Zen Meditation

The first practitioners of Zen meditation were Zen Buddhists monks. The techniques employed in this meditation are breathing, sitting positions, koans, repetition of thoughts, and shikantaza.

The breathing technique is counting your breath. Doing this helps the novice to become used to calmly sitting and not moving. It also helps to clear his mind. After the novice sits down, he exhales and it is counted and inhales and it is counted. Count your exhalations and inhalations as you breathe-out loud. The count is to ten. Then repeat. This is done for fifteen minutes. Do it twice daily.

The next breathing step is to focus on breathing without counting. It isn't a matter of controlling the breath but feeling it. Focus. The point is to focus on just your breath; this is called following your breath.

The basic and most effective sitting position is the pyramid. This is the typical position that we usually think of when picturing someone meditating. The practitioner sits upon a pillow, which allows his knees to touch the floor. His legs are placed in a tripod shape. This is named the Burmese position and there are a few variations of this basic posture, involving placing the legs differently.

Another posture is called the half-lotus, which is also pretty familiar to the general public from movies. The left foot is on top of the right thigh and the right foot is underneath. There is the full-lotus posture-each leg is upon the opposite thigh.

The seiza posture may also be familiar. This position can be done with or without a pillow. The pillow alleviates the strain of the weight on the ankles...taking it off of them. The practitioner kneels and sits back against his heels.

The last position is the chair one. Sit in a chair with the feet parallel to the floor. Keep the back straight.

The next technique is Koans. They say it is a way of being. You practice being. They say it is a way to live a question. The Zen Buddhist monks meditate on paradoxes; this helps them to leave reasoning and makes them gain insight. It is a method of becoming more intuitive. This method makes the answers spring forth voluntarily.

The repetition of thoughts is fairly easy to do. Simply repeat all thoughts that you think. You think to yourself that you are thinking a thought about whatever. For example, I'm thinking a thought about taking a bath or I'm thinking a thought about what to have for lunch. They key is to continue to repeat your thoughts until your thoughts are clearer. Never get frustrated about doing this. Once your thoughts are clearer to you the need to repeat them is gone.

Shikantaza means doing nothing. When practicing this technique don't talk or try to find something to do. This is a kind of Zen meditation in which koans, breathing techniques, counting, and focus on objects isn't used. It literally means just to sit.

These are the basics explained to help you begin.