Under an open sky

Zazen is the posture that led the young prince Siddharta to enlightenment. having become aware of the universal suffering that lay all around him, he had decided to comprehend it and put an end to it.

What is zen ? What is zazen ?

"I one asks what true zen is, it is not necessary even to open ones's mouth to explain it. Align all aspects of your posture in zazen. Then the spring breeze will blow and cause the marvellous cherry flower to blossom". Replies the Sage .

Zen is zazen ; simply being seated, being seated and ... nothing else.

Sit down and begin to meditate. Legs folded in a half lotus, buttocks esting on the zafu. Back straight, chin pulled in, back of the neck stretched up, eyes half closed, looking at nothing in particular about one meter in front of you. Reach for the sky with the hard palate, behind your upper incisors. Relax the muscles of your face ; relax yout shoulders ... Left hand over right hand, thumbs barely touching, horizontally.

Tilt forward slightly with your trunk, the secret to this posture is in the tilt of your trunk. Breathe in deeply ... And exhale slowly, calm and relaxed. As you exhale, focus the energy of your breath below your bellybutton, in the hara. The belly ; center of gravity of your whole body : ocean of energy.

Seated in zazen, I bring my attention to each point of my posture. I focus on my breathing ... I notice everything that comes to mind : thoughts, images, feelings, troubles and preoccupations of the moment ... I observe all of this and let it go, seeking neither to draw to myself what it pleasant, nor to reject what unpleasant ...

Penetrating our mind is not difficult, but we must neither choose, nor reject. If we remain neutral, neither choosing nor rejecting, comprehension will appear, spontaneously clear, like beams of daylight in a dark cavern ...

I remain this way, focusing on my body, and contemplate balance. Understand and recognize with your mind perfectly at ease and unified. Achieve stillness in movement and allow movement to be born out of stillness ...

See with your deep inner eyes of wisdom and experience joy. If you relain this way you will reach an incomparable elevated spiritual state unlike any other ...

Practising zazen, we find ourselves, finding ourselves, we forget ourselves and move beyond allows us to find the nature of Buddha, our original nature, and the face we had before we were born ...

All that remains on the black zafu is the weight of a single flame under an open sky !