Zazen meditation awakens you to the present while also helping you to let go. It guides you to experience present moment awareness without the existence of any thought(1).

The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.
-Dogen

Zazen meditation is a practice of being still, allowing your mind to experience the immediate moment, uninterrupted by narratives or thought. It helps you develop concentration power(1) as the meditation process involves focusing on specific actions, like the counting of your breaths. The primary purpose of Zazen meditation is to help you free yourself from attachment to the deluded idea of “self- identity,” so that you may connect with your true nature. 

The practice of Zazen meditation also reduces anger, anxiety, depression, blood pressure and stress(1). To benefit from this meditative practice, you must put effort into it but also maintain patience. The right balance of both is necessary to experience true progress(1).  

History/Origins

Zazen meditation originated in China and information regarding it can be found in written works by Chinese priests such as Chang-lu Tsung-tse. Zazen is explained in these texts with rhetorical, easy to remember Chinese prose. Dōgen Zenji, a renowned Japanese Buddhist priest, learned the practice of Zazen from his master, Ju-ching, who believed that, “sitting (zazen) is Buddha Dharma and the Buddha Dharma is sitting.”

Dōgen Zenji returned to Japan from China in 1227 and wrote Fukanzazengi in an effort to teach the art of Zazen meditation to his countrymen(2). 

Benefits of Zazen Meditation

Zazen meditation has multiple practical benefits that help you develop greater resistance to stress and high blood pressure. Regularly practicing this form of meditation also relieves anger, depression and anxiety. However, the benefits of Zazen do not end there. Meditating to experience a moment without the distraction of thought allows you to connect with your true self. It helps you see past your preconceived notions of “self” and the self-imposed limitations around it(1). 

Those who practice know whether realization is attained or not, just as those who drink water know whether it is hot or cold.
-Dogen

According to a study by Gudo Wafe Nishijima and Joe Langdon(4), practicing Zazen meditation also helps with overall personal development. It lowers emotional turmoil and frees inhibitions, allowing the practitioner to utilize all of his or her potential. Zazen also helps people to be more empathetic and open, which in turn assists self-actualization(5).     

Another study by Ernest Leon Cowger and E. Paul Torrance(6) reveals that Zazen meditation practitioners develop a higher sense of creativity. The meditators participating in the study achieved significantly heightened invention, expression of emotion, sensory experience, unusual visualization, synthesis, internal visualization, fantasy and humor. A research article by R. F. Thomson(7) also suggests that Zazen meditation increases one’s tolerance, mental flexibility, and the ability to interact more intimately with others. 

 

References

  1. Lion’s Roar | The Essential Guide to How to Meditate | Zazen by Jules Shuzen Harris
  2. SUNY Press | Fukanzazengi by Dogen Zenji
  3. Anchor | The Three Pillars of Zen by Philip Kapleau, Anniversary Edition
  4. Windbell Publications Ltd  | How to Practice Zazen by Gudo Wafe Nishijima, Joe Langdon 
  5. University of Georgia | ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1973 | The Effects of Meditation (Zazen) Upon Selected Dimensions of Personal Development by Ernest Leon Cowger 
  6. Creative Child & Adult Quarterly, 1982 | Further Examination of the Quality of Changes in Creative Functioning Resulting from Meditation (Zazen) Training by Ernest Leon Cowger, E. Paul Torrance
  7. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 2000 | Zazen and Psychotherapeutic Presence by R. F. Thomson