Zazen

Zazen is from the Japanese za (seated) and zen (meditation, from Chan and ultimately from Sanskrit dhyana)[1]. The literal sense is seated meditation. The term is most associated with Soto Zen tradition where it is the central practice, though it is used across Japanese Zen[2].

zazen is not generic relaxation but disciplined posture, attention, and often community-shaped instruction.

Zazen is the central practice of Zen Buddhism. Seated in a stable cross-legged posture (lotus, half-lotus, or Burmese position; seiza on a bench or kneeling cushion for those who cannot sit cross-legged), the practitioner attends to the body, breath, and arising of mental phenomena. Different Zen schools emphasize different approaches.

Soto Zen practices shikantaza (just sitting), characterized by present awareness without specific object of meditation. The practitioner sits with awakened presence, neither pursuing nor pushing away mental content. Dogen's writings articulate this practice in detail.

Rinzai Zen often combines zazen with koan study. The practitioner takes a koan (a paradoxical statement, question, or exchange from the recorded sayings of past masters) into sustained meditation. The koan is not solved intellectually; the practitioner stays with it until insight breaks through ordinary conceptual thought.

Formal zazen typically includes attention to posture (straight spine, hands in a specific mudra, eyes lowered but not closed), breath (often counted by beginners), and the field of awareness. Sessions are usually timed (30 to 50 minutes is common), with walking meditation (kinhin) between sessions.

Beyond formal meditation periods, Zen practice extends to all activities: eating, working, walking, sleeping. The aim is for the awareness cultivated in zazen to pervade ordinary life. Dogen famously taught that zazen is not a means to attain enlightenment but is itself the expression of buddha-nature; sitting and awakening are not two[3].

Zazen has been the focus of major scholarship including Dogen studies, comparative meditation studies, and (in recent decades) neuroscience research on Zen meditation. Carl Bielefeldt's Dogen's Manuals of Zen Meditation provides scholarly translation and commentary[3]. Modern Zen teachers including Shunryu Suzuki[2] and John Daido Loori have written extensively for practitioners.

• Zen Mind, Beginner's Mindby Shunryu Suzuki
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• Opening the Hand of Thoughtby Kosho Uchiyama
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