What is zen meditation?

Zen Meditation is Zazen

Zen monks, nuns and masters, like more to call that discipline zazen. We believe zazen is not what is commonly called a meditation. Meditation is eventually a to obvious way to keep your mind busy, or free of something. During zazen, no effort is meant to be applied on the self but just on the practice. Za comes from the Japanese and means sitting, zen means literally absorption.

What does "Zen" Means?

Zen is a japanese word, actually a phonetic adaptation from the chinese word tchan. Tchan was originally tchana, itself coming from the sanskript dhyana. If you followed well, zen is dhyana. So, what then is dhyana?

Once asked about his practice, the Buddha Shakyamuni answered: "I practice dhyana". Literally speaking, dhyana means "absorption" and so relates more to a passive state of mind during the exercise of simply sitting. No need to get worried about if it's a meditation or not, it all starts by simply sitting.

To study zen is to study the self.
To study the self is to let go of the self
To let go of the self is to be revealed by all phenomenons

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Dogen Zenji

Need to know more about Zen meditation?

Go into a proper Zen Dojo or contact the monk Kosho for online sessions