by Dogan. Um, but these are square cushions, they can be folded in half, they can be folded in quarters, and uh, if when you're sitting, one or both legs doesn't make firm contact with the cushion in front of you, you can pile these up uh and give support to your knees until you can uh distribute your weight evenly between both knees and your seat. Uh also if you're blessed with um height and long legs, it might be helpful to put a support cushion or two or even uh a second zafu uh under your seat to lift you up a little bit. And uh if uh you're not flexible to sit in uh the half lotus posture, uh I don't recommend trying full lotus uh unless you've been sitting half lotus for a while and uh feel like you're uh ready for a challenge. But if um half lotus is not comfortable and you would still like to uh sit in in a cross-legged posture, there's also the Burmese posture, which is just plac one leg in front of the other without attempting to cross your legs at all. So it's just one leg in front and one leg behind, and again, you want to sit with you want to uh arrange your cushion so you can press both knees firmly onto the ground.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Thank you very much, Jacob.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

That's a wonderful demonstration. And uh the another uh tricky thing that um most of us don't do naturally because we haven't really grown up sitting on the floor very much. Um you want to tilt your pelvis forward more than you think you you would. Um so if you're used to sitting in chairs, we usually sit back. Um and uh if if like me you've got quite a bit of padding on your butt, you can get away with it most of the time. Uh but uh when we're sitting in Zazem posture, we actually want to tilt our pelvis forward a bit and and and sit on uh what are called the sitz bones. So at the bottom of our pelvis, there are two bones that are shaped kind of like crooked fingers. And uh so they have a point here and a point there, and then they connect to the pelvis. And uh they really like to rest on the flat part and not on either of the points. So if you sit with your pelvis tilted back, you'd be sitting on one of the pointy bits, which is uncomfortable, and if you tilt too far forward, you'll be sitting on another one of the pointy bits, which is uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

So are people trying that?

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Can you try rotating your pelvis uh just a little bit forward and see if you can feel the difference? See if you can feel the your your uh sit bone contacting the cushion or the chair you're sitting on. Because this is also true if we're sitting on a chair. It's it's more difficult when you're sitting on a chair, since chairs are generally built to sort of encourage us to lean against the chair back. In sitting zazen, we don't actually want to lean against the chair back, we want to still sit with uh our weight on uh on our sit bones, and we want both feet firmly on the ground in front of us, and again, you might need to use uh a zafu or uh one or two or more support cushions if your feet don't naturally touch the floor, and have you know, again, you you have those three points of contact with the ground with your seat and both feet. And uh when we take this posture, if our and our our spine is nice and straight, um then although it's it it's it feels like a very uh artificial posture, and it's uh probably uncomfortable. Uh I actually don't think it ever stops being uncomfortable. But when we when we find this posture, um it's actually surprisingly most of Our body is able to relax because we have this strong base with the three points of contact with the ground, and we have our back very straight. And when we're sit like that, the most of our body can just sort of hang loosely off of this support system we've built with uh our knees, our seat, and our backbone. And then you can kind of just allow your limbs to hang from that support system, sort of like pots hanging on a pot rack.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

So you want to um actually rotate your sh roll your shoulders back and sort of allow your uh shoulder blades to sort of slide down your back.

SPEAKER_00 23:01

And uh you want to have your uh arms close to your body but not really pressed into your body. So our founder in uh in America, Suzuki Roshi, said to imagine you're incubating an egg in each armpit. So you don't want to press your arms in because you'll smush the egg, and you don't want to let your arms be too loose or you'll drop the egg. And uh when we're straightening our spine, uh our spine goes all the way up to our skull, right? Our neck is part of our spine, so you want to tuck in your chin and have your gaze sort of downwards at a 45 degree angle. And uh it's especially um difficult, especially you know, since we're so used to looking at screens all the time. Uh, it's hard to have our our our neck in line with the rest of our back. We're so used to leaning forward to look at our phones, right? So um you want to tuck in your chin and have that uh straight line of your spine going all the way up through the crown of your head.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

So as Dogen Zenji says in his meditation instructions, you should have your robes and belt loosely bound and arranged in order.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

Then place your right hand on your left leg and your left palm facing upward on your right palm, thumb tips touching. Thus sit upright in correct bodily posture, neither inclining to the left nor to the right, neither leaning forward nor backward. Be sure your ears are on a plane with your shoulders and your nose in line with your navel. So that's what I meant about having your straight line going all the way from your spine to the to the crown of your head. Do you want your your ears to be lined up with your shoulders? Which it feels strange if you're not used to carrying your head that way. And your nose in line with your navel back nice and place your tongue against the front roof of your mouth with teeth and lips both shut. Your eyes should always remain open and you should breathe gently through your nose. Once you have adjusted your posture, take a deep breath. Inhale and exhale, rock your body right and left, and settle into a steady, immovable sitting position. So actually, you know, you can try that. Once you're you're sitted, once you're seated, you have a stable base. And uh to make sure our spines are nice and straight, you can actually rock from side to side, sort of like a pendulum, and you're kind of in smaller and smaller arcs until your body sort of settles into its particular uh balanced position, which isn't necessarily the same from one period of zazan to another. Uh, another way of uh straightening your spine that I was taught is to uh imagine there's like a hook right at the very top of your head, the flat part, and it's attached to a pulley that's pulling me up to the ceiling. So I kind of stretch up towards the ceiling, and then I relax. And as I relax, I allow my shoulder blades to slide down my back, and I sort of allow my spine to naturally settle, and I sort of stacking the vertebrae on each other like uh you have a handful of coins and you're just dropping those coins into a stack. So uh another thing is to um if you can't sit in uh cross-legged posture for whatever reason, uh Saisa posture is also very good. That's a kneeling posture, and you can use a bench for support. You can also turn a zafu on its side and uh sit on it like that, so you have a uh vertical, and uh you kind of tuck it between your your knees and rest your seat on it. And that's uh that's sort of how um people who are used to sitting on the floor, that's sort of the typical way of sitting on the floor, is in the a kneeling posture. The most important thing with the kneeling posture, pretty much everything else is pretty much the same. Um, but is uh if you tempt kneeling posture, uh make sure you don't bend your toes so that your weight is resting on your toes, because that will get very uncomfortable very quickly. So you want your toes pointed straight behind you. And uh the mudra says, Dogin Zenji says, uh, and place your left, your right hand on your left leg and your left palm facing upward on your right palm, thumbtips touching. So you want the cosmic mudra, which is I don't know what's cosmic about it, it's sort of an oval. And you can kind of rest that uh I don't know, I find if I rest it on my legs, I sort of end up leaning forward. Um, but fortunately I have a belly that I can rest my hands on if my legs are too far down. Uh, and uh again, you want some life in your arms, but not too much. And you want your your thumbtips just barely touching, so you could hold a single sheet of paper between your thumbs, but not more than that. Um there's uh in some Zen centers, uh there's uh a person who is um given the responsibility of uh carrying the the wake-up stick. And uh usually in the West, um you they wait for someone to request the stick, which is by placing their hands in gasho. Uh and then it's it's sort of like a a very abrupt sort of um trigger point massage. Uh in that case, they just smack you on each shoulder, uh, which releases the tension. But uh traditionally it was, you know, for if somebody thought uh you were sleepy or in whatever way um not sitting in the correct bodily posture. And uh I practiced with a teacher who used the wake-up stick, though it was it was a in the Chinese Mahayana tradition, so it wasn't it was actually an incense board, which is not really an intimidating stick. So this is like a strip of balsa wood, so you it couldn't really hurt you with it, even if they tried, which she didn't, because she was very nice. But uh she was asked, you know, how how do you know when to hit somebody? And she said, Well, I I look at your thumbs. And if your thumbs are pressed together really tightly, I know that you're you know uh feeling some kind of way inside your mind. And if your thumbs have collapsed, then I know you're kind of sleepy. So if you don't want the wake-up stick, pay attention to your thumbs touching, thumb tips touching. And then this is uh you know, neither inclining to the left nor the right, neither leaning forward nor backward. The same teacher said uh when you start thinking about the past, you lean back, and when you start thinking about the future, you lean forward. I'm not sure if that's true, but uh it's tends to be how it goes. You either lean forward or backward. Sometimes people kind of uh become like a plant and sort of lean towards a source of light. And uh again, just like sometimes I'm stupid and everybody hates me and a sandwich fixes it, um we'd we can tell in our practice that our minds and bodies study the way together. Because when uh I return to my posture and I notice either, you know, my thumbs are pressed really tightly together and my mudra is clenched into like a two-handed fist, uh, then that kind of tells me I'm sort of a little bit anxious and tense. And uh if I return to my posture and you know I notice I've been daydreaming and drifting into a half-asleep state, when I return to my posture, I notice that I'm kind of slumped. So this is our practice in Zazen is over and over again, we notice that we've wandered off inside our mind. And as soon as I notice that, I return to my posture. And if my mind is wandered, then you know, my also my spine is not straight, right? And if I notice that I'm you know leaning to one side or forward or backward, then that's an indication that my thoughts have probably wandered off as well. Uh, I read uh somewhere in, I think a tricycle article that said uh practice is just picking our jacket up off the floor and putting it back on the hook over and over again. That is all of Zen practice. I remember reading it and hating that and hating the author and thinking that is not true, and I refuse to believe in it. Uh and now I believe in it. So, this is what we do, right? We we uh commit to uh a certain practice every day if you can manage it, whatever schedule works for you, if every day isn't possible. We commit to sit a certain number of days a week at a certain time, either based on the clock or based on our life schedule. You know, it can be when I get home from work, it can be first thing in the morning right after I wake up. That's very traditional to sit first thing in the morning. Um, and then we sit for whatever period of time we've committed to sit for. We set a timer for 20 minutes or 30 minutes or 40 minutes, and we show up at the place where we sit, at the time that we've committed to sit, and we set the timer for the amount of time that we're going to sit that day, and then we take our zazem posture, whatever zazen posture works for us, whether it's cross-legged, Burmese, Saisa, or a chair, and then we wander off, our bodies lean forward or backward or become very tense or become very loose, and we notice and we return to our posture and breath over and over again. So this is what we do until we've reached the end of our the time we've set ourselves to commit to practice. We wander off, we notice we wandered off, we return to posture and breath, and we settle again into this steady, immovable sitting position.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

That is all for today.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

Next week I'll talk a little bit more about breathing and also about the instructions to think not thinking.