The importance of zazen (seated meditation) in Zen:
There are ways other than Zen to awaken. It has been done outside of Zen. Other spiritual practices have given people insight into their true nature. Sometimes in moments of despair or great distress; sometimes while seeing something beautiful or while walking in nature; a particular sound, or word, or experience aligns us, and a transformation takes pace. These experiences sometimes stick and sometimes fade. In Zen is like that too, some have glimpses of reality while in zazen, but can't take it with them to their daily lives.
Whether insight is gained during zazen or some other experience, sometimes we grasp it in the mind, but not the body; some keep it in their heart, but also do not yet embody the realization. In Zen we say that It is only the body that lends itself to give the teaching to both heart & mind instantaneously. That is why we sit in zazen. The posture itself is the key. In Zen the body teaches the heart/mind. The practice itself embodies the principles. It's not that the mind/heart can't teach the body, it's that we tend to get stuck there liking to believe we have the whole picture because we 'know' something from our experience, or feel something to be absolutely true; and we're usually right, but it's incomplete. We have not yet embodied the teaching. Usually in the back of our mind there is an inkling that something is missing, we know we have not yet embodied the teaching as a whole, so we seek another teaching, or another teacher, or have a lingering doubt. Other times we fool ourselves and those around us sometimes too, that this is the teaching. But until the teaching is embodied, as long as it is only in the heart or mind, it is not Zen. It may be good, it may be great, but it is not Zen.
The creation of Zen as a new unique sect of Buddhism, separate from Chinese 'Chan' & other forms of Buddhism was done by the descendants of Dogen Zenji. Dogen stated very clearly that the foundation of Zen is zazen (seated meditation), then in addition we must take this meditation into our daily lives. It is exactly this non-separation that makes the practice Zen; the posture of zazen is the axis of the practice, without it… it is not Zen. It may be a great practice, it may be another form of meditation... but it is not practice of the sect of Zen as established by Dogen.
There is a notion amongst some that only words and deeds count, that we do not need zazen (seated meditation) This notion that only our words & deeds are important, misses key elements of Zen. The teaching is very clear that it is the combination of thoughts words & deeds that make up the practice. In this trinity of thought sound deed, sound is in the middle. This is speaking of more than just the sounds of words, but the vibrations of sound; in fact, all vibrations have a place. The vibrations of our bodies, in the upright posture of zazen, creates a particular vibration. This vibration is part of Zen, for we believe in cause and effect down to the smallest vibration. There is a vibration that occurs only in zazen, it does not occur in any other position. The more precise the position, the more precise the vibration. The more precise the vibration, the more precise the effect, but the effect does not happen only outside us but more importantly to us, or more accurately with us. The trick is that if we do zazen with the goal of attaining this vibration, our mind moves, so our bodies move, so we are not so precise, so the effect is... different.. not quite complete. We must do it naturally, just for the sake of sitting and sitting alone.
Zen places emphasis on the physical teachings beyond words & letters. This teaching takes place face to face. Embodied in this teaching is a concept called fukinsei. Fukinsei says our natural lives are asymmetrical (most often 60/40 with some floating decimals is used). We are taught that there is visible & invisible. The untrained tend to give too little weight to the invisible, they cannot see it... they tend to not notice it... in Zen we give the invisible the 60%. That is why we sit quiet & still even after awakening... plus there is no separation between before & after as the visible language might have us believe. It's true that both are interlinked, visible and invisible. But we are warned against thinking this means if we do one we don't need the other. Good deeds without meditation leads to deeds that are not complete, they are good by definition... but in Zen we are doing that which is beyond good and bad... we are doing without doing. We are doing what needs to be done, as it has been done.
Zen includes both visible and invisible. They are not two, but not one either.... They are two sides of one coin. The two cannot be separated. We must have both to make the whole. Two sides of one coin, we can't split it in half and say it's whole. Since one is the other. We may think we can split it in half and have a whole. But since the teaching is clear that the zazen is the core of the teaching. Than this is the half we would have to choose. Not even monks cannot do that. We have to eat, shit, and sleep. Someone has to grow the food and prepare it, someone has to clean the latrine. So it can't be the zazen alone. Because of this some think we can split off the zazen portion then, since it's obvious by doing words and deeds we are also doing the invisible. One does affect the other, after all. But that's exactly why it is clearly stated that zazen is the core, to keep us from taking it out and just doing our chores alone. Chores alone are great, but they are not enough. We must do it all, even if impossible, we must do it with are whole entire being.
Why is zazen the core? The still/quiet practices go straight to the root… straight to the root of the human condition… the working of the human mind/body. The secrets lie in the stillness, it speaks to us only in the quiet moments of sitting absolutely quiet and still, where the mind/body does not move. Only in this way to we cast of mind/body and awaken.
Something happens in zazen, that does not happen in any other way. This something is interlinked with everything. It is especially interlinked with the nothing, that by definition must be part of everything (everything includes even nothing, doesn't it; or it would not be everything). It is this overlap of the visible body sitting silent/still with a silent/still mind that polishes our link to the invisible, and makes them one in the minds eye so clearly that it can never be lost. Once embodied it is part of our very being. Then we cast it off... as the final surrender, and just be.
It is all instantaneous if we allow it to be. Before or after the effect is irrelevant. Of course we know the link is polished. But only our teacher can 'stamp' us or not; to do it ourselves leaves room for incomplete teachings to be passed. Without permission to pass the teachings we are only sharing our own opinions, not The Teaching. Which is fine as long as we don't mis-represent it. The teaching includes a method of transmission; until we're 'stamped' the final method is actually unknown to us. It true that by the time we're stamped we rarely care or not that this recognition occurs; we no longer need it for ourselves. But since we are interlinked we have compassion for others & wish to know the final methods of transmission so we can share the experience.
To be awakened, we do not need a teacher; we may not even need zazen. But to pass The Teaching of Zen to the next generation, well, that is another proposition all together. Zen is passed from adept to adept; face to face, and the core of the teaching that is always passed is to do zazen and take this mind of zazen into our daily lives.
Before awakening we sit zazen. After awakening we sit zazen. Fore there is no difference before or after. It is not we who are different, it is the world.
There are many great teachings in the world. Zen is just one of many. Some choose one way to face, others choose another. One view may not be better than another, they are just different ways of looking at the world. But we are still human beings & still living in this world together, it’s a beautiful way to live. Even in Japan there are many schools. My root teacher is a Shingon priest; he has publicly (more than once) proclaimed me one of his legacy holders); but in Shingon, zazen is not the root of our practice; the secret of the school is found in sound. Tentai sect shares many of the same sounds & rituals of the Shingon, and includes some of the most profound and varied meditation practises, and their secrets are found in the ritual itself of using these. The teaching is The Teaching but each school has its own root. The root of the school of Zen is zazen.
To be of use in the world we must take out to the world, this is absolutely true, but we cannot even begin to know how to do this without the most quiet/still time that is the root of Zen practice: Shikantaza... just precisely sitting. Not even just sitting, but sitting in a very precise manner; sitting on a foundation with the earth beneath... sitting upright with the nose in line with the spine, and the eyes gently gazing down the bridge of the nose. In this manner and only in this manner we see everything, and only in this manner has it ever been done in Zen. From patriarch to patriarch it has always been done this way.
