I'm going to write about my current zazen practice. This has evolved over decades. I've had significant challenges and obstacles, both physical and psycho-emotional. I'll write a bit about them and how my practice has evolved to account for them.
In this post I'm just going put down my general conception of the outline without much, if any, explanation. In following essays I'll go through the components bit by bit. I hope reading and thinking about these things is helpful. If you read this and have confusion about what I'm trying to say, please don't hesitate to reach out and let me know.
Allowing the Earth to support me
My neck is free. My head is balanced easily on top of my spine. It is available to release away from my spine and to go forward and up
My spine is lengthening from my tail bone to the crown of my head.
My back is widening with each in-breath.
I am not squeezing my hips. I allow them to release away from each other. I allow my knees to release away from my hips.
I am doing less in my buttocks, less in my groin and pelvic floor, less in my thighs. My knees are releasing away from my hips.
I am not squeezing my shoulders. They can release away from each other. My elbows release away from my shoulders, wrists away from elbows, fingers away from wrists.
Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out (in, out).
Breathing in, my breath goes deep. Breathing out, my breath goes slowly (deep, slow).
Breathing in, I am aware of my whole body. Breathing out, I calm my body (aware of my body, calming my body).
Breathing in, I know I am alive. Breathing out, I am happy to be alive (alive, happy).
Shitou said, “The vast sky does not obstruct the flying white clouds."
Dogen said, "Think of not-thinking. How do you think of not-thinking? Non-thinking."
Sawaki Roshi said, "What’s zazen good for? Absolutely nothing! This 'good for nothing' has got to sink into your flesh and bones until you’re truly practicing what’s good for nothing. Until then, your zazen is really good for nothing."
Uchiyama Roshi said, "Zazen means taking the correct posture and entrusting everything to it."
Shohaku Roshi said, "There’s no target, no way we can judge whether we are doing good zazen, there is no way we can make sure if this practice is good for us or not. This is a basic contradiction in our zazen. We just sit in the midst of this contradiction. That is our practice. Although we aim, we can never perceive hitting the mark. We just sit in the midst of this contradiction that is absolutely ridiculous when we think about it with our small minds."
Lilydale Winter Puddle