Mokushu,
Silent Illumination,
Opening to Whole Being.
In my previous teaching on Mokushu,
Silent Illumination,
I noted that Zen practice depends on harmonizing body,
Breath and mind.
That is,
A still and relaxed body in the correct posture,
A calm mind,
And a natural breath rhythm.
When the body becomes relaxed,
Truly relaxed,
The mind becomes calm and clear.
When the mind becomes calm and clear,
The body relaxes.
It's really that simple.
We begin by situating ourselves properly.
So first check your posture.
The spine is erect,
But it's not stiff.
The shoulders and arms are in a comfortable and relaxed position.
You want to be relaxed,
But not lax or lazy.
You want to be focused and centered,
But not rigid.
Entry into practice requires intention and decisiveness.
The intention is to raise bodhicitta,
The mind of true awareness of sitting with the rise and fall of all experience,
Without attachment or aversion,
Without grasping or pushing away.
Practice sitting no matter what.
These old sayings capture this sense of decisiveness.
Practice like your head is on fire.
Practice as if you swallowed a red-hot iron ball and you're trying to spit it out.
And practice until you break the cushion.
Sitting with the rising and falling of all experience,
Without attachment or aversion,
Isn't an anything-goes attitude.
Decisiveness in practice doesn't mean getting stressed about it either.
We simply stay present and focused and allow the practice to unfold naturally.
All of these so-called steps that we'll practice in a moment provide a structure,
But they're simply guidelines,
Not rules.
You will see from your own experience how they can shift,
They can reorder themselves into mingle,
Rise and fall like any other experience,
And flow in a seamless manner,
Often melting together into one continuous and natural flow.
We'll begin with a body scan to engender a feeling of relaxation,
And then expand the attention to an awareness of the whole body,
An awareness of just sitting,
Just noticing and feeling the full presence of body and mind just sitting.
We'll begin with three soundings of the bell.
Then I'll provide some instructions,
Which will lead into a few minutes of silent practice.
One bell will sound at the end of the practice period.
Now gently close your eyes,
And please bring your attention to the breath.
At the end of the next exhalation,
Take a full deep breath to fill the lungs to capacity,
But without straining.
Now exhale slowly until the breath is completely exhausted,
And allow the next inhalation to come by itself,
As if the breath is breathing the body.
Now follow the breath with the next inhalation to the crown of your head,
And feel your awareness spreading out across your scalp,
Just noticing what's going on.
Feel the awareness spreading along the breath,
With the breath flowing into the forehead and to the back of the neck,
Along the sides of the head into the temples,
Into your eyelids,
Nose,
Nostrils,
Cheeks,
Jaw,
And chin.
Feel your shoulders relaxing.
Follow this relaxed feeling down into your upper arms,
Your elbows,
Forearms,
Wrists,
Palms,
And fingers.
Now follow the breath back up the arms and into and along the shoulders,
And into the throat,
Gently breathing and noticing what's going on.
And follow the breath and the awareness into the upper chest,
The rib cage,
And the upper back,
Just breathing gently,
Noticing and relaxing.
Follow the awareness down the spine and into all of the back muscles,
Just noticing,
And around the waist and to the abdomen,
The buttocks,
Groin area,
Thighs,
Knees,
And the back of the calf,
The buttocks,
Shins,
Calves,
The ankles,
Feet,
Tops,
And soles,
And the toes.
Now that you've completed the body scan,
Begin to feel a sense of the whole body just sitting.
You may begin to notice a lightness in the body and a feeling of peaceful,
Calm awareness.
You may begin to notice that your field of awareness naturally expands and includes the space around you and into the wider environment.
As your awareness magnifies and spreads out,
You might notice little details,
Such as sounds as they rise from and fall back into the larger matrix of silence.
However,
You don't get caught by these details,
You just notice them.
You may feel a sense of connectedness and oneness with the whole environment,
As if the whole environment becomes you sitting here and now,
And the mountains and rivers are sitting together with you.
There may be lots going on,
The sound of birds,
The wind,
Church bells,
Voices on the street,
Cars passing by,
And they're all held and contained within this larger matrix of the deep silence that we are all part of.
You simply notice these details,
But they don't catch you.
You clearly notice,
But your mind doesn't follow.
This natural sense of clarity is illumination.
Not being pulled,
Not allowing your mind to trail off,
Is silence.
You may also find yourself drifting off on thought trains.
This is perfectly natural.
When you notice this drifting off,
Gently bring yourself back to you,
Awareness of the present environment,
Of the whole body just sitting and just noticing.
And just as you shifted your awareness from the individual body parts to a sense of the whole body just sitting,
Begin to experience this larger environment as the whole body on this wider cosmic scale.
Whole being is Buddha nature.
You are the environment just sitting,
And the environment is sitting with you.
You are the environment just sitting,
And the environment is sitting with you.
You are the environment just sitting,
And the environment is sitting with you.
You are the environment just sitting,
And the environment is sitting with you.
You are the environment just sitting,
And the environment is sitting with you.
You are the environment just sitting,
And the environment is sitting with you.
You are the environment just sitting,
And the environment is sitting with you.
You are the environment just sitting,
And the environment is sitting with you.
You are the environment just sitting,
And the environment is sitting with you.
Thank you for your presence and for your sincere practice.
And please,
Fellow practitioners,
Please remember to keep practicing.
It is extremely important for the benefit of all beings and for the planet.
Take care.
