Category: Zen Meditation Teachers

Zen Shikantaza – Breath Counting Meditation (Seated Meditation)

—An Interview with Grace Schireson, Part One—

In this three part meditation interview, Zen Instructor Grace Schireson speaks on the types of meditation she both teaches her students and practices herself, primarly Zen Shikantaza (seated meditation) and Breath Counting. She goes on to compare letting go to turning toward the light, and concludes with an encouraging approach towards Habit Mind.

 

Meditation How: What form of meditation do you practice?

Grace: My home base for meditation practice is 45 years of experience in Soto Zen shikantaza, or the school of silent illumination. Many times throughout the day I will find my breath for a minute or two of practice. I meditate every day (20-30 minutes) with this method, once or twice a day. I also lead regularly scheduled meditation retreats, classes and workshops where I teach this practice and point out the way it changes your life from the inside out.

 

I have determined that this specific practice is most reliable for me and my students and does not require close supervision from a teacher. While I believe it is essential for meditation students to have a teacher for guidance, some practices are more risky in my view—that is they can create energetic imbalances and require closer supervision. For example, koan practice from the Chinese, Korean and Japanese traditions may require a kind of forceful effort that may leave a student off balance or depleted.

I have studied this method with my own teacher in Kyoto, Fukushima Keido Roshi of Tofukuji monastery, but I only teach it to students who are committed to working closely with me, and who are of a steady and mature temperament. I have also studied Tibetan practices and visualizations, but I believe that these more elaborate trainings require closer supervision and ongoing and extensive trainings.

Meditation How: Thank you. I am excited to hear more. I am a bit confused. You mention that you “find your breath” for a minute or two, and then you write that you meditate for a 20-30 minute period once or twice a day. Are these separate practices, and what do they entail exactly. Perhaps you can describe the process of each.

Grace: Finding the breath is informal meditation wherever you may be, sitting for 20-30 minutes is formal meditation. One needs to practice both ways.

Meditation How: Can you describe to me how “finding the breath” works?

Grace: My teacher always said that a good Zen student always knows where her breath is. So even though we breathe automatically, we can become conscious of the subtle qualities of the breath—where it is in the body, is it long or short, tight or loose— and work to develop a softer, more refined and healing breath. We can notice where our bodies are tight, breathe into the tension and let go.

Seated meditation involves taking a meditation posture, as is customary in a particular tradition, and focusing on the breath, especially counting the exhale at the beginning. One counts from one to ten, exhales only and returns to one again. The attention is focused on the breath, and the mind is like a big sky, where thoughts cross, but are not engaged as a thinking activity. As concentration deepens subtle signs appear—peacefulness, bliss and a quality of engaged and tangible presence.

Meditation How: Is it your personal experience that these practices of breath counting meditation and sitting meditation carry over something of their quality into those moments when you are not in meditation?

Continue with Part Two:
Toward the Light – Let Go (Being Present, Breath, Exhalation)

 

Do Zazen – How to Sit Zazen – The Nature of Reality – Breath

—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.

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).

Do Zazen - How to Sit Zazen - The Nature of Reality - Breath

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

Meditation Teachers – Is One Needed, Essential, Important?

—An Interview with Genko Rainwater, Part Five—
>>> Part One: Shikantaza Meditation – Sitting, Practice, Techniques

Meditation How: Thank you. I want to ask you to briefly describe what you believe is the most positive rendition one might expect to grow into— of what is now still experienced as “negative emotion”. Do you really believe one (we) are capable of ongoing bliss? We have both the laughing and the angry Buddha, do we not?

I feel that we are coming to a natural conclusion of this meditation interview. You have provided a good solid example of the meditation experience in general—and of yours in particular. Thank you for that. I do have one more question in addition to the one above, and that is as to whether you feel that a master or teacher is necessary. If one is not moved to seek out meditation teachers, do you believe that something is awry?

Genko: I suppose I don’t believe that humans are capable of 24-7 bliss, at least not as it is often portrayed. Part of being human is that we are fallible, even as we are glorious and noble. The Buddha’s All-Knowledge is not encyclopedic knowledge but the ability to see through causes and conditions, to see what is in front of him or her clearly. Everything that has happened to me is part of what has given me the insights I have so far.

I have been told that it is possible to be in perfect equanimity even when terrified, and I believe that is true, and I am beginning to experience it. Okay, I’m terrified. Simply accept it that I’m terrified. I’ve been terrified before, and will be so again. This terror is simply the current state of weather, maybe a thunderstorm, maybe a blizzard. Hunker down, accept. And watch it pass, as it will, eventually. At the very least, I find negative mind states instructive, capable of teaching me, if I can be open to their teaching. This is not the same as believing in the terror and reacting negatively to it. It has more to do with learning to sit still and take a step back to observe.

In regard to meditation teachers— my experience has been that a teacher is essential. I can’t speak for others. It does seem to me that it is too easy to go astray, because habit energy is so strong and coping mechanisms so ingrained, without someone observing from the outside who has experience with this stuff. In my case, I also really have needed someone human whom I could learn to trust, who wouldn’t accept my bullshit or give me any more, who would care for, trust, and encourage me, give me hints as to how to proceed, monitor to make sure I was able to continue with what I was doing, etc.

I needed someone absolutely ethical, experienced, and unfailingly kind—someone who can embody the Buddha for me. My teacher(s) have provided this for me, and have earned my undying gratitude and devotion. Because of them, I am paradoxically more able to be truly myself. I hope to be able to pass this on to others.

Meditation How: You say that your hope is to pass on some of this teaching to others. As your responses may have been somewhat limited by my curiosity and questions, is there anything you would like to add here that might encourage or help those new to meditation— something we have not covered in this interview thus far?

Genko: I like to tell those who come to me for interviews (often in connection with a class), especially young people, but it applies equally to us older types, that we each have within us a voice sometimes called Way-Seeking Mind. If we can get quiet enough to listen to it, it will guide us where we need to go. We can trust it. And a meditation practice can look like it’s not accomplishing anything. But it is. We can trust that as well.

>>> Part Six: Teachers of Meditation – Experience, Joy, Simplicity

Habit Mind – Cultivate Awareness, Pure Awareness (Zen, Nature)

—An Interview with Grace Schireson, Part Three—
Go to Part One of this Interview:
Zen Shikantaza – Breath Counting Meditation (Seated Meditation)

Grace: Interesting, the bigger Self is a “we” not an “I”. I describe my own personal theory of working through difficulty as having an analogous process to inflammation in the body. The injury or painful thoughts or feelings require being encapsulated, but there is a point that the body begins to break down swelling, scar tissue and the compartment to restore a flow.

As far as stilling, I don’t give that a thought either. I cultivate awareness around the sensation, thought, image or feeling. There is a Buddhist expression: All defilements are self-liberating in the great space of awareness. So I cultivate this space of awareness and allow nature to take its course with the persistent problems of habit mind I have referred to earlier.

So habit mind is an automatic response that has components of feeling, thinking and acting that are not helpful, but they are repeated due to lack of awareness and long term conditioning. This may not work for others who are overwhelmed by trauma or difficult states of mind. I prescribe a metta practice, cultivating loving kindness, when there is not yet sufficient stability in breath awareness practice.

Meditation How: I find it interesting, that for some, pure awareness generates a “we” and for others an “I”. It may be due to the filter of language in addition to wholeness being of both one and many. Incidentally, I love your analogy of inflammation in the body. I understand the bit about all defilements being self-liberating, and yet it brings up a question for me. Is there not something we do to cease in unconscious perpetuation of the pain, by actually paying attention of witnessing through these meditative practices? Nature more readily takes its course when we “allow” it to?

Grace: It is my experience that we are almost constantly blocking with defenses and fears before we enter practice, so that when we make an effort to let go, life naturally proceeds to liberate us. Nevertheless, my favorite (teaching) example of this is when Lauren Bacall kisses Bogey for the first time in “To Have and Have Not.” And then she kisses him again, and she says “It’s so much better when you help.” I think our full attention and participation is of great and mutual benefit and enjoyment.

Meditation How: What a great example, and with humor too. Have you found that after having meditated for some time— time being relative here, the attention (or help) needed is less? In short, life itself becomes a meditation, and the process of healing or liberation continues having integrated itself into your day-to-day?

Grace: It all becomes one unfolding. But there are times when I reach a particularly painful or stuck part. I have confidence in the process, and I have confidence in the team of resources I turn to for help.

Meditation How: Perhaps you could share some information about these resources and the nature of how and where you teach meditation.

Grace: I teach meditation in Fresno, Modesto and North Fork every week. I also lead longer retreats, lead Zen women’s workshops and teach from my book Zen Women: Beyond Tea Ladies, Iron Maidens and Macho Masters. My groups in Fresno and Modesto are open to the public at the Unitarian Church and the Church of the Brethren respectively. My other events can be found through www.emptynestzendo.org.

Meditation How: Grace, thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. It has been inspiring.

Habit Mind - Cultivate Awareness, Pure Awareness (Zen, Nature)About Grace: Abbess Myoan Grace Schireson is the founder and head teacher of the Empty Nest Zen Group, Modesto Valley Heartland Zen Group, and the Fresno River Zen Group. Grace is a Dharma heir in the lineage of the great Shunryu Suzuki-roshi—founder of the San Francisco Zen Center. Grace has practiced Zen meditation for more than 35 years and is author of the book Zen Women: Beyond Tea Ladies, Iron Maidens and Macho Masters— read the Buddhadharma review (.pdf file).

In the United States she has undergone her Soto Zen training with Sojun Mel Weitsman-roshi of Berkeley Zen Center—from who she received Dharma transmission from in 2005. Grace also has trained in Rinzai Zen in Japan under Keido Fukushima-roshi, retired abbot of Tofuku-ji Monastery located in Kyoto. She has taught classes on Zen throughout the United States and has also been trained as a clinical psychologist—teaching Asian methods of quieting the mind using techniques suitable for Westerners. Visit Abbess Grace’s blog at Sweeping Zen.

Toward the Light – Let Go (Being Present, Breath, Exhalation)

—An Interview with Grace Schireson, Part Two—
Go to Part One of this Interview:
Zen Shikantaza – Breath Counting Meditation (Seated Meditation)

Grace: Our practice proceeds naturally when more and more often we remember to turn towards the light of opening our minds rather than turning towards our habits and defenses. This is a gradual change that occurs at first with discipline and effort, and then later it begins to carry itself forward. It is like a seed that we have planted after cultivating the ground. We need to weed it, and we need to remember to water and nourish it, but soon it takes on its own shape and turns toward the light knowing its own rate of growth and blossoming in surprising ways.

Meditation How: I like the idea of turning toward the light. I wonder if we could look a little closer at the mechanics of the sitting meditation. I want to understand the breathing. Is the count to ten during the inhale or the exhale?

Grace: The counting in Zen occurs on the exhalation. In every arena of our life, except yoga and other forms of stretching, we are encouraged to push and accumulate. We get little training in releasing and accepting. By focusing on the exhalation, we bring our attention to the process of letting go. How do we build the muscle to let go? In the beginning we have no strength, no way to accomplish the command to “Let go!” but with continuous practice, this ability is strengthened and our lives respond to a more harmonious balance of effort and ease.

Meditation How: I am enjoying this interview. I notice that much of what you have offered in response is couched in terms appropriate for teaching, which is all very good. However, I wonder if I could ask you to go into this a little more personally and speak from your direct experience. What does this process of exhaling and inhaling feel like to you? Perhaps you could recount your initial success and excitement at having found something that works for you personally. This approach, I believe, more than instruction, would be encouraging to readers.

Grace: Just as I described previously, this is my experience, not just my teaching. I feel where the tension is in my own body when I bring my awareness to the breath. When I feel troubled, there is a focus on the trouble, when I return to my breath, I have a softer view that includes both the trouble, the breath and the entire universe. I can still feel the pain and the magnetic pull to engage with the suffering in my habitual ways, but rather than fight the pain, I turn towards the suffering, the habit, and the aversion to just be present. Being present with the tension allows it to dissolve.

Meditation How: Thank you. It may be just the use of “I” rather than “Our” that makes a big difference in accessibility, at least for me— so thank you. This description is something I can identify with in my own process. I have a friend who was reading a book called “Buddha Brain” or something like that, where the author recommended holding a joyful image/feeling whilst in the midst of a hurtful image/feeling and that something joins them and allows the pain to move and release. This last response of yours reminded me of that.

I suppose there is often a physiological counterpart to our healing experiences in meditation. I want to ask you about your experience with stilling thoughts, watching thoughts, slowing or stopping internal dialogue. In a previous response you mentioned witnessing them pass by while you were engaged in counting. Can you tell me more about how you work with thoughts? Does “engaging with the suffering in habitual ways” refer to thinking patterns?

Continue with Part Three:
Habit Mind – Cultivate Awareness, Pure Awareness (Zen, Nature)