In search of enlightenment

Lasting Tradition By Tatsuya Sakamoto Special to The Daily Yomiuri

Zazen session

Zazen, or seated meditation, is a rigorous practice undertaken by Zen Buddhist ascetics to attain enlightenment.

Zen temples across the nation hold zazen sessions for laypeople to let them try to find peace of mind.

One such temple is Shohozan Myoshinji in Ukyo Ward, Kyoto, which holds a zazen session every Saturday night, starting at 5:30 p.m. and ending at 9 a.m. the following day.

At the session, participants, even those who never tried zazen before, can have much the same experience as trainee monks.

The beginners first learn from trainer monks how to practice zazen. They are also told the rules they must follow during the session, which is held in the temple's meditation hall designed for lay zazen trainees.

Practitioners are told they cannot attain a spiritual state of perfect selflessness unless they meditate in the correct posture.

The participants begin by learning how to sit with their legs crossed.

First of all, the trainees put their left leg over their right thigh while sitting in the lotus position, before putting their right leg over their left thigh while keeping their balance.

Then they push out the lower abdomen to straighten their back. While keeping this posture, they must look at a point 1.5 meters in front of them, with eyes half-closed.

Participants slowly inhale through the nose and exhale from the mouth to practice abdominal breathing.

During a zazen session, which lasts about half an hour, trainees must concentrate on banishing all thoughts from their minds and are required to remain perfectly still, even if they are bitten by an insect.

Because beginners often find it difficult to sit with their legs crossed in the proper zazen posture, they are allowed to kneel.

Each trainee is given a tatami mat's worth of space in the meditation hall, where they spend their entire time, practicing zazen as well as sleeping.

Participants begin their meditation to the sounds of a trainer monk saying, "Stay while trying to feel the same mind-set as the Buddha Sakyamuni."

The trainees recite a sutra three times before going to sleep at 10 p.m. They are not allowed to talk.

The next day, the trainees get up at 5 a.m., take part in a further meditation session and then have a breakfast of rice porridge in the temple's dining room.

After they clean the meditation hall, the participants' two-day zazen session is over.

I tried zazen for the first time at the temple, but it was difficult to maintain my posture without moving. When I threw back my head, I could feel my breathing getting faster.

Eventually I had to sit cross-legged instead of in the proper zazen posture.

But an experienced meditator said no one can keep his or her balance at first attempt.

One of the eight university students in the same group from Tokyo who took part in the session said, "[Having tried zazen,] I realized how I had spent my days without thinking about anything."

One participant had joined the zazen session because he felt lost after starting his first job.

A woman from Takamatsu, who has been fighting cancer, has been attending sessions twice a month for more than 10 years to overcome her weakness.

But she said she still cannot reach a state where she has no irrelevant thoughts during meditation.

Among the attendees, 15 took part about 40 times a year.

One man who was experiencing his 200th session said he could discover something new and attain peace of mind every time.

Zazen is not about logic, but it is all about experience.

He said, "Different people have different ways of experiencing spiritual awakening, but what they feel when they reach enlightenment is the same for everyone."