Zazen (坐禅 — literally “sitting meditation”) is the core practice of Zen. Its posture is precise: seated on a cushion with legs crossed, spine erect, hands in the cosmic mudra, eyes open and lowered. Its attitude is harder to describe than its posture: the tradition calls it “just sitting” (shikantaza) — sitting without seeking a special state, without counting successes, without a destination.
The posture
- Seat — a cushion that tilts the pelvis forward so the spine can rest upright without effort.
- Legs — full lotus if possible, half lotus, or any crossed position; the point is a stable base.
- Spine — straight but not rigid; the head lifted as if suspended from above, chin slightly in.
- Hands — in the cosmic mudra: left in the right, thumbs lightly touching, forming an oval at the navel.
- Eyes — open, lowered, looking at nothing in particular. Zen sits with eyes open, unlike most other traditions.
Effort and non-effort
The beginner’s paradox: zazen requires discipline (a fixed time, a fixed posture, a daily return) and simultaneously forbids striving. The tradition resolves it in one phrase: sit as if you have nowhere to go and nothing to attain — and then actually sit. The effort is in the sitting itself, not in producing a result. A “good” sitting is not a calm sitting; it is a sitting.
How to begin
Start with the posture and a timer: ten minutes, same time each day. Do not chase calm, do not evaluate the session, do not skip because the day was hard. When thoughts come, let them come and let them go — the practice is not stopping thought; it is not being carried by it. The daily return is everything; the quality of any single sitting is irrelevant to the practice.
What the tradition claims
Zen makes a strange claim about zazen: that it is not a means to enlightenment but the expression of enlightenment already present — sitting as the Buddha sits, which is enough. You can take the claim literally or set it aside; either way, the practice stands on its own. Sit daily, and the posture begins to sit you.
Read the koan essay for what Zen does with the seated mind, and the meditation page for the daily rhythm.
Dig deeper: the Verse of the Day — free, deterministic and in plain English.