Purpose

When we sit zazen, we are sitting facing a wall, inert, and often people who do not sit question why we do it, what we are doing, what are we trying to achieve.

Zazen is all about balance. Physically we are balancing our bodies, not leaning too far forward, nor too far backwards, but straight backed – as if stacking our vertebra one on top of another. It can be a challenge to maintain this balance, especially if our minds begin to wander.

If we start to think about the future, what we will be doing later, what we have to do at work or at home, we inevitably begin to lean forward, creating an imbalance. Just as if we start to contemplate the past, what we achieved earlier in the day, or week, or anytime in our lives before this moment, we begin to lean backwards and break the balance.

So the mind and body cannot be separated. Wherever our minds go, our bodies will follow – and so it is that if we return to a balanced physical state, we bring our minds back to the moment and re-align both our thoughts and emotions back to a balanced state.

We are not attempting to achieve anything.

Once there is a purpose, or a striving for something, we are no longer in the moment.

But when we sit and keep our physical balance, our minds can let go of all else and so too become balanced.

Zazen is about experiencing the moment, of being truly aware of the now and not been distracted by any external or internal forces.

If we find the mind wandering, we bring our attention and focus back to the physical posture and all else falls away. No longer are we plagued by images of past and future – there is no past or future in the now, only the present moment.

This is where we are when we sit zazen. This is why we sit. And the more we train ourselves in this practice, the more it permeates our lives, and so the more we learn to live in the present.