A Quiet Moment

First, here is an excellent site if you're curious about zen. It's the official website of the Join Council for Japanese Rinzai and Obaku Zen. It also does a good job of explaining zazen meditation as well. (Check out the sidebar, there's a couple of new links I've added.)

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Last Saturday a few of us from my culture class rose at the butt-crack of dawn, and rode our bikes through a light drizzle down into town to meet our sensei at Daitokuji. She'd made a reservation for us to attend the zazen meditation that morning at Ryusenan, one of Daitokuji's sub-temples which is never open to the public. We walked through a short maze of stone paths between the northern sub-temples, finally turning down a narrow walled path to Ryusenan. Soon, we were stepping on the slick stones through a dewy and tranquil moss garden towards the small meditation hall. We set down our things, removed our shoes, and places them facing outwards from the porch properly. Following the head monk, we bowed entering the room, then lined up with the cushions on the left side of the hall. We bowed to the other people present in the room. Besides the head monk, there were only two others, a Japanese monk and a British practitioner. We stepped onto the sitting cushion--there are actually two, a smaller half-cushion for your bum on top of the bigger, flat cushion--and sat in lotus position.

The monk leading the meditation lit incense, then explained in very good English the philosophy behind and and proper technique for zazen.
Right leg under the left leg. Right hand underneath left.
Palms turned up.
Alignment.
Spine straight. Shoulders relaxed.
Head straight and chin lifted. Tongue lightly touching the roof of the mouth so that the saliva drains down the throat.
Slow, abdominal breathing.
Clear mind.

The zazen lasted an hour, but we meditated in intervals. The first was perhaps ten minutes. The head monk would ring a small bell to begin the meditation, and clap together wooden blocks to signify its end. During the rests, we could fidget, stretch and relax a little. After the first sitting, I really wished I had spent some time earlier that morning stretching. My upper and mid-back muscles were horribly tight and cramped. (It may also be wise to eat a little beforehand, especially if you're meditating with a group of people. Stomach gurgling is amusing, but can be a little distracting especially if other people are around...Feeling self-conscious while trying to be conscious of yourself is strangely distracting.)
I've only practiced meditation kneeling or sitting in seiza before, so while I'm still flexible enough to sit in the lotus position comfortably for a while, it felt a little awkward. Thoughts flitted in and out, weaving through my mind and the blank sheets I tried to pull from it...I became hyper-aware of my body, feeling the oxygen spread through my body with each breath, feeling the heart pump the blood, and seeing the blood carry the oxygen to the furthest reaches of my appendages.

The second interval lasted longer, about 25 minutes I believe, then another five minute rest. The last stretch was about 15 minutes, and the head monk walked slowly around the room with a wooden stick. If, when he passes you, you indicate you wish it, he will hit you with the stick. When our sensei was explaining this to us in class, she had referred to it as "beating them with the stick," and it sounded both kind of funny and a little scary. It also looked like they hit a lot harder in the video we watched of Buddhist monks practicing zazen. But in practice, it's actually kind of refreshing. You lean over, exposing one shoulder, he taps you a few times, then gives your back two hard whacks. Same with the other shoulder. I actually felt like it loosened some of my back muscles, but its also refreshing in the alertness and awareness it brings to you...it's also a nice wake-up call if the state of the zazen starts making you sleepy. All of my classmates who went that day actually had the monk hit them, perhaps for the sake of changing their body position, or perhaps out of some morbid curiosity...
Maybe a little of both.

After the zazen, they gave us booklets so we could follow along with the chanting sutras: a part of or homage to the Lotus Sutra, I believe, and the Heart Sutra.
Beautiful, low dissonant chords resonating in the still, cool, damp morning air...