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Difference between zazen and other meditation techniques?

HawkinsHawkins Explorer
edited June 2011 in Meditation
Such as focusing on the breath, etc.
What are they?

Comments

  • santhisouksanthisouk Veteran
    As far as focusing on the breath goes:

    http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/breathmed.html
  • DhammaDhatuDhammaDhatu Veteran
    edited June 2011
    Zazen is just sitting. Zazen is abandonment. Where as "focusing" on the breath is craving.
  • Still_WatersStill_Waters
    Counting breaths and breath awareness are often used as a beginning practices in zazen. Eventually, the breath as an object of focus is abandoned and what is left is shikantaza, where you simply sit; alert, relaxed, with open awareness, but clinging to nothing. It is this practice of shikantaza that is distinct from other forms of meditation.

    Alan
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    edited June 2011
    The difference between zazen and other meditation practices is in the goal, or lack thereof. Otherwise, zazen is just standard "quiet mind" meditation with beginners using counting or focusing on thoughts as an aid to recognizing the quiet mind.

    Unlike some other schools, Zen meditation does not seek to produce altered states of consciousness. There is no goal of attaining progressive stages of dhyana. Because of this difference, Zen teachers stress that in meditation there is no goal and nothing to attain. This arises from the core belief that Buddha-Nature is the essential nature of every sentient being, and instead of looking "out there" for Enlightenment in the form of special powers or mental states, one needs only to look inward and recognize what you already are in a direct, intuitive level beyond words and teachings.

    Thus, zazen might not have a "goal" in the way other Buddhist schools use meditation, but it has a purpose, which is to learn how to have a relaxed focus on the immediate situation, what is variously called mindfulness or clear mind. The goal of zen is to attain intuitive understanding of the central question, the answer necessary to understanding your own mind and thus letting go of all clinging and realize your Buddha Nature, and that is "What am I?" in one form or another. Thus, zazen often includes some aid to focus on this question, such as koan work or contemplation of a seemingly paradoxal set of statements.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    Zazen sounds very similar to the meditation Trungpa rinpoche taught.
  • taiyakitaiyaki Veteran
    zazen is zazen. that's all. it is the goal, means and attainment. just sit and watch the mind move.
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