Zazen Meditation

In western culture, we view meditation as a means to an end. At the end of a meditation session we are supposed to have unlocked some great life mystery. In some events, we view meditation as a magic genie....if we meditate hard enough, we'll feel at peace and be better able to tackle our problems. So take all you know about the western reasons for meditation and forget them. You won't be able to squeeze a western idea of meditation into the Zazen framework.

Zazen is a form of meditation that is literally the art of sitting and concentrating on nothing specific. Your breathing slows down and you work on maintaining perfect posture. Over time and years, Zazen will clear your mind and make you better in tune with the world around you.

For Zazen, you sit on a mattress with your right foot on your left thigh in a cross-legged position. This is called the half-lotus. You form an oval with your thumbs and place the oval about two inches underneath your belly button. You never close you eyes as Zazen is not about entering some dream mediation world where you only concentrate on your troubles and thoughts. The eyes remain open and focused on the floor about three feet in front of you. Your back is straight, shoulders relaxed and head high.

When the session begins, the session master clanks blocks of wood together three times and then rings a bell three times. This signals the beginning of the session and people mediating can not move. Several monks then begin inspecting each meditating person. They are looking for perfect posture and utter concentration. They walk around with a bamboo stick to place on people's backs to ensure their posture is correct.If you feel yourself falling asleep of losing concentration, simply bring your palms together in a prayer position and place them on your chest. The monk will come to you, bow and then you grab your elbows with the opposite hands and hunch over. The monk will rap you on the back four times with the bamboo yardstick. Afterwards you bow and return to meditation. Yes, I did get hit with the stick. Yes, it does hurt.

While you are meditating you are concentrating on the world around you. The noises, the sensations, the texture of the floor in front of you. You want to become one with your surroundings while still maintaining awareness of your posture and form. The meditation session ends when the session master clanks the sticks together and rings the bell. After that, we all stand up, place our hands below our belly button in a meditation-like form and walk around the temple building enjoying the sensations of the nature around us (all temples are rather scenic and lend themselves to natural beauty). Then we return for another meditation session.

After the meditation was over, we enjoyed traditional Japanese green tea made from a tea leaf the has been ground to a fine powder. The tea is very bitter with an earthy taste. It rained the entire time we were on the trip, but overall it was a good time.

The entrance to the Kenoji Temple in Kamakura.

The temple gate.

The tea ceremony room after the meditation session.

The wild rain we had all day.

Buddha sitting in a Zazen pose meditating. His face is dark from being touched by people for years.

Me seated in the Zazen position.

Meditating.

Some of the temple grounds.

The bitter green tea.

Our cookies were shaped like bells.

The alter in the mediation room. It's rare they let you photograph this.