How to sit Zazen | Zen meditation

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The Zen Gateway was founded in 2012 by Michael Haggiag and Martin Goodson. Martin has been a teacher at the London Zen Temple (Shobo An) and the London Buddhist Society since 2003, and is also our resident teacher at The Zen Gateway.
They both trained in the Rinzai Zen lineage under Ven. Myokyo-ni (Daiyu Myokyo Zenji), who trained for 12 years at Daitoku-ji Zen Training Monastery in Kyoto under Master Sesso Soho and Master Kannun Sojun.
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Опубликовано:

30 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 36

@Tomas33392 2 года назад

Great introduction to the practice, thank you. May all beings attain happiness, may all beings attain Buddhahood.

@wiley3840 5 месяцев назад

Thank you. I am recovering from years of chronic illness. Zen practices have helped me to cope and thrive mentally and now I can meditate more. I am starting to move and strengthen my physical body and combine that with mental practices. It is a physical beginning late in life. Beginner's mind towards basic physical functioning, non judgement. Embarking. I am looking forward to a journey into zazen.

@thezengateway8578 4 месяца назад

Best wishes for your journey. There is the old Chinese saying that a journey of a thousand miles starts from right under one's feet.

@rocky_cutscene_era 10 месяцев назад

Hi, you talk about breathing and focusing on it. Tas far as I know, Dogen's zazen is not about concentrating on breathing, but really letting go of thinking itself, by not concentrating on anything. Do clear this up, thanks a lot!

@thezengateway8578 10 месяцев назад

Yes, that is true. Breath is the gateway to letting-go because 'I' always need something to do. So we make an object for meditation that has to 'drop off' and then the samadhi can open up.

@thezengateway8578 4 месяца назад

HI, yes you are right about that. But to go from everyday consciousness with the feeling of 'I doing the meditation' to emptiness is very difficult. The breath or count on the breath is a halfway house something for 'me' to do until the drop-off occurs. I boils down to the fact that 'I 'can't drop myself off rather I get tired by continually coming back to the object of meditation, the breath, then the drop off will occur naturally.

@exatceah 27 дней назад

Thanks for the video. As I understand it's more a beginner gide because breath in not an objective in traditional zazen. There's no objectives in zazen at all, but rather raw experiencing of "being".

@georgialandau9843 3 месяца назад

Excellent posture advice. Thanks for mentioning sitting in a chair. At84 , I can’t sit on the cushion anymore.

@thezengateway8578 2 месяца назад

Glad it was helpful!

@thelinguistshow Год назад

That was wonderful. Preciate this.

@zierrat Месяц назад

Gasshō

@Riabh 2 года назад

The zen symbol, has it a meaning

@thezengateway8578 2 года назад

Hi Do you mean the labyrinth on the glass behind him? If so, then yes it i does. The tl;dr is that it represents the spiritual journey with all its difficut twists and turns and the path going ever inward.

@austinsowers2974 Год назад

You are a fantastic teacher.

@thezengateway8578 Год назад

Thank you for your kind words. I will pass the message on. Dominic (from The Zen Gateway)

@dinolize Год назад

Great teaching. Thank you very much.

@Tien-TaiFa-huaSchool 11 месяцев назад

Namo Amitabha Buddha

@pakabe8774 6 месяцев назад

And not even talked about lotus position. And why are the eyed closed at times?

@thezengateway8578 4 месяца назад

True we didn't, in my experience not many people can sit in the full lotus well. Most use either half lotus or Burmese position or kneeling. Maybe there is another video there? We didn't want to make this one too long. The eyes are, I would argue, better half closed so as not to to drift off to sleep.

@deepfuchsia7204 2 года назад

u mean perpendicular

@josep.8983 Год назад

Hi! Thank you for this information. I've been practicing zazen with your teachings, but today I had some information about the progress in the practice related to koans. ¿How's the zen practice process? ¿Is there a point in which I can start other excercises during zazen? ¿Do I need guidance or can I develop this practice, i.e, with your videos? Thanks again, and greetings from Colombia. Edit: nevermind. I visited your web page and I guess I have to do a lot of breathings while I learn about the teachings of buddhism 😅

@thezengateway8578 Год назад

A teacher will be helpful to you. A suggestion is to ask the Heart Buddha to give guidance.

@thezengateway8578 10 месяцев назад

Sorry, just seen this. For Koan training you do need a teacher as that is part of the process. However, if the Zazen is strong, that is the thoughts no longer drag attention away too much then following your sitting with some reading of the Dharma can be useful as there is a sensitivity to the deeper elements of the sayings of the Buddha and masters.

@thezengateway8578 4 месяца назад

One final point, once Zazen is steady then regular problems can be looked at in the quiet spaciousness of sunyata. So can the Buddha's teaching for insight.

@ycarolacerda Год назад

What's difference between shikantza and zazen?

@jaywiliams5835 Год назад

I'm just a beginner but I think zazen can either be shikantza or working on a koan

@amadlover 2 года назад

Why has counting become a part of zazen practice. Your content has helped me bridge the gap to the everyday side of zen.

@thezengateway8578 2 года назад

Very good question! To find out you have to do it.

@amadlover 2 года назад

Hehe. Been practicing non doing sitting, shikantaza, for the past 1 year, and vipasanaa for 6 months prior to that. Had done the goenka 10 day retreat at the end of Nov '19. Cheers.

@amadlover 2 года назад

Also dogen mentioned breathe counting as a 'lesser vehicle'. Should the breath counting be talked of as a warm-up to the just sitting zazen. Thereby maintaining the original form of zazen. Cheers.

@thezengateway8578 2 года назад

@@amadlover In essence 'yes' to that question. What happens in practice is that as the zazen deepens the count 'falls off'.

@amadlover 2 года назад

Hello thank you for replying. Isnt the counting of breath an addition to sitting. Your other videos talk about only body form being present in what is being done at the moment, and the counting, seems to be a mental exercise, and an addition to what is being done(sitting). Dare I say it, the counting can be likened to mantra meditation, where everything drops off after a while. So counting could be a 'calm the mind' practice but not a part of zen sitting. Like anapana is to vipasanaa. Since you will end up doing more than one thing at a time, sitting + awareness of breath + counting. Thank you for reading. Cheers.