Week 8: Zazen and Zen Buddhism

On Wednesday a friend and I went to the Cedar Rapids Zen Center to attend their monthly introduction to zazen and Zen Buddhism session. While the Zen Center does have weekly Sunday morning activities, I thought it would be a good idea to go to something geared more towards beginners as I know very little about Zen.

Cedar Rapids Zen Center
Source

Buddhism, which began approximately 2,400 years ago in India, is the world's fourth largest religion. There are several different schools of Buddhism, each with their own practices and beliefs. The Cedar Rapids Zen Center follows Soto Zen Buddhism, founded in Japan in the 13th century. I'm not terribly familiar with Zen, so I don't feel comfortable giving a rundown of beliefs. I do know that they have the Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold Path in common with other Buddhists.

The Four Noble Truths

1. Life is characterized by dukkha (suffering, dissatisfaction)
2. Attachment/desire/ignorance is the cause of dukkha
3. It is possible to be liberated from dukkha
4. The Noble Eightfold Path is the path to end dukkha

The Noble Eightfold Path (taken from the Cedar Rapids Zen Center website)

1. Right View
2. Right Thinking
3. Right Speech
4. Rich Action
5. Rich Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Midfulness
8. Right Concentration

The Zen Center

The Cedar Rapids Zen Center is run out of a house in the Wellington Heights area of town. I'm not entirely sure, but I think the resident teacher may live there. A Buddha statue was our clue that we had found the right place. 

Directly inside was a small area for shoes and coats, as well as a bookshelf and a little bit of seating. There were already three other people there besides the teacher and ourselves. After some light talk, everyone introduced themselves and the teacher (Zuiko), explained that she was an ordained clergyperson. Her head was shaved and she was wearing dark robes. 

Before we went into the zendo (meditation room), we stayed in the small area for a short "pre-introduction" on zazen (zen meditation). Zuiko explained that it was best not to wear distracting or loud clothing as a courtesy to others, and we went over the different postures and positions to take as we enter the zendo. Everyone enters on the same side and walks the same direction around the zendo. At the entrance, you place your palms together in front of you and bow to the room. As you walk in the room your left hand is held in a fist holding your left thumb and your right hand covering your left. You again bow to your seat when you get to it, as well as bow to the people across from you and when you leave the zendo.

Zafu on a Zabuton, Source

The Zendo

We made our way into the zendo, each of us bowing at the entrance, and Zuiko directed us to our seats. There were about 8 spaces to meditate around the edge of the room. Most of them consisted of a zabutan (a large flat square cushion) with a zafu (a thick round cushion) on top of it. One space had a chair instead of a zafu, in case someone preferred to sit in a chair to meditate. 

After we bowed towards our seats and each other we all sat down as Zuiko taught us the proper way to sit while meditating. Basically, you want to sit in such a way that your knees are below your bottom. Ideally, you sit on the zafu while your knees touch the floor in front of you. This forms a sort of tripod with the zafu and your knees. It tilts your lower body forward and gives you stability what you sit. Some people place their knees to the side of the zafu instead, kind of like they're kneeling, and others use a tiny bench or chair. 

We also learned how to hold our hands while sitting. You hold your right hand underneath your left in front of your stomach and let the tips of your thumbs touch so you make an oval. Additionally, your eyes should remain open during zazen, as part of the purpose is to remain fully present in the moment. While it's ok if thoughts come during zazen, you should let them go instead of dwell on them. Every time thoughts come forward we should return to feeling our breathing instead. 

Zazen

We all got the chance to practice zazen for 20 minutes.  Zuiko rang a bell three times to announce the start. Instead of facing forward, you turn towards the wall to avoid distractions. I would say I did alright for the first 10 minutes or so. After that, restlessness set in and it became harder to let my thoughts go. I also had to move around quite a bit to keep my leg from falling asleep. We were told such movement was ok. 

It definitely got tough after a while. I'm not used to not being able to tell how much time has passed. Staring at nothing but a wall (or a curtain covering a doorway in my case) really doesn't help. I couldn't tell if 5 or 15 minutes had passed. It got kind of disorienting. Also, someone starting screaming at a family member in the yard of the house next door, which obviously added a level of distraction. It became hard to keep my eyes open as well. I'll admit that I did peek at my watch 17 minutes in.

At the same time, it was definitely nice. I wouldn't necessarily call it peaceful. I'm too used to outside stimuli for the stillness and nothingness to be peaceful yet, put it was still something that I would practice on a regular basis, if for a shorter period of time at first.

The bell was rung two more times to signify the end of the zazen session. We actually ended up going for 25 minutes instead of 20. We all turned back towards each other and shared our thoughts and questions. I mentioned that I had had trouble keeping my eyes open, and Zuiko said that that was why we had gone for 25 minutes instead of 20. She had closed her eyes close to the end and had accidentally fallen asleep.

She spent some time after that sharing with us a little bit about Buddhism. She relayed a story of how the Buddha spent several years in the forest learning under different teachers for 6 years, but never found what he was looking for. Finally, he remembered a childhood experience when his father left him under a tree with no toys or anything to distract or entertain him. After the restlessness and annoyance of having nothing to do passed, he eventually sat there completely present and in the moment. 

Finally, she shared with us a little bit about the activities of the Zen Center. There noon and weeknight sitting sessions, a book study, all day sittings, and more in depth intro classes. They also meet on Sunday mornings for a 40 minutes zazen session, a talk, working meditation, and tea. She also gave us several brochures and a book list before we left and encouraged us to learn more about Buddhism.

Final Thoughts

This is probably one of the best things I have done so far. Everything I had done so far had been related to Christianity in one way or another. This is the first time I had to go into something knowing I really didn't know anything about it. Zuiko was incredibly nice and accommodating of our questions. It was also nice to be surrounded by people who also were there for the first time and to learn along with them. Normally I'm the only "outsider," so it was great to be with others in the same boat. I'm planning on ordering a zafu for myself to start practicing short periods of zazen.