Hey folks, I’m going to talk about meditation today. Meditation serves multiple purposes, and there are multiple methods to those ends. Because meditation is more practice than theory these sorts of articles will run shorter than the witchcraft ones. Today I’m going to discuss the ever popular goal of chilling the fuck out. I’m going to explain zen, because it’s a good place to begin.
Zen is the most common Buddhist meditation style. “Zen” comes from Japan, who picked it up from the Chinese practice of “Chan”, who took it from the Indian “Dyana”. Dyana, Chan, and Zen share the same meaning. “Meditation”. Zen, like most of Buddhist thought, focuses on stillness, kindness, and recognizing impermanence.
You’ll need a comfortable spot to sit. You’ll also need a mostly quiet space, absolute silence isn’t necessary but it should be a space where distractions are minimized. The main idea is to occupy the mind while the body is in a relaxed state with nebulous imagery.
There are a few ways to relax the mind into the present once you’re in a comfortable spot. They all revolve around slow methodical breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Once the slow methodical breathing is established you may want to use one of the many nebulous images to be present.
The simplest “image” is counting to ten over and over. Whether you count the in and out breaths separately or as one is up to you. Personally, I prefer to count them as separate actions to soothe my ADHD. A popular Japanese method I learned is where you count to ten facing the wall. It’s a very specific image, but because it’s relatively unchanging from your position it works better than you might expect. Another image would be “a river reflecting the clouds”, where you are a river that reflects the mind and its thoughts as the water would reflect the clouds in the sky.
Many Zen masters will discuss the futility of Zen. That seeking Zen is like seeking a cloud made out of gold. This is part of calming down. Acknowledge that you’ll become excited (for better or worse) and that you need to return to a quiet state despite all the hours you’ve clocked meditating so far.
Despite the simplicity of the exercise, there’s a specific snag that gets every single person. Your thoughts. There’s going to be a thought that will come to you that you’ll latch on to like it’s the crux of your identity. It isn’t. The self is fluid, and you are more than a mind or a kidney. You are a harmony of disparate elements organized by genetic instructions and piloted by free will. Whatever thought takes you out of the present moment of being seated while breathing needs to be let go. Including that one, and this one. Slow methodical breathing in through the nose, slow methodical breathing out the mouth.
That’s Zen, get comfy and start breathing.
There are a lot of people running around today that will talk about Buddhism’s implications, but folks who really dive deep into the philosophy will find themselves discussing Buddha’s pillow talk.
(Because Zen, and Buddhism in general, involve being seated often dedicated practitioners have specific pillows to sit on to meditate.)