Les 1
Mindfulness of the Breath
When you first come to learn meditation practice in a Rinzai Zen temple, usually you work with your breath. The Buddha taught that mindfulness of the breath can take you all the way to enlightenment, so don’t think of this as just beginners’ work. In the Zen school, we notice the breath in the lowest place in the body where we can clearly feel the sensations in and out without manipulating the breath in any way. Simply by putting our attention low down and noticing what sensations are there in the moment, abdominal tightness gradually begins to release and we begin to inhabit the hara (the belly). When the hara is empowered, the whole body is empowered.
Les 2
Fusho, Your Unborn Mind
Consider how it would be if right now, at this very moment, you already have everything you seek. It’s just a matter of settling into this place – the place 17th century Zen master Bankei liked to call the Unborn. He taught that this is our natural state and we only lose this place when we get lost in things such as thoughts, feelings and views. All of these things arise and pass – they are things that are born and die. The Unborn isn’t separate from any of these arising and passing things – just that when we identify with this changing scenery, we get lost. In this practice we simply allow ourselves to rest in the present by not going anywhere else. It is a practice of being rather than doing, and a process of trust. Trust you truly have everything you need from the beginning, and all you need to do is to rest in this ungraspable centre – the Unborn.
Les 3
Meditating With A Koan
Both of our previous practices (following the breath and the Unborn) can lead to liberating insights. Here we’re going to explore a different way of insight: working with a spiritual question – a koan. Ask yourself internally, “Who am I?” Now simply be open and notice whatever arises. In this noticing, there may be all manner of things, thoughts, theories, memories, even profound silence. Simply notice and allow. Then ask again. A koan is not a riddle or intellectual conundrum to be solved, it is a tool to bring forth your non-dualistic understanding; the place where you find a happiness that is not reliant on any external circumstances. One of my teachers used to say that a koan is something that from the outside has no solution; but from the inside is no problem. Their use stretches back through the centuries, and the practice continues because it works; and it’s fast.
Les 4
Healing With The Soft Ointment Meditation
These days, many of us are ‘heady’ types, living a disconnected, frazzling and overly intellectual world, leaving us feeling weak and ungrounded. What is the use of finding enlightenment if your life leaves you too weak to live out its truth? Furthermore, genuine spiritual practice can be tough work. How would it be to practise in a way that leads you towards insight and understanding and also boosts your health and vitality, rather than undermines it? Take a moment to imagine feeling washed clean inside as well as out, your upper body light and open, your lower body empowered and strong. Close your eyes and feel into this. This is our direction with this ‘Soft Ointment’ practice that originates from 17th century Japanese Zen master Hakuin.
Les 5
Cultivating Guts - Building Your Hara
The famous Zen master Hakuin described an energised and activated hara (belly, or guts) thus: “The space below your navel will swell like a gourd and soon becomes full like an inflated leather ball.” In my experience, this work doesn’t have to lead to a protrusion of the belly – more a sense of inner strength or resilience, and of energy. Underlying Zen (in common with many aspects of traditional East Asian culture) is a sense that the human system is an energetic phenomenon. Energy, or ki, can be depleted by certain activities and augmented by others. Someone with depleted ki is more likely to become ill and someone with plenty of ki will tend to be vigorous and strong. This practice is about energising the hara. Underlying it is the principle that energy follows intention, and you’re going to use breath and sound to provide a vehicle for your intention. As you get used to the process, you’ll need the breath and sound less and less: intention alone will do the work for you.
Les 6
Naikan - Energising the Belly and Legs
“Have the face of a Buddha and the legs of a donkey,” said Zen master Dogen. There is a principle in Zen that the higher you rise, the more important it is to have a strong grounding. But stress, tension, physical inactivity and the intensely stimulating culture we live in combine to draw us up and out of ourselves. We become ungrounded and lose our root, and this makes us weak. Zen master Daishin, my first Zen teacher, often spoke of the lotus blossom that must keep its roots planted in the mud or else it’ll die. It is in the mud of our everyday life that we find our nourishment. In this practice we’ll explore how to draw down your energy into the lower body to firm up your roots and grounding. Master Hakuin wrote of “a man who perfectly masters the way always attends to the lower, filling the lower body with his heart energy. If the heart energy fills the lower body, the seven ills cannot operate, nor can the four evils invade.”
Les 7
Naitan - Energy Transformation
Once you’ve spent some time building your energetic roots – as described in the previous two practices – you can begin allowing your energy to flow more freely around the whole body. Instead of your normal solidity, imagine your body like a fountain: a jet bursting up your spine, and the spray running over your face and falling down the front of your body. The more your body relaxes, the more intensely the fountain can flow – ungraspable, yet fully present and utterly alive. This is the direction of this ‘Naitan’ practice. One of my teachers compared this process to cranking the handle to start an old car. After a certain point the engine roars into life and then all we need do is jump in the car and drive. Flow is open, alive and healthy. Once we realise the whole world is also flowing like this, our whole perspective on life can change.
Les 8
Bringing It All Together
The previous 7 practices are combined here in a way that that will support your ongoing, grounded, energised enquiry into the truth of things. The practice starts by encouraging you to find your physical and energetic centre in the hara, and allowing your energetic tree to grow – the energy flowing from the roots up through your trunk. From there your awareness can expand and you can use the breath or your koan to do this, or you can come into the unborn directly. From here, I recommend you continue to practice every day, aiming for 100 days without missing a single day. Doing this work of establishing a strong daily habit of meditation practice will build a powerful foundation for a life of vitality and wisdom, allowing us to be of great service to the world.
