The drawings describe the various stages of the student as he evolves in his practice of Zen. The 10 Ox Herding pictures are an excellent way to understand the essence of Zen. Weeks or even months may pass before you will be able to count to 10 without a distracting thought but patience will pay. After some practice you may count only alternate (in or out) breaths. If distracted, when you realise it, begin counting again at one. As you inhale, inaudibly count one and as you exhale count two. Breathe freely and naturally without trying to control it.
It is difficult to achieve, but if you can, this is the best position as it forms a perfect triangle, producing great stability.Īfter sitting in a comfortable posture, try to focus on your breathing. It helps to keep alternate leg positions each time.įull lotus: Here the right foot rests on the left thigh and the left foot rests on the right thigh. Half-lotus: Sitting crossed-legged, keep the left foot under the right thigh and right foot on the left thigh or vice versa. The bottom should be slightly raised on a cushion. Sit on a mat so that you are resting on your knees, shins and insteps and bottom.Ī triangle should be formed by your knees and bottom.īurmese position: Sitting on the mat, cross your legs so that both feet lie flat on the mat. Resting hands on your lap, right hand under the left, keep the palms open, thumbs touching at tips and parallel to the fingers. Sitting on a chair with feet on the ground, hold your head upright, keeping a straight back. You can try out the postures and adopt the one that you find most comfortable: It is best to sit on a cushion on the floor, but you can use a chair to relieve aching feet. The setting and feel of the room itself would be enough to bring you immediately into the meditative state.īegin with a session of 10-15 minutes, gradually increasing it to half an hour or even an hour. Incense and flowers would also add to the atmosphere. You could have an altar or statue of the Buddha or any other deity. This place should be kept clean and, if possible, reserved for your practice. So why not experience what this aloneness is? It is our very nature, our very being.Doing away with metaphysics and scriptures, this radical path offers some unconventional, direct ways to shake you out of your blabbering mind to let you see your true natureĬhoose a quiet place with minimal possibilities for disturbance. The meditator is one who dives deep into one´s aloneness, knowing that we are born alone, we will be dying alone, and deep down we are living alone. Rejoicing in your own aloneness is what meditation is all about. It is so, and rather than trying to escape from it, the best way is to rejoice in it. But whatsoever we do, the truth cannot be changed. We create all kinds of hallucinations just to avoid one fact: that we are alone. Between these two realities we create a thousand and one illusions of being together - all kinds of relationships, friends and enemies, loves and hates, nations, races, religions.
If one wants to experience silence one has to go into one´s total aloneness. Aloneness and silence are two aspects of one experience, two sides of the same coin.
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