Zazen

Joined: 28 Sep 2005 Posts: 12 Location: NY

There seems to be a common misunderstanding about zazen, which some people think of as a technique for reaching a state of “no thought.” Such an understanding of zazen assumes that a certain state of mind can be reached by manipulation, technique, or method. In the West, zazen is usually translated as “Zen meditation” or “sitting meditation.” More and more, in contemporary usage, zazen is considered one of the many methods from Eastern spiritual traditions for attaining objectives such as mind/body health, skillful social behavior, a peaceful mind, or the resolution of various problems in life.

It is true that many meditation practices in the Buddhist tradition are helpful in achieving these objectives, and these may certainly be skillful uses of meditation tools. However zazen, as understood by Dogen Zenji, is something different, and cannot be categorized as meditation in the sense described above. It would therefore be helpful to us to look at some of the differences between zazen and meditation.