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The Posture Of Zazen

In this video John discusses the importance of the sitting posture and the body during Zazen.
It’s easy to get caught in the idea that meditation is something that is primarily going on in the head, with the goal being the controlling of thoughts, the calming the mind and the attainment of something, and the body being of little importance.
 John suggests looking at meditation in a different way, not primarily through the lens of consciousness but as a dynamic interplay between the alive and whole body, the dynamic breath, and wide awareness. Within that somewhere is the mind, but it’s no longer of prime importance. We put our body in the correct position and all of us is enlivened,  undetermined  by our mind.

Video adapted from kusen no. 308, given on 22nd September 2020