(from a correspondence with a friend)
hope your sitting is going well. I am still inspired by our conversation, and tonight I chance upon these words from Shunryu Suzuki:
“You may say that your mind is practicing zazen and ignore your body, the practice of your body. Sometimes when you think that you are doing zazen with an imperturbable mind, you ignore the body, but it is also necessary to have the opposite understanding at the same time. Your body is practicing zazen in imperturbability while your mind is moving.”
Tassajara, Sunday, June 28, 197 (edited by Bill Redican)
(This of course is from a longer lecture, off David Chadwick’s site at www.cuke.com)
If that’s so, then the question might be, is the mind that is moving practicing zazen like the other parts of the body? Suzuki says “Check to see that each part of your body is doing zazen independently.”
So the action comes out of the part in mind, and out of the mind as a part, that’s how I see zazen.
all for now, hope it s a good night up there.