Working on Mu

One of the few books about Zen that I recommend you is Zen Training: Methods and Philosophy by Katsuki Sekida, and I once already referred to the chapter 'Working on Mu', now you can reread it.

What is Mu? This is the first koan, and Sekida gives the answer: '"Mu" means "nothing"'. And he is right: there is no point to hide the answer since you have to prove your competence only to yourself; and the answer, I believe, should be even more specific because Mu is the basis on which the further practice is built.

Common Mistakes in Zen Practice

This is my comment on the article see the link below.

There is always the temptation to accept bliss as truth along with other mistakes that can interfere with our practice.

First of all, as I understand, only some know how to apply the experience of sitting meditation to the realities of everyday life, ie, when the body is in motion. In addition, doing just sitting meditation and focusing on the tandem, you can easily make mistakes in what you've found (the very sensation in the tanden) and accepted as truth. So it makes sense to be more precise and to focus specifically on the point Seika-no-Itten located in the lower abdomen below the navel at a distance of the thickness of three of your fingers: index, middle, and ring (although if you know how to do zazen properly, you can concentrate even on the palm, for example.)

There are also several traditional annoying inaccuracies that arise when Buddhists try to convey their experience to others. One of them is the advice not to separate yourself and the object (situation) you're watching. In principle, it's true but not so simple. For instance, you can easily merge with a sexual object or dissolve your self while being in a stadium or a rock concert.

The Walking Zazen: The Main Trick - Concentrating on the Outer World

 See also The Walking Zazen


It was the summer of 1995 in Sofia; it was already evening, and I was exhausted after spending the whole day in search of new clients. So I found a deserted place near an abandoned railway, right next to the Danone factory, and started to try to freshen myself up.

I began to walk along the rail, training balance, but since I did this unprofessional, looking at the rail about a meter in front of me, I could also see my legs. In this way I was walking for 20 or 30 minutes when I suddenly noticed an interesting thing: I already felt that it wasn't me moving on a immovable rail, but now the rail was moving toward me, ie, for me, I was immovable while the earth was moving relative to me. 'Actually, that's the correct perception of the world,' I said to myself. Thereafter, I knowingly started training this feeling, and I was right.

The Main Trick

Sitting Zazen 2

If you do zazen the only way I described in the Sitting Zazen post, your enthusiasm most likely will be weakened soon: your interest will be weakened - that's why the practice should be as diverse as possible.

Every day you solve different internal problems, so the topics of your internal dialogue also constantly change: what you were worrying about, yesterday - certain memories, etc. - is no longer relevant today (the reasons may be different including the influence of the media, for example.) In other words, every day your unconscious manifests itself in different ways, ie, its interaction with your conscious constantly changes. As a result, every day we do zazen in different ways - zazen that we did yesterday wasn't like today's - so to insist on doing a certain type of exercise if you've already lost interest in them is just silly.

There are two main types of zazen: (1) you can concentrate on your body (on your tanden, palm, etc), (2) you can concentrate on some external object. How to do the former type I described in the Sitting Zazen post; now I' going to describe the later.

Sit in any posture as described but now put in front of you on the floor some object: a candle, tennis shoe, water bottle, etc, unless you want to stare at the floor - at a distance of one to five meters. Some prefer staring at the wall, but I don't like that. The main thing is the object must not be above the level of your eyes: it's on the same level or below (when I lived in Bulgaria, I used to meditate in the mountains at night while looking down at the glowing Sofia.) I keep the eyes slightly open without focusing too much on the object.

About the hands: I usually pinch and hold with my right hand the point Seika no Itten (below the navel at a distance of the thickness of three of your fingers: index, middle, and ring) with my left hand on top.

Otherwise, there is a classic mudra.
So, if you're tired of focusing on your body, try concentrating on an external object. It's up to you what to choose since what you need at the moment you know better than anyone else (any teacher.)

Sitting Zazen 1

How to keep your body when during zazen, see here.

Lotus Position
Lotus Position is good but not required. For it, you need to use a pillow (zafu), as shown here.

What's so special about Lotus? If sitting on a chair, for example, you put one foot on the opposite thigh, it'll be an ambitious position; if you do the same with the other foot, it'll be super-ambitious so Lotus is a super-ambitious position.

Seiza
You can also sit in the seiza posture. If you find it's difficult, you can use a pillow, as shown here.


Sitting on a Chair
You can just sit on a chair, as shown here.


When You Do Zazen, Two Things Are Very Important...

(1) Your knees (or feet, if you're sitting on a chair) must be in firm contact with the floor; why it's important will become clear later when I'll describe how to do the walking zazen (my zazen method that I practice.)

(2) As they say here,
'The position of your torso is also very important, especially the position of the fifth lumbar vertebra; keeping it in the correct position will enable the spine to be curved correctly. The belly should be without tension, and you should remain stable. My master used to say that the curving should be such that it is like the ass is looking at the sun.'
In other words, your tandem should be filled; here're some photos as illustrations: http://the-1.ru/…/v-yalte-vyberut-korolevu-belly-dance_1.jp…
http://www.japan-sumo.ru/AKI2007/1kayo.jpg
http://abzac.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/201-192x300.jpg

I don't know who you look like, as for me, I'm somewhere in the middle :-D

Then you need to focus on your breathing. There are different opinions on how to breathe during zazen, I recommend breathing by the bamboo method. Even better if you control at the same time the Point Seika no itten (you can pinch and hold it with the fingers) in the lower abdomen.

If you have any difficulties when doing sitting zazen, start with the walking zazen, and only then move to sitting meditation.