ZAZEN
"Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while peeling potatoes. Zen is just peeling potatoes." Alan Watts
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Zen mediation has its origins in the Chinese, Chan Buddhism. It has been a huge influence on the Japanese sense of simplicity and minimalism. Fundamentally, it involves learning to sit and do nothing with mindfulness. Calming the mind and achieving stillness in mind and body. Formal Zazen practice was developed in monasteries over hundreds of years and can involve rituals which seem weird and alien to modern Westerners. There can be chanting, bowing, incense and bells. Each one of these rituals has been developed to help the practitioner achieve a deeper state of meditation and they are in fact very practical aids to calming and clearing the mind. However, the fundamental practice of Zazen is to sit still and calm the mind and body, concentrating on the breath.
We are not Buddhist monks and are not qualified to “teach” Zen Buddhism but we encourage people to come and sit with us, since sitting together brings another dimension to our own personal meditation practice.
The head of our school of Aikido, T.K. Chiba Shihan felt that it was very important for our growth as martial artists and as individuals to practice some sort of meditation. He incorporated zazen practice into the training program for his trainee teachers and made it available for general members who wanted to take part.
The goal of Aikido Adelaide Dojo is to bring together under one roof, any practices that complement each other to help people reach their potential in mental and physical wellbeing. With that aim in mind, we would like to invite people to join in with our meditation sessions whether they practice Aikido or not. Please see the class timetable for available times.
Please arrive a little before the meditation sessions since we will lock the doors during sitting to avoid disturbance.
Is Zazen appropriate for people with different faiths or no faith?
Zazen does not conflict with other religious beliefs.
The Buddha was just a person who achieved deep insite into the nature of reality. He was not a god.
Buddhism is a philosophical practice rather than a theology. It neither requires or denies the existence of God and has no gods of its own. It has been practiced by people of many religious beliefs including athiests, Christians and Jews in the West. Even Jesuit missionaries to Japan adopted Zazen sitting because they realised the benefits it had to enrich their Christian beliefs. In each country it was introduced to in Asia, it tended to merge with or simply co-exist with the local religions. Giving a different flavour in each culture but having the same basic message.