Category: Zazen Meditation

—An Interview with Genjo Marinello Osho, Part One—

Genjo Marinello Osho is the Abbot at the Seattle Zen Temple in Seattle Washington. He took time out of his busy schedule to do this two part meditation testimonial on How to Do Zazen, How to Sit Zazen, The Nature of Reality, Breath, Being Present, and Pure Awareness.

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Meditation How: When and how did you first begin to meditate?

Genjo: I was a junior at UCLA in 1975. I learned how to sit zazen from Brian Daizen Victoria and Thích Thiên-Ân. Daizen was a graduate student in Oriental Studies, walking around campus in Zen robes. I was taking a class in Buddhism and sought him out.

Meditation How: Can you share the details of how you learned to do zazen meditation from these two individuals? I would like to hear about what experiences allowed you to recognize its value for you.

Genjo: From my freshman English professor at Pierce Community College I learned that there was another way besides science to explore the universe, and that was through direct insight into the nature of reality, and that this “true” insight is what inspired and informed all artists, sages, and scientists. I wanted some of that, so sought out these two individuals when I got to UCLA. They taught me to just sit, just breath, and just listen. I was taken with it, from the first sit.

Meditation How: You say you were taken with it, so I am curious as to what happened in the first sit that was so compelling? Do you recall? Where did you sit?

Genjo: Even with my eyes mostly closed it felt like I had eyes in the back of my head, and that I was gently but profoundly aware of everything around me and within this physical form called a body. In other words, there was an almost immediate sense of being seamlessly connected to my surroundings and the universe at large. I sat in the meditation hall of the College of Oriental Studies in LA, only a few blocks from ZCLA (Zen Center Los Angeles).

Meditation How: Have you been meditating regularly since then? I would also like to hear about those times at which meditation changed or deepened for you, if this is the case.

Genjo: I have been meditating daily since then and in addition to that I do six week-long Zen retreats a year. I did my first week-long retreat in the summer of 1977. There have been many times that meditation has changed and deepened my awareness, the process continues; by my way of thinking, there is no completion.

Meditation How: Is doing zazen your preferred meditation type?

Genjo: Well I also sit with Quakers on Sundays, but there I also do zazen, which to me means exactly what it says — seated meditation/contemplation.

Meditation How: Can you describe what meditation is for you today? What exactly do you do, including posture, approach, time sat?

Genjo: I do zazen for an hour or two each day, every morning for an hour (5:30AM) and another hour most evenings (6:30PM). Moreover, I do on average three days of sitting (5AM to 9PM) each month, and six additional weeks a year of Zen retreat called sesshin. Doing Zazen, I sit just to sit, no goal, nothing to attain, just a chance to sit, breath and be. If at times mind settles beyond or beneath this transitory phenomenal world—that is icing on the cake.

I sit in full lotus whenever I can, as it is the most rooted posture possible. In this posture I feel like a mountain, ready to face any kind of weather and not be disturbed or moved. My eyes and all other senses are open, receiving with little discrimination or judgment just what is, like an open microphone. I look down about a yard in front of my form, eyelids mostly closed, almost looking through my eyelashes. I sit from 20 to 50 minutes at a time.

Continue with Part Two:
Zazen – Being Present – Pure Awareness – The Mind – Meditation