ZAZEN GUIDE

A guide for zazen and a simple meditation timer to support your zazen practice with calm and clarity.

Zazen: simply sitting every day

Zazen literally means “sitting in meditation”. It is the heart of Zen: simply sitting, breathing, and being present.

Being Present with Whatever Arises

Instead of longing for what is not here, or resisting what is here, you allow yourself to be carried by the stream of moments that continually shape reality.

Zazen is an inquiry into the workings of the mind: the stories it creates, the predictions, the associations, the layers and the circles it moves through. Zazen is a means, not an end. It is not intended to make you a better person.

Zazen invites you to practice selflessness and purposelessness. Simply sitting without striving for anything. Zazen does not make you better, and yet it quietly does its work.

How or where it leads? No one knows. But zazen works.

A Simple Way to Begin

  • Find a quiet place where you can sit undisturbed. On a cushion, chair, or bench.
  • Choose a duration. Better to do it short and regular than long and infrequent.
  • Use the Zazen Timer to set your zazen period. The timer begins with a soft gong and ends with three chimes, just like in the zendo.
  • Be gentle with yourself: every distraction is an invitation to return. There is no right or wrong.
🙏 Guide me to the timer

Zazen Instructions

Here you find a simple guide to your zazen practice.

1. Find a Stable Posture

In zazen you take a stable sitting posture: on a zafu (traditional round cushion for lotus position), a seiza bench (kneeling position) or on a chair. The back is upright but not rigid, the hands rest in the lap, and the gaze is soft and directed downward, about one meter in front of you. Find your own steady foundation. Below are the common postures used in zazen.

Full Lotus posture

Full Lotus

Half Lotus posture

Half Lotus

Burmese posture

Burmese

Seiza posture

Seiza Bench

Chair posture

Chair

2. Hands Resting in the Mudra

Mudra hands The hands rest in the cosmic mudra (hōkai jōin in Japanese). Your dominant hand lies underneath, palm facing up, gently supporting the other hand, also palm up, so that the knuckles overlap. If you’re right‑handed, the right hand supports the left; if you’re left‑handed, the left supports the right. The thumbs meet lightly, forming a soft oval shape. When sitting in full lotus, this oval can rest comfortably on the upturned soles of your feet.

3. Your Breath is Your Anchor

The breath is a natural anchor. You don’t need to change it; you simply notice how inhalation and exhalation follow one another. You may count your breaths, for example from 1 to 10, but this is optional. Whenever you notice you’ve been distracted, gently return to posture and breath. This noticing and returning is the practice itself.

4. Rest in the Stream of Reality

Once seated with attention, you let go of your ideas about zazen, the body, and concepts like nose, mouth, throat, and pain. Zazen is resting in the stream of reality itself. The sense of who sits, who hears, who breathes fades away. There is only the sitting, not the sitter.

5. Bow in gassho when Finishing your Session

When you finish zazen, bow in gasshō. Rest your hands, palms up, on your thighs and gently unfold your legs. If your legs have fallen asleep, give them a light shake or tap your feet on the floor a few times. Then rise slowly and calmly.

6. Be Consistent

Just keep practicing regularly. As a steady practice twice a day for 10 minutes is better than a long occaisional session

7. Be Patient

Don't get discouraged if you find it difficult at first. Zazen is a practice that unfolds over time.

Zen ABC

The Zen ABC offers a first introduction to commonly used concepts in the Zen tradition.