Real Life with Ryuei

Instructions for Silent Meditation, Walking Meditation, and Chanting as Meditation

I would like to share with everyone what I have learned thus far in life about the practice of sitting meditation. I first became interested in this practice through reading books about Zen, like Shunryu Suzuki’s “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” and the works of Catholic mystics when I was in high school. In college, I actually got live instructions and practice in silent sitting at the Philadelphia Shambhala Center. For those who might not know, the Shambhala training program was created by the late Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche who was a friend of Shunryu Suzuki and inspired by Suzuki Roshi to emphasize “just sitting” with his own students. Chogyam Trunpga was also the author of “The Myth of Freedom” and “Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism” which were very helpful to me in getting back on track with authentic Buddhism after a little detour I made. I continued sitting under the direction of my good friend Rev. Bokin Kim of the Won Buddhist Temple of Philadelphia. Won Buddhism uses what is called “tanjun meditation” which focuses on a point in the lower diaphragm that is held to be the center of gravity and spiritual power within the body. When I moved to San Francisco and began attending the San Jose Nichiren Buddhist Temple, I discovered that the Ven. Ryusho Matsuda also taught that one should focus one’s awareness on this spot, which in Japanese is called the "tanden." When chanting one should chant from the diaphragm, and in sitting one should breathe from the diaphragm and keep one’s focus there. At the same time, I ended up meeting and sitting with Taigen Dan Leighton, a teacher in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, as well as other Soto Zen practitioners. All of this teaching and experience has been very beneficial to me, and I would like to share it with any who might want to take up such a practice but hesitate to do so because they either do not know how or perhaps have some mistaken ideas about meditation which prevent them from taking it up. I would also like to show how Odaimoku is itself a form of meditation. But first I will begin with the silent sitting form focusing on the breath as I have learned it, since this method is very simple, universal, and is a basic human activity that is not intrinsically tied in to any particular religion, denomination or sect.

To begin with, just sit down in a comfortable and stable posture, whether that is sitting up straight in a chair, in the half-lotus, or even full lotus posture. If in a chair, sit on the edge of it so that your legs are level and the knees bent at a 90 degree angle. Do not rest your back against the chair but keep it upright. If sitting on the floor, use a cushion to lift the buttocks up so that one does not need to lean forward to maintain one’s balance but can keep the back up straight. You can simply cross your legs, or rest your left foot on your right thigh for a half-lotus posture, or rest the right foot on the left thigh and then cross the left leg over that so the left foot is resting on the right thigh for a full lotus. Or you can sit in seiza which is when you sit with your legs tucked straight back underneath you with your buttocks resting on both feet and the big toes touching. This is usually done with a cushion or seiza bench so that one’s weight is lifted up off the legs and the knees are not as strained. While the lotus or half-lotus are the most stable for the body, they are difficult for most people and one should feel free to sit in any of these postures provided that one’s posture is upright, stable, and comfortable.

Again, the back should be straight, without tilting forward or backward or to either side. If you catch yourself slumping, restore your posture. This is usually a sign that you are getting either distracted or drowsy and restoring your posture usually helps you to recenter your attention as well.

Your chin should be tucked in just a bit so that your eyes, open or semi-closed, can rest their gaze on a spot two hand lengths in front of you. Again, if you find your eyes closing in drowsiness, or you catch yourself looking around, that is a sign to refocus and return to a restful gaze on the spot in front of you. To cut down on distractions, it is best to have an uncluttered floor and/or a blank wall in front of you.

Your open left hand should rest lightly on your open right hand with your thumb tips touching as if to form a small moon. Hold this small moon against your abdomen just below the belly button. If the thumb tips break apart or the hands slip down into the lap or you find yourself pressing down too hard with your hands, that is a sign to recenter your attention on the subject of meditation and to either restore or relax your hands as the situation calls for.

Once settled into the posture for sitting simply follow the breath. Breathe in a natural rhythm from the diaphragm and try to center your awareness on a point about an inch and a half below the belly button which is called the tanden in Japanese. That is just about right under the area that expands and deflates as you breathe in and out. It is the still point physically and mentally which abides in the midst of changing phenomena.

It can be difficult to just stay with the breath, so it can be helpful to count your breath cycles from 1 to 10. Breathe in and out and then silently count "one", in and out then "two" all the way up to "ten." Don't try to force your breathing to be fast or slow, just breathe naturally and count after each cycle of inhalation and exhalation. Thoughts and feelings will arise and dissipate. Let them. If you get caught up in them and lose your count, no big deal. Just be aware that you lost your focus and bring it back to the tanden and the counting of the breath cycles starting with "one" again. Sometimes you might have to repeatedly go back to one. Sometimes you won't get past two or three or four. That is fine. Just keep going back to one and be aware of it. Again, it is all good as long as you are sitting there and being present to whatever is happening.

If you can keep your focus on the tanden and breathing without having to count, that is good. Just stay with the breath. Alternatively you might want to recite the Odaimoku silently to yourself. What works for me is to silently recite "Namu" as I am inhaling, and then "Myoho Renge Kyo" as I am exhaling. Other variations are possible. Find whatever works for you.

Don't try to fight off thoughts and feelings, and don't try to judge them or analyze them. If you do find yourself getting caught up in them and creating trains of thought, just be with that too and, if you can, bring your focus back as above. The same applies to any distracting noises or physical sensations or other phenomena that may arise. Just be aware of it and let it go without getting caught by it.

Now all of this counting, or silently reciting a mantra, or even focusing on the tanden are all just training wheels to keep you upright, aware, and not fixated on any particular thing. The point is to cultivate a clear and open awareness that takes in everything that arises and dissipates without judging or interference. We just let things within and around us be apparent. We may have thoughts and feelings but we do not participate in them, we just watch them come and go like passing clouds or leaves floating by in a stream. This is what "no thought" in terms of meditation actually means. It does not mean literally having no thoughts, rather it means not fixating on them or being captured by them, but just being able to let them come and go in full awareness. If we can maintain this kind of open awareness without a specific focus like the tanden, or the breath, or some active practice like mantra recitation and can just sit calmly abiding, open to whatever insights may arise or not, then that is ideal. This kind of meditation with no object or focus but just "clear awareness in the tranquility of no-thought" is very difficult to do. Most of us, including those who have done a lot of silent sitting, do end up getting sleepy and dozing off or else getting caught up in schemes, daydreams, or daymares. Then it is time to go back to using the earlier techniques to recenter. However, there is no such thing as a bad meditation session. You sit just to be with whatever is there - even if it means you fall asleep or spend the time worrying or scheming or fantasizing - just be with it and aware of it.

It is good to sit at least once a day even if for only a few minutes. It is better to be consistent and to make it a part of your normal routine. Sitting in the morning is a good way to start the day as it will help you feel calm and centered. Sitting at the end of the day is good because it can enable you to recenter and try to let go of or at least to calmly reflect upon all that has transpired throughout the day. I would not recommend sitting for more than 40 minutes at a stretch, but if one wants to do more it is good to break up long sessions with some walking meditation in order to stretch out one’s muscles and to reinvigorate oneself. Just sitting is actually hard work.

Walking meditation is just walking slowly and mindfully in awareness of our every movement. It is often done silently, but in Nichiren Shu we do this while chanting Namu as we step out on the left foot, then Myo for the right foot, Ho - left, Ren - right, Ge - left, then Kyo - right, and back to Namu - left. This can be done fast or slow. When doing walking meditation in Nichiren Shu we place our hands in front of our solar plexus with the left hand folded over the right and the right thumb over the left.

Now I shall explain how these instructions apply to chanting practice:

You should chant as much as you want (though make sure to get up and do walking meditation if chanting for longer than 40 minutes at a time), and at whatever speed or rhythm you want (though if chanting with others it is best to harmonize with them), the point is to deepen and express your trust and confidence in the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Teaching. Chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo is a way of immersing yourself in the view that all beings have buddhanature and that this buddhanature can be recognized and actualized in each other in our daily lives. What is buddhanature? It is that quality we all have that is reality-centered instead of self-centered, that is a treasure house within our hearts of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity, generosity, virtue, patience, enthusiasm, focus, and transcendent wisdom - all the fruits of the spirit.

When chanting it does help to do so out loud when you can so that you involve not just the so-called inner voice but your whole being, body, voice, posture, everything. In doing this, one should chant from the tanden, that is to say from the diaphragm, and not shallowly from the lungs or throat. One should not dissipate the energy by shaking or nervously rubbing beads but with a still firmness centered and grounded in the tanden. The same goes for reciting chapters or passages from the Lotus Sutra. Once when I was chanting with my sensei, the Ven. Ryusho Matsuda, I was sitting in seiza but my shoulders and body were moving up and down in rhythm with the chanting. Without missing a beat (he was setting the rhythm on a percussion instrument called a mokusho) or looking up from the sutra book my sensei reached out with one arm and put his hand on my right shoulder and I knew to make my body still and to keep the energy grounded in the tanden even as I continued to chant with power from the diaphragm. The chanting became more focused and the energy less hysterical and dissipated.

Another thing about chanting that is similar to silent sitting is that you are not trying to ignore, fight off, or override any feelings, thoughts, or sensations. All you have to do is just center your awareness on the Odaimoku and let whatever comes come, and whatever goes go, and keep coming back to the Odaimoku if and when you become distracted. Don't let the chanting become rote while you daydream about something else. Bring your attention back to it and just let whatever else is happening inside or outside be what it is - illuminated by the Odaimoku. Once when my sensei, the Ven. Ryusho Matsuda, was leading Shodaigyo chanting a spider came crawling over to him. He saw it out of the corner of his eye as he was holding a hand-drum in one hand and beating out the rhythm with the drumstick in his other hand. He could not do anything about the spider as it would cause him to miss the beat. So he just let it be and came back to the Odaimoku. Fortunately the spider did not crawl up on his robe but went off somewhere else. He told us what happened afterwords. All our thoughts and feelings are spiders. Don't let them bug you - keep chanting.

My friend Taigen Roshi advised me not to make a big deal out of the practice - thinking that it is so exotic or special or that you are being pretentious or hypocritical in doing it, or that you should be getting something extraordinary out of it. Our practice is just ordinariness, and learning how to be with the ordinary. And that is what is really extraordinary - to deeply appreciate what arises and what falls away and just be at home with ourselves, the people around us, and the world we are in just as it is. And in that we unselfconsciously, inconspicuously, and quite naturally manifest buddhanature for the sake of all beings.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei

Posted by Ryuei at March 18, 2005 12:54 PM