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A General Recommended Way of Sitting Meditation
By Dogen Zenji
The Way is fundamentally complete and perfect, all-pervasive,
how could it depend upon cultivation and realization?
The vehicle of the source is free; why expend effort? The whole
being is utterly beyond defiling dust; who would believe in a
method of wiping it clean? The great whole is not apart from
here; why go someplace to practice? Nevertheless, the slightest
discrepancy is as the distance between sky and earth: as soon as
aversion and attraction arise, you lose your mind in confusion.
Even though you may boast of comprehension and wallow in
understanding, having gotten a glimpse of insight, and though you
find the Way and understand the mind, though you may roam freely
within the bounds of initial entry, you are still somewhat
lacking in a living road of emancipation.
Even Gautama Buddha, who had innate knowledge, at upright for six
years; this is a noteworthy example. When referring to the
transmission of the mind seal at Shaolin, the fame of nine years
facing a wall is still mentioned. Since the ancients did so, why
should people today not do so? Therefore you should stop the
intellectual activity of pursuing words and chasing sayings, and
should learn the stepping back of turning the light around and
looking back. Body and mind will naturally be shed, and the
original countenance will become manifest. If you want to attain
something, you should set right about working on it. For
intensive Zen meditation, a quirt room is appropriate. Food and
drink are to be moderate. Letting go of all mental objects,
taking a respite from all concerns, not thinking of good or evil,
not being concerned with right or wrong, halt the operations of
mind, intellect, and consciousness, stop assessment by thought,
imagination, and view. Do not aim to become a Buddha; and how
could it be limited to sitting or reclining? Spread a thick
sitting mat where you usually sit, and use a cushion on top of
this. You may sit in the full-lotus posture, or in the half-lotus
posture. For the full-lotus posture, first place the right foot
on the left thigh, then the left foot on the right thigh. For the
half-lotus posture, just place the left foot on the right thigh.
Wear loose clothing, and keep it orderly. Next place the right
hand on the left leg, and the left hand on the right hand, with
palms facing upward. The two thumbs face each other and hold each
other up. Now sit upright, with your body straight. Do not lean
to the left or tilt to the right, bend forward or lean backward.
Align the ears with the shoulders, and the nose with the navel.
The tongue should rest on the upper palate, the teeth and lips
should be closed. The eyes should always be open. The breathing
passes subtly through the nose. Once the physical form is in
order, exhale fully through the mouth once, sway left and right,
then settle into sitting perfectly still. Think of what does not
think. How do you think of what does not think? It is not
thinking. This is the essential art of sitting Zen meditation.
What I call sitting Zen meditation is not practice of dhyana. It
is just a method of comfort, a practical way of experiencing
thoroughgoing investigation of enlightenment: objective reality
becomes manifest, beyond any trap. If you can get the meaning of
this, you will be like dragons taking to the water, like tigers
in the mountains. You will know that the truth has spontaneously
become evident, while oblivion and distraction will already have
been overcome. When you are going to rise from sitting, move your
body gradually, getting up gently. Do not be hasty or careless.
We have seen stories of transcending the ordinary and going
beyond the holy, shedding the mortal coil while sitting or
passing away while standing upright: all of these depend on the
power in this.
-----
And how about the transformations of state upon the lifting of a
finger, a pole, a needle, a hammer? How about the realizations of
accord on the raising of a whisk, a fist, a cane, a shout? They
have never been susceptible to understanding but thought and
conceptualizations; how could they be known by cultivated
realization of supernatural powers? It could be called dignified
behavior beyond sound and form; is it not a guiding example prior
to knowledge and views? Being such, it is not an issue whether
one has more or less intelligence, making no distinction between
the quick and the slow. Focused, unified concentration is what
constitutes work on the Way. The practice and realizations are
spontaneously undefiled; the process of heading for the aim,
furthermore, is being normal. Whatever they are, one's own world
and the realms of others; West and East, they equally hold the
seal of Buddha, based as one on the way of the source. Just work
on sitting, remaining in an immobile state. Even though it seems
there are myriad differences and a thousand distinctions, just
attend to intensive meditation to master the Way. Why abandon a
seat in your own house to idly roam in the dusty realms of alien
countries? Take a single misstep, and you blunder past what's
right in front of you. Having gotten the key to the human body,
do not pass time uselessly: preserve and uphold the essential
potential of the Buddha Way. Who has the folly to look forward to
what lasts but a moment? Add to this consideration the fact that
the physical body is like a dewdrop on the grass, a lifetime is
like a lightning flash: all of a sudden they are void, in an
instant they are gone. May those high-minded people who
participate in this study and have long learned to feel an
elephant by hand not be suspicious of a real dragon. Proceed
energetically on the straightforward path of direct pointing, and
honor people who have transcended learning and gone beyond
effort. Join in the enlightenment of the Buddhas, inherit the
state of mind of the Zen founders.
Having long been thus, we should be thus. The treasury opens of
itself, to be used at will.