Zen Meditation

Introduction to the Zen Practice

"On the Zen path, we seek for ourselves the experience of Shakyamuni. However, we do not owe fundamental allegiance to him, but to ourselves and to our environment. If it could be shown that Shaykamuni never lived, the myth of his life would be our guide. In fact, it is far better to acknowledge at the outset that myths and religious archetypes guide us, just as they do every religious person. The myth of the Buddha is my own myth. The path is personal and intimate. We must walk it for ourselves. In this spirit, we invest ourselves in our practice, confident of our heritage, and train earnestly side by side with our brothers and sisters. It is this engagement that brings peace and realisation."

- Robert Aitken Roshi, Taking the Path of Zen

Zazen

"Zazen or seated meditation is a path to discovering insight and wisdom and realising our true nature. It helps us overcome greed, selfishness, negativity and worry, cultivates intimacy and closeness with ourselves and all of life, and gives us a foundation for ethical and noble aspirations in this life and a basis of peace, relaxation and inner joy. Our practice is to actualise our realisation in the world, to embody the Buddha's Way."

Breath counting

"Breath counting - becoming intimate with each inhalation and counting from one to ten on the exhalation - reveals how jumpy and restless our minds are, hence the term "monkey mind". Whenever we lose the count, having drifted off on a thought, and more significantly, when we notice we have lost the count, we just return to one without recrimination or judgement."

"Over time, as a firm practice base is established - with regular daily zazen, sitting with the group on a weeknight, and attending sesshin, students may find that in the midst of this busy world, there is peace and ease. They may choose to investigate one of the primary koans with the teacher, and/or take up the practice of shikantaza"

Kinhin

"Between each sitting period of 25 minutes, there is kinhin, or walking meditation, a practice where we continue to count our breaths, keying our breath to our steps. We are present with our footsteps as we walk slowly round the dojo clasping our left hand over our right at waist level. Kinhin is halfway between the quality of attention demanded by sitting and the quality of attention demanded in the everyday world. Kinhin can be practised in our everyday lives as well, for example, as we walk along the street, with thumb and forefinger lightly touching."

Shinkantaza

"Although shikantaza means 'just sitting', it is far from meaning 'just to sit. Having established a firm practice base with breath-counting, we let go of our focus on the breath and sit with moment-to-moment awareness, as though we were in a jungle clearing, aware that a tiger is nearby. With this alert practice, in the immenseness of all that is, the individual self inevitably finds itself reduced until it disappears altogether. Inside and outside become one."

Ritual

"Ritual helps us to deepen our religious spirit and to extend its vigour to our lives. As well, it is an opening for the experience of forgetting the self as the words or the action become one with you, and there is nothing else."

"Gassho - the act of placing your hand's palm to palm, with the tips of your forefingers an inch from your nose - is a sign of joining together in respect. We bow with our hands at gassho as we enter or leave the dojo, and before zazen (seated meditation), we bow in this way twice at our seats - once to our sisters and brothers on the opposite side of the dojo and once to sisters and brothers beside us, and to our cushion."

"Raihai - a full prostration - is done three times before and after sutras. We bow to the floor and raise our hands a few inches, lifting the Buddha's feet over our heads, throwing everything away, or pouring everything out from the top of the head. All our self-concern, all our preoccupations are thrown away completely. There is just that bow."

WHO AM I?

I am profoundly committed to seeking beauty and truth and sharing the best possible version of myself in the community. For a long time, I have practised spiritual, psychological and coaching exercises to minimize my destructive forces. Despite my effort, I am still a vulnerable person.

I hope other people are willing to move in the same direction in this adventurous and complex journey. That is why I am keen to create a Sangha (a group of friends). Together, the group members will devote part of their time to developing spiritual and psychological practices to evolve.

We will work together to improve our personal and collective mindsets in the best way possible, with sincerity, honesty and attention. At the same time, we will minimize the destructive force and allow our best qualities to emerge.

Dress: we dress in colours that will not be distracting, preferably black. It is better not to wear tight-fitting clothes to ensure blood circulation in your legs. Avoid wearing revealing or patterned clothing, perfume, and noticeable jewellery when sitting with the group.

Just an important reminder.

Where: 31 Matakana Valley Rd, Matakana Client parking available behind Design Pod.

When:  Monday 8.15 am to 09:30 pm

If you have never practised Zen meditation, come earlier at 7 am. The orientation is a very relaxed way to start your Zen journey. There will be instructions about sitting and walking meditation and some information about Zen philosophy and rituals.

Cost: offers are welcome.

Scientific Papers on Zen meditation

Age effects on gray matter volume and attentional performance in Zen meditation

Zen meditation: An integration of current evidence

To date, actual evidence about Zen meditation is scarce and highlights the necessity of further investigations. Comparison with further active treatments, explanation of possible mechanisms of action, and the limitations of current evidence are discussed.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0197458007002436

Akira Kasamatsu M.D.,Tomio Hirai M.D. 

In Zen meditation, the slowing of EEG pattern is confirmed on the one hand, and the dehabituation of the alpha blocking on the other. These indicate the specific change of consciousness.

Cardiorespiratory and autonomic-nervous-system functioning of drug abusers treated by Zen meditation

Author Pei-ChenLoaPing-HsienTsaibHui-JaneKangbWu JueMiao Tianb

Among 18 voluntary drug addicts during the 10-minute Zen meditation session, about two-third subjects have significant improvement in autonomic nervous system function characterized by heart rate variability .... The group averages of all the parameters exhibit significantly positive changes in the 10-minute session of abdominal-respiration Zen meditation. Even the subject with heart transplant showed the improvement of all the quantitative indicators during the AR Zen meditation.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2225411018300051

What it means to be Zen: Marked modulations of local and interareal synchronization during open monitoring meditation

Author Anne Hauswal da Teresa Übelackerb Sabine Leskeb Nathan Weisza 

The most prominent effects occur in brain structures crucially involved in processes of awareness and attention, which also show structural changes in short- and long-term meditators, suggesting continuative alterations in the meditating brain. Overall, our study reveals strong changes in ongoing oscillatory activity as well as connectivity patterns that appear to be sensitive to the psychological state changes induced by Zen meditation.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811914010702

Alterations in Brain Structure and Amplitude of Low-frequency after 8 weeks of Mindfulness Meditation Training in Meditation-Naïve Subject

Cuan-Chih Yang, Alfonso Barrós-Loscertales,Meng Li, Daniel Pinazo,Viola Borchardt, César Ávila & Martin Walter 

 However, longitudinal studies observing resting network plasticity effects in brains of novices who started to practice meditation are scarce and generally related to one dimension, such as structural or functional effects. The purpose of this study was to investigate structural and functional brain network changes (e.g. DMN) after 40 days of mindfulness meditation training in novices and set these in the context of potentially altered depression symptomatology and anxiety. We found overlapping structural and functional effects in precuneus, a posterior DMN region, where cortical thickness increased and low-frequency amplitudes (ALFF) decreased, while decreased ALFF in left precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex correlates with the reduction of (CES-D) depression scores. In conclusion, regional overlapping of structural and functional changes in precuneus may capture different components of the complex changes of mindfulness meditation training.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-47470-4

Quantitative EEG Study on Zen Meditation (Zazen)

Tetsuhito Murata M.D.,Yoshifumi Koshino M.D.,Masao Omori M.D.,Ichiro Murata M.D.,Masashi Nishio M.D.,Kazumasa Sakamoto M.D.,Tan Horie M.D.,Kiminori Isaki M.D. 

Quantitative EEG was continuously recorded prior to and during Zen meditation (Zazen) in 20 monks of the Soto sect (Group P: 10 priests; Group D: 10 disciples) and 10 control subjects with no experience in Zen training (Group C). As shown by an EEG topography during meditation, slow alpha appeared in the majority of subjects regardless of their experience in Zen training, while theta appeared only in Groups P and D predominantly in the frontal region, with its frequency increasing in proportion to an increasing length of experience in Zen training. In the quantitative analysis, in the monks with experience in Zen training, it was suggested that theta 2-3 (6.0-8.0 Hz) waves increased while the degree of increase in alpha 2 (9.0-10.0 Hz) wave was attenuated during the temporal course of meditation. The present EEG changes occurring during meditation may reflect intrinsic changes induced by Zazen, namely a mental state in which despite the attainment of relaxation the quality of consciousness is heightened.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1440-1819.1994.tb03090.x

MRI scanning during Zen meditation: the picture of enlightenment

The relevance of the wisdom traditions in contemporary society: the challenge to psychology, 195-198, 2004A group of experienced Zen meditation practitioners were scanned with fMRI during the conscious switch from normal consciousness to a meditative state of mind. This switching has been hypothesized to be realized by a dedicated "neural switch"(Travis et al., 1999). In the literature increased activity is reported to occur in the prefrontal cortex and the basal ganglia during meditation (Hirai, 1989). On the basis of other publications, de-activation in the gyrus occipitalis was expected (Newberg et al., 1997). The present study showed a simultaneous occurrence of patterns of brain activation and de-activation in the mentioned structures. It is hypothesized that this combination of events may reveal the neural basis of the experience of Zen meditation practitioners when entering the meditative state.

 https://books.google.co.nz/books?hl=en&lr=&id=1YnP0Jx-QvIC&oi=fnd&pg=PA195&dq=info:_EN5NRCI_6cJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=tBisveU_QW&sig=mcWWpzEdWjCy8V1puIFl8IEyNjk&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false</p>

Heart rate dynamics in different levels of Zen meditation

Caroline Peressuttia Juan M.Martín-Gonzálezb Juan M.García-Mansoa Denkô Mesac

Zen meditation affects the heart system at different levels, the parasympathetic system (The parasympathetic system is responsible for stimulating the "rest and digest" or "feed and reproduce" [4] activities that occur when the body is at rest, especially after eating, including sexual arousal, salivation, lacrimation (tears), urination, digestion and defecation. Its action is described as complementary to that of the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the stimulating activities associated with the fight response or escape.) and increase attention.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167527309007517

Domain-Specific Enhancement of Metacognitive Ability Following Meditation Training 

The present study demonstrates that meditation training develops the capacity to reflect on experience and thoughts.
Moreover, enhances knowledge and skills for organizing, guiding, and controlling one's thinking, actions, and learning processes.

For example:

- skills for task orientation (what am I to do?)- goal setting (what am I to achieve?)

- planning (how do I reach that goal?)- a systematical approach (step-by-step)

- monitoring oneself during task execution (am I not making mistakes, do I understand all of it?)

- evaluating the outcome (is the answer correct?)

- and reflection (what can I learn from this episode?).

https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/xge-a0036882.pdf