First Zazen Sitting

A new friend of mine in the orchestra practices zazen (zen meditation) and invited some of us to sit at a temple in the nearby city of Itami.  After a half-hour urban bike ride we arrived at the temple and a contemplative white dog hardly acknowledged our presence as we stepped through the front gate.  We removed out shoes, filled out a short form with our information, and gave a suggested donation of ¥300.  We were given a 30 minute tutorial on the practice and rituals of the meditation, when to bow, how to sit, how to do the walking meditation, how to think about the breath and to let go of thoughts as they come.  At 10am, a bell rung three times and we began 30 minutes of sitting.  At the end of the period, 2 bells signalled the beginning of the walking meditation, or kinhin, which lasted only briefly and a single bell ended the first half of the morning.

We took a ten minute break where we sat around a table with some others and they all had conversations in Japanese, drinking oolong tea.  A lightly pounded drum called us back to our cushions and we entered the space and began another 30 minutes of seated meditation.  Following this we went back to the table where the head abbot's son asked us to share our experience with zazen while we drank tea.  I was the only one who didn't speak much Japanese so I introduced myself and then motioned to my head and body, trying to signal that I liked the practice because it helped bring the two together.  I'm not sure anyone understood, but they were very friendly.  After sitting in silence for an hour, it was good to hear long conversations, explanations, questions and answers about the practice of zazen, all in Japanese.  I suppose it's appropriate that I couldn't understand it.  I enjoyed just watching and listening.

These pictures were taken by the temple for their facebook page, which is why I have them to post here.

Asking questions about zazen

seated meditation 

I really appreciated that my friend shared this with us.  I feel that I know very little about the practice, its tradition and its history but am very interested in learning more.