May 11, 2010
- Shodo Harada Roshi: Ki and Zazen -
In sesshin you often speak about recognizing and regulating ki, or energy, in all parts of our life. This has really helped me. How do you suggest working with ki in zazen?
There are many ways of cultivating ki, such as yoga, qigong, and tai chi. However, the ideal way to cultivate the all-embracing ki that informs our entire being is through zazen. Zazen is a matter of physically experiencing our essential oneness with the very existence of the universe, and it is through this experience that our ki develops. What is most important is that we partake of ki in its universal expression.
We can cultivate ki creatively as we go about our daily lives. Such cultivation-in-action is called dochu no kufu. However, a living practice depends on a thorough grounding in jochu no kufu, the quiet cultivation of seated meditation. There is no basic separation between “passive” and “active,” of course, but those who are unable to partake of universal essence in sitting will not be able to partake of it in action. The fundamental point in zazen is to experience oneself not as a separate, limited body but as the body of the entire universe.
The body itself is central to zazen. When meditating we regulate the body, regulate the breath, and regulate the mind. Ki fills our physical being to overflowing and expands through the breath to an ever-widening circle of our surroundings until it permeates the universe itself. This activation of our universal mind is the true meaning of “regulating the mind” in zazen.
Is this word “ki,” as you are using it, synonymous with buddha-nature?
To know buddhanature is to experience the way in which our wisdom, our consciousness, and our sensation are one with all that exists. “Buddhanature” is simply a word we use to indicate that universal functioning in which the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, body, and especially mind grasp the whole and not just the part. Buddhanature is recognizing the life of buddha in every creature, in every tree and blade of grass.
Ki is our very essence. Lacking ki, we look with our eyes but cannot see. Lacking ki, we think but cannot understand. To embrace and partake of all existence is possible because ki is the essence of all things. From this, too, manifests the wisdom that recognizes buddhanature.
Zazen as a form of Qi Gong?
VERY interesting…
Comment by Ian — May 11, 2010 @ 2:46 pm
The fundamental point in zazen is to experience oneself not as a separate, limited body but as the body of the entire universe.
sounds vaguely familiar :)
Comment by Donn — May 12, 2010 @ 2:21 pm
Hilarious, I hadn’t even noticed that. The “experience yourself as the body of the universe” thing in Zen has always seemed a little strange to me (like something translated not quite correctly and then held onto because, once someone realize what it points to, they stick with the definitions they’d been given).
But thanks, I think I kind of get it now. All intellectually and whatnot, but still. That they have pointed to the body as the source of this realization (rather than “self”, or “mind”) is a good thing for me to keep in mind…
It must be felt before it can be truly known.
Comment by Ian — May 12, 2010 @ 3:39 pm
>> Zazen as a form of Qi Gong?
Well, quite a lot of Qi Gong amounts to ‘just standing’… ;D
Comment by speedbird — May 13, 2010 @ 2:38 am
Ha! The “just standing” is my favorite part of the whole thing.
Comment by Ian — May 17, 2010 @ 3:05 pm