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The
Posture of Practice
A Series of Two Dharma Talks Presented by
Ven. Shikai Zuiko
osho
1: Zazen
Presented at Zazen-ji on May 11, 1996
Good
morning.
This
morning, you walked to the Monastery door. And as you walked, rain drops
fell one by one on your skin. If you were paying attention, you might
have noticed the sensation as they fell down your cheek, down your forehead,
off the end of your nose.
In
the back garden, the rain drops are falling on the bright green blades
of the lilies of the valley as these tender little shoots push their way
up through the asphalt, and sit there in front of the red brick wall.
Much like you're sitting here in front of the white wall of the Zendo.
Today's
Dharma Talk, (a Dharma Talk is more informal than a teisho, and addresses
more basic issues of practice) is "The Posture of Practice".
And this basic posture of zazen is simple and elegant. It is simple in
that there's nothing extra needed and it's elegant in that moment after
moment we can carefully choose how we are.
"Zazen",
Zen Master Anzan Hoshin says in "Four Gates of Zen Practice, A Beginner's
Manual", "Zazen is the practice of attending to experience as
it presents itself with and as the whole bodymind. While the mind may
wander into thoughts of the past, interpretations of the present, and
speculations concerning the future, the body is always right here and
now. Thus, zazen begins with the body practising an upright and attentive
posture."
As
you are sitting, now, with eyes open, facing the wall, feeling the breath
as the body moves in and out with this breath and this breath, are you
feeling the fingers of the mudra, the dharmadhatu-mudra? Are you feeling
the right hand resting with the wrist open against the right thigh? The
fingers gently curved and cradling the left hand. The left wrist open,
resting against the left thigh and the thumbs touching lightly and tenderly.
Are
you feeling the left knee where it meets the zabuton? The right knee where
it meets the zabuton? Your back side sitting on the zafu?
It
is important that your posture be grounded which means that both knees,
whether you are sitting in full lotus, half lotus, the Burmese or agura
posture, or in seiza, and your backside are grounded so that a stable
triangle is formed from which the spine can rise holding the head in the
space of the Zendo.
We've
spoken of the importance of the triangle of the base, the lower body,
to ground and provide support for the rise of the upper body into lightness
and balance point.
It
can perhaps be useful to, without making a concept out of it, to think
of another triangle the base of which is your two butt bones, the "sitz"
bones, or ischial crests, and the top of which is somewhere above the
top of your head so that as you breathe in and out, you are breathing
up as it were, pushing that other triangle so it can rise into and as
the space.
I've
used the term balance point because the Roshi speaks of balance point.
Our
practice seems to be unique in the use of this descriptive terminology
for the phenomena of balance and lightness that occurs when the posture
of bodymind in zazen is attended to in detail, yet openly.
Other
texts that I have been reading which speak of the posture tend to describe
the posture of the body almost as if, in some cases, we were trying to
fit ourselves into what we see in rupa, the statues, or into ideas of
what a good little Buddhist should look like.
Now,
there's one text called, "Sitting, a Guide to Good Meditation Practice",
which approaches the body in a slightly more realistic and slightly more
intimate fashion. One of the comments is, and I quote:
"These
days, physical posture and deportment are not especially fashionable topics.
Although the benefits of fitness seem to be generally acknowledged, some
of the subtler aspects of physical health could perhaps be appreciated
more. One such aspect is the relationship between physical and mental
health, on the one hand, and physical posture or its kinetic counterpart,
deportment, on the other."
In
the Shinjin Gatha, Song of the Bodymind composed by Zen Master Anzan Hoshin,
this matter is clarified very quickly:
"Body arises as mind.
Mind
arises as body.
Right
here, right now,
the
Way attains itself."
Bodymind is the whole way in which experience presents itself as who we
are.
By
attending to the posture of zazen, moment after moment, we are provided
the opportunity to notice how we are and when we see that extras are present,
when we notice that we are fixating on thoughts about experiencing, on
thoughts about how the body is, on feelings about how we are and about
how our life is, at that moment of noticing the fixation, we can simply
practice, simply open to the breath presencing in the body. Simply return
to balance point, and moment after moment, we are given this marvellous
opportunity and very precise instructions as to what to do with body and
mind, in this moment, and this moment, and this moment.
In
"The Straight Path, Zen Teachings on the Foundations of Mindfulness",
the Roshi says: "It is best if you can sit in a very stable posture
such as a full lotus, or a half lotus, or even a quarter lotus. In the
full lotus, bring the feet so that the line of the toes is parallel with
the outside line of the thighs. In the quarter lotus, just rest your foot
on the calf.
If
that is not possible, then you can use the Burmese or agura posture with
the legs uncrossed but just folded before you with the knees touching
the mat. Or, you can use the kneeling seiza posture. If you have difficulties
with the back or some form of injury to the knees you can sit upright
on a chair with your feet planted squarely and your back away from the
backrest of the chair. The main thing is that the lower part of the body
should be well grounded and the spine upright.
Allow
the spine to rest itself in its own natural posture and bring everything
into balance. The head rests evenly on top of the neck, ears over the
shoulders and the nose right over the navel, so that everything is straight.
Feel the top of the head and allow the spine to lengthen. When you feel
that the upper part of the body is straight and relaxed, lean back just
a fraction of an inch. Feel as if the spine ended in a tail and that you
could rest back on that. After a while, perhaps a few moments, or perhaps
many years, you will find a point, called "balance point". When
you sit in balance point, the upper part of the body feels so light it
almost feels transparent, and the lower part of the body is very grounded.
The
hands are placed palm up in the lap with the blades of the hands at the
tanden. Rest the back of the right hand on the uppermost heel if you are
sitting in full-lotus; if you are using the Burmese or seiza postures,
rest the back of the wrists against the thighs, close to the body. Put
the left hand atop the right so that the first knuckles of the left hand
meet the back of those of the right. Let the thumbs touch lightly. So
lightly that a piece of paper can slide in between them but not so far
apart that they don't contact. Rest the thumbs lightly, don't arch them
up or this will generate tension, don't let them fall or it will be easy
to just drift around in you zazen. This is called the "hokkai-join"
in Japanese or the "Dharmadhatu mudra" in Sanskrit, which means
"the gesture of things as they are". Actually, it is a kind
of steering wheel that will help to guide your practice.
A
good zazen posture is one which helps you to see clearly. When you begin
to become lost in a thought, you start to lean into it, and you can feel
it as a quality of weight coming up. If you are tense, you will notice
that the thumbs are pressing into each other. When you start to sink,
or your attention becomes lax, or you get sleepy or drowsy, [OR YOU GET
SLEEPY OR DROWSY-the Osho said in a louder voice to those who were sleepy
and drowsy in the Hatto when the talk was given], then the posture tends
to collapse, including the mudra, and you can also recognize that as a
kind of weight. When you are tense you feel it as a kind of weight. Simply
take the weight off and bring it back into the balance point."
The
balance point can only be felt by you as you sit. It's very tender.
The
bodymind is very open, there is a weightlessness, there is a transparency
to experiencing and we have to be very careful because as soon as we notice,
as soon as self-image notices this weightlessness it tries to grab on
to it. It tries to make it into something. It tries to make it into someone
sitting in a good zazen posture hoping that the Roshi or the practice
advisors will notice how well we are doing. At that point, we can recognize
we have moved into posturing. Not simply sitting in the elegance of balance
point.
It
is as tender as the breath. It is as tender as the raindrops on the skin.
Anything extra tilts the balance. When the balance tilts, this is a point
where in the noticing of the tilt, we can release what is extra by practising,
by sitting up straight, feeling the breath, opening peripheral vision.
We can then notice the return to balance point.
The
Roshi has told the monks a story in which when he was studying with his
teacher, Joshu Dainen roshi, Anzan Hoshin, Roshi gave a description of
the body sitting in zazen, in balance point, to his teacher. Joshu roshi
was very old at that time, and he exclaimed, "That's right. That's
it exactly. It took me twenty years of sitting to discover that. But I've
never had a way of talking about it. As with many things about practice,
you're just suppose to find out."
So
we have it. We have this very vivid, precise instruction as to how to
notice the details of the experiencing of bodymind moment to moment. To
notice the toes and the heels and the ankles and the knees and the hips.
To notice the vertebrae. To notice the arching of the spine. To notice
the skull, and the arms, and the fingers. To notice the pains as they
come and go. To notice when the sensation of pain turns into the concept
of pain with its attendant dire consequence stories. And, at the moment
of noticing, we can simply choose the simple posture, the elegant posture
of zazen.
I'll
close with a quote that came from a conversation with Zen Master Anzan
Hoshin about simplicity being simple elegance.
"Simplicity
opens into richness. Simplification folds down into contraction."
Keep
it simple!
Thank
you for listening.
2: Kinhin: The Dignity of the Buddha
Presented by Ven. Shikai Zuiko osho
Presented at Zazen-ji on June 7, 1996
What
you're doing now, what you are practising now, is zazen. It is sitting
Zen. Practice while sitting.
Kinhin
is walking practice. That's not practice of walking because we know how
to walk or rather, bodymind knows how to walk. We don't need to learn
how to walk, or do we? Hmm...What is it, really?
The
word kinhin means sutra walk in Japanese. In traditional Buddhist cultures
there's a customary practice of circumambulating. Walking around sites
designated as sacred and reciting mantra or sutra. Sutra are records of
a talk or discourse by the Buddha. A talk about practice. More generally,
sutra can mean a presentation of Awakened Mind. As we step forth in kinhin,
we are embodying that presentation of Awakened Mind.
In
the Four Gates of Zen Practice, Zen Master Anzan Hoshin says, "....kinhin
means to feel a step when taking a step, in other words, to take a complete
step."
When
the bell rings for kinhin and we start to begin to change the posture
from the posture of zazen to the posture of taking care of the zafu and
the zabuton, to the posture of standing up, often, we are not aware of
the richness of detail actually present in each of these moments. Often,
very often, self-image will have busied itself with thoughts of, "when,
when, when will the bell ring? Ring the bell, ring the bell, please."
We make deals with ourselves, "Please, let me sit here without screaming.
Please, let me sit here without screaming." And we will find that,
because of our tendency to believe the stories that arise, we are not
aware of the completeness of each moment, but are making a choice to focus
attention into one aspect of that moment.
When
we stand, when we feel the knees lift from the floor, when we feel the
heels touch, when we feel the hipbone rotate in the hip as the torso Straightens,
when we feel the shoulders fall down and back as we lift the hands into
shashu mudra, when we feel the breath causing the rib cage to fan out
as we breathe in, when we feel the neck delicately straighten to support
the head, when we feel the alignment of the ears over the shoulders, the
alignment of the nose over the navel, when we feel the eyes Widen, when
we see the wall on the other side of the Hatto in our peripheral vision,
when the gaze opens, when we see the colours and forms in front of us,
when we step forward, present in this moment, feeling the left foot lift
from the floor, feeling this change in the temperature as the skin of
the foot is raised higher from the floor, as we notice the knee joint
bending and the space around the bones, as we feel the breath rising and
falling, as the foot steps forward and the air rushes between the toes,
as we feel the contact of the heel on the floor about half to three quarters
of the way down the length of the other foot, as we feel the heat of the
skin of the left foot reaching out to the skin of the right foot, we are
feeling into this moment. The foot contacts the floor, heel first, then
the outer edge of the foot, the ball of the foot and then we feel the
ball of the big toe on the floor and the gentle shift in balance occurs.
We
are walking without walking. As Keizan zenji said in his instructions
about kinhin: "Walk without walking, silent and unmoving."
Anzan
roshi has said: "It is not mindfulness of walking, stepping, or even
of a step. It is mindfulness of this step, and this step, and this step."
The
postural alignment is as that of zazen or sitting. But, we're standing.
The
back is straight. The head is up. The hands are over the solar plexus
in the Shashu mudra. The right hand is in a loose fist with the thumb
and index finger forming a ring. The left hand is over the right hand
and the thumb lightly hooked into the ring of the right hand. The shoulders
are relaxed, down and back. The elbows are gently away from the sides.
The Shashu mudra for the hands is used for walking and standing and we
bow with hands in the Shashu posture as well.
Walk
without walking, silent and unmoving. You don't need to look at your feet.
They're there. They are at the bottom of your legs. You can feel the step.
You don't need to see the floor to step forward. You don't need to turn
your head to feel the person walking behind you. You don't need to look
around to see where the other wall of the Hatto is. But, should you notice
yourself doing any of these things, recognize that as self-image distracting
itself from this moment and use that moment of noticing distraction, that
moment of clarity, to feel the breath, feel the space around the body,
feel the step, feel the foot on the floor.
As
the Roshi says in The Straight Path: "Just do the practice."
Just do the practice. Just do kinhin. Take a complete step. Notice the
richness of detail that presents itself as your life in this moment.
Keizan
zenji also said: "Walk like a mountain." Walk like a mountain.
Anzan
Hoshin roshi has said: "Taking a step in mindfulness is itself a
presentation of the wisdom of the Buddha."
Paying
attention to your life is the presentation of the Buddha's wisdom. When
you take a complete step, you are stepping directly into the wisdom of
the Buddha and uncovering yourself as Buddha. Experiencing the dignity
of awake awareness is experiencing and expressing the dignity of Buddha.
The dignity of life, of your life as expressed by this bodymind in this
moment as it steps forth in kinhin.
Anzan
Hoshin roshi says: "Touch the earth as you step out."
Quietly,
balanced, the breath, the seeing, the hearing, the tasting, the touching,
the feeling, the smelling. This moment complete. This moment complete.
Walk without walking, silent and unmoving.
Thank
you for listening
©
2004 White Wind Zen Community. All rights reserved.
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