Three Simple Steps to Start a Zen Meditation Practice
Got a minute? Then you got a practice.
“Surely you can sit still for a minute.”
That’s how I was going to start my meditation meetup last week.
It was set up by a local networking group, and I was all set to go — but it got “indefinitely rescheduled” (so much nicer than “cancelled”) at the last minute. So instead, I’m going to share with all of you what I had planned.
Soto Zen is for Badass Buddhists
OK, so that’s a little heretical (except there really aren’t zen heretics). Maybe it’s more to say that it’s inaccurate. There’s a whole lot of things attached to the idea of “badass” that don’t really show the true nature of zen practice.
But if Brad Warner can build a whole series of books about zen being “hardcore”, then I can use “badass”. Here’s why.
Soto zen meditation doesn’t use chanting. It doesn’t use special movements, it doesn’t have a guide. When you sit zazen, that’s literally all that you do.
Sit Down and Shut Up, to mention another of Brad Warner’s books. He was one of the key writers who helped me build my own zen practice, along with Charlotte Joko Beck, Cheri Huber, and others. But I’m not going to talk a lot about their books or…
