Some thoughts on Zen from our layman master

1 Zen is all about "Clear Clean Mind”

“Clear” means you know or aware of the moment exactly, “Clean” means there’s no attachment to be involved into the moment. In one sentence: “You just know clearly it is what it is.”

We need an occasion to link our body and mind with Zen, and in fact each moment of our life can be this occasion. But in the beginning, we may find the easy ones to start, such as to be mindful on the up and down of your belly when you are breathing, or to be aware of the movement of steps when you are walking… our mind should just stay with what is happening.

If your back or legs feel painful when you do the sitting meditation, there are several things that will be helpful for releasing the pain:

1. when the pain appears, just know clearly in mind “it is pain, it is a natural phenomenon” and keep aware of it for a while without involving emotion. If it is still there, do the next.

2. take a deep breath in and breathe out through the point of pain, do this for several times, then breathe out through whole body. Don’t try to control the breath or your belly’s up and down motion, it will bring pressure to the inner Qi of your body. If it is still there, do the next.

3. make sure you are in the right posture: body is stable, back is naturally straight, feel neck is soft, all the joints should be relaxed. If not, tune up the posture properly. If it is still there, do the next.

4. loose/open the legs carefully and slowly, massage the legs or back or even stand up for a walk if you feel that is necessary.

During the daily life, try to be aware of everything you do clearly. Only when you know clearly, is it possible to avoid the wrong way or to transform the wrong way of doing something into the right way. This is most important because only through this way, can you gradually recognize the truth of the environment and understand the real meaning of life.

The most important for us in the beginning of Zen practice is to stay with the right way and be patient with your body, qi and mind.

2 Zen practice is not something special; it is just the way to get familiar with letting the mind stay with ease and calmness. When we close our eyes and try to meditate, we may think we are coming into a “formal” situation, which will cause tension of our mind and body. When you feel you are in this “trap”, you should take a deep breath, relax the whole body and tell yourself “what I should do is just breathe and sit normally, the only difference is to keep a clear mind ”. The Zen is about letting “formal” become “normal”.

Closing your eyes is not to be blind, but to "see" more clearly.

The Zen will help us to learn not to fight our resistance to focus or concentrate. When we are doing the sitting or walking meditation, it is normal that our focus is disrupted by our wandering mind. The wandering is an old habit of our mind; it will take time to cultivate a new habit of concentration. When we are trying to resist the wandering, there will be more resistance back and this resistance clouds the mind. The conflict will cause more chaos, just like the stirring water cannot reflect your face clearly. The wandering mind is like the wind coming and it will fade away sooner or later. We should just keep a clear mind on the wandering and tell ourselves ”my mind is wandering away from the focus “ (belly’s up and down or steps you are taking). You will see how the wandering fades away, and recovers back to the focus again. The wandering itself is not important, but the awareness of the wandering and letting it be is important.

Everything is contained inside the moment of breathing, don’t to separate the breathing from anything else. It is all one.

3 Everyday we use our mind and body and we depend on breathing. Do we really take care of them? Can you remember how it happened when you sprained your ankle or wrist? How the coughing became irritated? And how you were hurt by loosing your temper? These damages to yourself are all caused by the stirring mind! Whether you are able to avoid hurting depends on staying with a clear clean mind or not.

The Middle Way will bring us to proper concentration. Too much intention to relax will cause tension. Too much intention to focus will cause fatigue. Too much intention to breathe will cause pressure.

The mindfulness of a simple movement such as belly’s up and down, is like a “chain” to help us tame the mind not to wander away. But we should be patient on the taming, because the mind needs time to accustom itself to the new habit. In the beginning, try not to let the wandering go too far, and keep a clear mind on it, until they naturally come back to the “target” of mindfulness.

When we are doing the walking meditation, we are not trying to make a perfect step, but just a clear step.

4.The pressure is caused by three basic forces: tension, wandering and conflict. Imagine a “spiritual string” as a metaphor. If we cling to something we are doing too much, the string between it and us becomes tight, our eyes protrude and the muscles in our neck and back become twisted. This is called tension.

If we are interrupted by something or when we are doing one thing, at the same time we are thinking of other things, this will cause wandering. It seems another string is dragging us in another direction. Then these two strings pull us in two or more directions, this is called conflict.

So, how to release the pressure at the moment when this happens? First, release the other strings. When you are aware of these strings, don’t try to drive them away, just don’t encourage them and let them be. In this way there will be no conflict. Then your mindfulness will naturally come back to the thing you were doing. But you should tune up the string in the Middle Way - not too tight, not to loose. And the rest of the time, just maintain this Middle Way.

The water in the bowl reflects your body, qi and mind. When you are holding a bowl filled with water you try not to let it shake and spill out. You may find that the more intensely you want to do this, the more unstable is your response. You feel your body is tense and breathing is not even, which will bring more quivering. Why?

Because the fear in your mind causes the tension, which stirs up your qi and the stirring of your qi agitates your body. How to put down the fear? The answer is in you and not in the water and the bowl.? Put away the desire and expectations about the forms. Let your mind recover easily, so that the qi will gradually become calm and even, and your body and the body of water will stay in balance.