(BENDOWA XXXVII)
Though every action may be said to be “Zazen” in its limitless meaning … whether walking, standing, running, sitting or reclining …
One reason is that it can be a position of ease and balance …
Question Six:
Q. [Someone asks], Among the four different postures (walking, standing, sitting, lying down), why does Buddhism encourage entering realization through meditation only in sitting?
A. It is not possible to thoroughly comprehend the path by which the buddhas from the past, one after another, have been practicing and entering realization. If you seek a reason, you must know that it is only because [sitting] is what has been used by Buddhist practitioners, and beyond this you do not need to search. However, the Ancestor [Nagarjuna] praises it, saying “Zazen is the dharma gate of ease and delight (nirvana).” So, couldn’t we infer that it is because [sitting] is the most stable and peaceful of the four postures? Moreover, this is not the path of practice of one or two buddhas, but all buddhas and ancestors follow this path.
From: Talk on the Wholehearted Practice of the Way -Kosho Uchiyama (with Shohaku Okumura, Taigen Daniel Leighton)
posted July 3, 2009 at 11:57 am
Thanks Jundo,
So far I’ve gotten my butt onto the cushion two days running now.
Good to be “just sitting” with you again
posted July 4, 2009 at 2:35 am
Two days for me too Jundo, even though today it is after midnight already.
I think this was the teaching I needed most. I prefer mindfulness practice to sitting because I lack discipline.
Thank you again.