Mindfulness. The starting point of Zen meditation practice. Becoming aware that we are very rarely actually present in the moments of our lives. For a few moments, perhaps while hiking in the woods, we may pay attention. Walking, we feel the pressure of our feet on the uneven ground, smell the aroma of surrounding oaks or the resinous smells of evergreens, feel the warm, rich air on our face, listen to a raven’s wings as it flies overhead.
Instead of continuing to pay attention to what is going on in each moment, our minds wander to whatever they habitually like to gnaw on. Past grievances, hurts, or joys. Plans, anxieties, or daydreams. Re-living moments in stories, movies, or books. We are endlessly creative in our abilities to be distracted from the moment.
With habitual negative patterns of thought on automatic, we actually feed our own stress, pain, and suffering.
So if you come to a Zen meditation, you will be encouraged to sit comfortably, relax deeply, and breathe.
It is so easy, just follow the breath. Paying attention to the sensation on the upper lip, cool and dry in the nasal passages, fullness in the lungs, then the turning point, and next the warm humidity over the upper lip as the breath passes out of the body. Very soon we realize how difficult it is to stay focussed in the moment, as the mind drifts away from the breath into memories or daydreams. This is a natural process and we are encouraged to just keep coming back to the breath.
If we practice this daily, our ability to stay with the breath will grow. Over the years, coming back to the breath again and again in daily meditation, we can learn to love and appreciate each inhalation and exhalation. The breath becomes a haven available to us at any time, and anywhere. We will reap the benefits in relaxation, better sleep, less stress.
If we continue to pay attention throughout the day, not just while meditating, we begin to feel our deep connection to the world. We are not simply individuals doing our best in the material world. That is just one side of the story. We come to feel deeply connected on a very fundamental level to all beings, to everything that is. It is as though we are of two minds, the active planning stressed mind of everyday life and the calm relaxed creative mind of our moments of equanimity.
Our cares and concerns are unmasked as, for the most part, the creations of our habitual, entrenched, negative patterns of thought. Part of our daily practice can then be letting go of these cares and concerns, slipping away from our everyday habitual mindset, and dissolving into all that is. Like a drop returning to the ocean.
Some translate the Japanese word zen or zazen as meditation, but perhaps a more descriptive term for what we do on the cushion is dissolution. This is a very healing state of mind that is available to everyone. Even brief moments of dissolution, getting to zero, dropping the self, are deeply rejuvenating.
This is not a case of adding to, but of dropping away. We don’t have to add anything in, obtain something, or learn the secret. We are already whole and complete just as we are. There’s nothing to do, nowhere we have to go, just sit, allow our baggage to drop away, and experience the wholeness.
Stressed? Turning to meditation for some much needed mindfulness training? Happily, you may get more than you bargained for. I know I did.
Rev. Soshin McMurchy is a priest with Zenwest Buddhist Society, zenwest.ca, and serves as the Buddhist Chaplain with the University of Victoria Multifaith Services where she teaches meditation. She works part-time at the Greater Victoria Public Library and lives in Victoria with her partner of 40 years.
You can read more articles on our interfiaith bliog, Spiritually Speaking HERE
This article was published in the print edition of the Times Colonist on Saturday, Sept 9 2017
