Zazen
Zazen is the seated meditation practice of Zen Buddhism. The word itself is straightforward: za means sitting, zen derives from Chinese chan, which derives from Sanskrit dhyana (meditative absorption). But zazen, especially in the Soto tradition, resists reduction to a technique. Dogen Zenji (1200–1253), the founder of Japanese Soto Zen, insisted that zazen is not a means to enlightenment but the expression of enlightenment itself — “practice-realization” (shusho ittō).
Zen emerged from the fusion of Indian Mahayana Buddhism (particularly Madhyamaka philosophy) with Chinese Taoism, producing Chan Buddhism. Two major schools crossed into Japan: Soto, brought by Dogen after studying with Rujing in China, emphasizing shikantaza (“just sitting”); and Rinzai, transmitted by Eisai (1141–1215), emphasizing koan practice — meditating on paradoxical cases to break through conceptual mind.
Core Mechanics
Shikantaza — “Just Sitting”
The hallmark of Soto Zen. Shikantaza is objectless meditation — there is no breath to follow, no mantra to repeat, no body to scan. The instruction is disarmingly simple and endlessly deep: just sit. Sit with bright, alert, awake awareness. Do not try to achieve a particular state. Do not try to stop thoughts. Do not try to do anything. Dogen’s formulation from the Fukanzazengi: “Think of not-thinking. How do you think of not-thinking? Non-thinking (hishiryo).” Non-thinking is not the absence of thought but a quality of awareness that neither grasps thoughts nor pushes them away.
Koan Practice
The hallmark of Rinzai Zen. A koan is a paradoxical question, story, or statement drawn from the Zen tradition — “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” (Hakuin), “Show me your original face before your parents were born,” “Does a dog have Buddha-nature?” (the Mu koan). Koans are not intellectual riddles. They cannot be solved by thinking. The practitioner sits with the koan, holds it in awareness, lets it work on them. The koan functions as a cognitive wedge that destabilizes conceptual thinking and opens access to a different mode of knowing. Resolution comes as a direct, embodied realization, presented to the teacher in private interview (dokusan).
Posture
In zazen, posture is not preparatory to practice — it IS practice. The body is the site and expression of awakening. Key elements:
- Seated position: Full lotus, half lotus, Burmese position, or seiza (kneeling). The specific position matters less than its qualities: stable, grounded, upright.
- Spine: Erect, elongated, as if suspended from the crown. Not rigid, not collapsed.
- Eyes: Half-open, gaze cast downward at approximately 45 degrees, unfocused. This is distinctive — most meditation traditions close the eyes. The half-open gaze reflects Zen’s refusal to separate meditation from the world.
- Hands: Cosmic mudra (hokkai-join) — left hand on right, palms up, thumb tips lightly touching, forming an oval. The oval is a biofeedback mechanism: when attention flags, the thumbs drift apart.
Kinhin and Sesshin
Periods of seated zazen alternate with kinhin, slow formal walking meditation. Extended retreats (sesshin, typically 3–7 days) include 8–12 hours of daily zazen.
Philosophical Grounding
Nishitani and the Kyoto School. The connection to John Vervaeke’s work runs through Keiji Nishitani (1900–1990), who bridged Zen Buddhism and Western philosophy (especially Heidegger and Nietzsche). Nishitani’s crucial distinction between “nothingness” (mu) and nihilism is directly relevant to the garden’s meaning crisis: the experience of sunyata (emptiness) is not the nihilistic void but a liberating realization that opens onto deeper engagement with reality. Zen offers passage through meaninglessness, not capitulation to it.
Heidegger’s Gelassenheit. Heidegger’s concept of “releasement” or “letting-be” has often been compared to shikantaza. Both involve a relinquishing of the will-to-control, a letting beings be what they are without grasping.
Merleau-Ponty. Zazen’s insistence that posture IS practice — that the body is not a vehicle for a separate mind but the living site of awareness — resonates directly with Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of the body-subject. The half-open eyes, the cosmic mudra, the erect spine: these are not accessories to meditation but its substance.
Dogen’s radical temporality. Each moment fully expresses being; practice is not preparation for a future realization but the complete expression of awakening right now. This connects to process philosophy and to Vervaeke’s work on participatory transformation.
Relationship to Other Practices
Centering Prayer is the closest structural parallel across the Buddhist-Christian divide. Both are objectless or minimal-object practices of simply being present. Both resist the instrumentalization of practice. The key difference is theological: Centering Prayer operates within a relational, theistic framework — there is a Thou to consent to. Shikantaza operates within a non-theistic framework of sunyata.
Dialectical into Dialogos draws on the koan. Vervaeke’s Dialogos paper recognizes the koan as a structure that creates a dialectical situation — a question that cannot be resolved at the level at which it is posed, requiring a transformation of perspective. Genuine dialogue shares this structure: opening questions that transform the participants.
Vipassana is technique-rich and maps progress through stages; Soto Zen rejects both technique and progressive models. The Rinzai tradition, with its koan curriculum, is more “staged” but still distinct from vipassana’s phenomenological mapping.
Feldenkrais and Authentic Movement: all three involve the body as the practice. Feldenkrais explores habitual patterns through gentle, aware attention; Authentic Movement allows the body to move with eyes closed — both share Zen’s trust that awareness itself is transformative.
Key Figures
- Dogen Zenji (1200–1253) — founder of Japanese Soto Zen; philosopher of practice-realization
- Hakuin Ekaku (1686–1769) — great reviver of Rinzai Zen; systematized koan curriculum
- Keiji Nishitani (1900–1990) — Kyoto School philosopher; bridged Zen and Western philosophy
- Shunryu Suzuki (1904–1971) — brought Soto Zen to San Francisco; Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
- Thich Nhat Hanh (1926–2022) — Vietnamese Zen; engaged Buddhism
- Charlotte Joko Beck (1917–2011) — Everyday Zen; ordinary-life Zen
See also: Contemplative Practice · Vipassana · Centering Prayer · Dialectical into Dialogos · Feldenkrais · Authentic Movement · Participatory Knowing · Meaning Crisis · The Self · John Vervaeke · Maurice Merleau-Ponty