And how does one practise Zen?
"Now I would like to talk about our Zazen posture. When you sit in the full lotus
position, your left foot is on your right thigh and your right foot is on your left thigh.
When we cross our legs like this, even though we have a right leg and a left leg, they have become one. This is the most important teaching: not two, and not one. Our body and mind are not two and not one. If you think your body and mind are two, that is wrong; if you think that they are one, it is also wrong. Our body and mind are both two and one. We usually think that
if something is not one, it is more than one; if it is not singular, it is plural. But in actual experience, our life is not only plural, but also singular. Each one of us is both dependent and independent.
After some years we will die. If we just think that it is the end of our life, this will be the wrong understanding. But, onthe other hand, if we think that we do not die, this is also wrong. We die, and we do not die. This is the right understanding. Some people may say that our mind or soul exists forever, and it is only our physical body wich dies. But this is not exattly right, because both mind and body have their end. But at the same time it is also true that they exist eternally.
And even though we say mind and body, they are actually two sides of one coin. This is the right understanding. So when we take this posture it symbolizes this truth. When I have the left foot on the right side of my body, and the right foot on the left side of my body, I do not no know which is which. So either may be the left or the right side."
Suzuki goes on to explain that sitting with the spine straight, ears and shoulders in one line, and chin tucked in as though 'supporting the sky with your head', is to enter the proper Buddhist state of being - the body and mind right here : nothing to seek, nothing to attain, simply being where you are, in the moment:
" These forms are not the means of obtaining the right state of mind. To take this posture is itself to have the right state of mind. There is no need to obtain some special state of mind.
The most important thing is to own your own physical body. If you slump, you will lose yourself. Your mind will be wandering about somewhere else; you will not be in your body. This is not the way. We must have your own body and mind. Everything should exist in the right place, in the right way. Then there is no problem. If the microphone I use when I speak exists somewhere else, it not serve its purpose. When we have our body and mind in order, everything else will exist in the right place, in the right way."
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Shunryu Suzuki
Trechos transcritos do livro de Anne Bancroft: Zen, Direct pointing to reality, p.26.
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Shunryu Suzuki
