Basics: Sitting

The basic instruction for walking the path to liberation is sit down, shut up, and pay attention. Everything else is secondary. The most important thing is to sit zazen every day, and to do the inner work while sitting. It doesn't matter how many lectures/podcasts you listen to, nor how many Zen books you read (the world has many "bedstand Buddhists" who read the books but don't do the actual sitting - and then they wonder why they aren't making progress on the path). Because of this, the most profound teaching is the one given to beginners: how to sit.

 Posture

We sit in a stable and upright position so that we can stay alert to notice what happens, not get distracted or sleepy, and sit for along time without the body complaining too much. So the fundamental principles of a good zazen posture is to have a stable base and to have the spine erect. A stable base means having three unmoving points of contact with the ground, spaced out in a triangular arrangement (any engineer will know that a triangle is the most stable structure, and therefore the basic design element for train bridges and electrical transmission towers). If sitting in a traditional meditation posture, these points are your knees and butt on the floor. If sitting in a chair, they are your feet and butt.

The spine should not be ramrod straight like a soldier (this quickly gets uncomfortable), nor slouching (which also gets uncomfortable, and leads to sleepiness too). Rather, aim for its natural curve, as if each vertebra has been carefully placed onto the one below. Some long-time practitioners will do some gentle rocking in place when first seated, just to find the point of equilibrium where the spine is naturally stacked up. A good check for an erect spine is to imagine you are being pulled up by a puppet string attached to the crown of your head, with the rest of your body draping naturally from your suspended spine. Sit like you are the tentpole holding up the sky.

For most people with limited range of hip motion, sitting stably on the floor requires lifting your butt up so that your knees can contact the floor. Anything can serve for this purpose: a fancy "zafu" meditation cushion, a beach towel folded several times, those textbooks you saved from university days and still haven't opened, a rock in the park with just the right height. Experiment to find the height that works for you. Most floor sitting is done with the legs crossed. Not the way a child does it (that causes your three points of contact to be butt and the sides of the feet - creating a triangle that is too small to be stable). Cross the legs but keep the knees on the floor! Flexible people achieve this by sitting in "full-lotus" position, with each foot pulled up onto the other thigh. It's a very stable sitting position if you are able to do it. But there is no special merit in this position, and you aren't a bad meditator if your body does not fit that way. There are lots of easier variations that still work fine: "half-lotus" with just one foot on a thigh and the other on the opposite calf, "quarter-lotus" with both feet on the opposite calves (not up on the thighs), or "Burmese" posture with the entire calves resting on the floor parallel to each other.

Alternatively you can have a good floor foundation by sitting astride the cushion. Kneel on the floor with your calves parallel and feet sticking out behind you. Then turn the cushion upright and slide it between your thighs so you can ride it like a horse. Presto, three points of stable contact! Your feet should be pointed (the "backs" or "tops" of your feet contacting the floor). If this causes too much stretch across the fronts of your ankles, try doing your sitting/kneeling on a rug or mat, and hang your toes over the edge. Problem solved.

Meditating in a chair is also fine, if you follow the same principles. This means not letting your back rest against the back of the chair. Slide a bit forward and establish your weight over your foundational triangle (feet and butt). And keep your spine naturally erect. This is just as good as full lotus on the floor. You can even do zazen lying down, if your body requires it, no problem. But there may be a greater risk of getting sleepy, so you must take a bit more care to be vigilant.

If you keep your eyes wide open you will surely get distracted by something you see (an ant on the floor, the moving patch of sun across the wall). OTOH, if you close your eyes there is real danger of falling asleep. So in Zen practice we usually sit with eyes half-closed and a bit downcast (looking at the floor about 1m in front of you).

There are many "mudras" or hand positions that can be taken during meditation, some of which are conductive to developing particular states of mind. Google them if interested. But for most zazen there is one basic hand position to stick with. Palms upturned and overlapped in the lap. It doesn't matter which hand is on top - around the world I see statues of the Buddha in both variations (although some people can get quite worked up about this - having apparently already solved the questions of which end of an egg to open, and whether to type 1 or 2 spaces after a period). The thumb tips should be gently touching above the palms, creating an oval shape. Don't let them drift apart as your mind drifts away in meditation. Neither ram them together. They should touch lightly enough that a sheet of paper can just barely be passed between them.

Where and When

Regularity of practice matters a lot. Try to sit in the same place, at the same time, and for the same duration every day. It's better to sit for a mere 10 minutes every day, than to sit for 30 minutes one day and then skip the next two days. If you want to boil some water, you have to keep the kettle on the stove. If you keep interrupting by taking it off to inspect it, it will never come to a boil.

Find a place that is out of the way, where you will not be bothering the rest of the household while you sit. Somewhere quiet is helpful. So is having somewhere very simple, without a lot of objects that will distract you or start up a runaway line of thought. A corner of a bedroom or living room can work nicely. Try not to use that space (however small) for any other purpose.You can invest it with a real sense of sacredness if you reserve it for your practice efforts. Some people even create a small "altar" with a few personally meaningful objects to support their intention to practice diligently. Just be careful not to overdo it, loading up your space with a bunch of distracting spiritual tchotckes.

What time of day should you sit? Whenever works for you - fits your life schedule, and is productive. Many people find that first thing in the morning works very well. Get up, pee, zazen, start rest of day. It's nice in the morning because your mind has not yet started to fill with thoughts of all the day's tasks to be done. If the morning seems a bit too rushed to sit, then get up 20 minutes earlier! Morning zazen will benefit you much more than that extra snippet of sleep. Try it for yourself and see whether that's true or not.

Other people find that the evening is a good time for zazen - everything has been dealt with and there's nothing more to accomplish this day. Meditating right before bed is certainly a better idea than watching the evening news and then hoping to have a good night's sleep. Experiment for yourself to see if zazen and then silently off to bed is a good combination for you.

You might even experiment with zazen at other times of the day. If you schedule permits, sitting during the afternoon can be very restful and re-energizing. Try it! Try sitting at lots of different times. And certainly try sitting more than once in the same day. See for yourself.


How long to sit? Well, longer is clearly better - provided you are using it to do the work, and not just "putting in your time". The reasonable minimum is 20-30 minutes daily. Complete beginners might find the idea of sitting motionless for 20 minutes a bit intimidating. No problem - sit for only 10 minutes then. Or even only five. The important thing is to sit every day for some period, and notice what is present. With more practice, your ability to sit for longer periods will quickly grow. Soon sitting for an hour or longer will be possible.

Feel free to use a timer, such as your watch or phone. Set it to ring in 20 minutes with a gentle sound (not some klaxon or pop music tune). But it might be a good idea to put it out of sight while meditating so that it doesn't become a distraction to sneak a peek at it. With practice, you will come to intuitively know how long to sit, and will no longer need the timer. Just sit until you feel that you are done. But don't quit too soon. My rule of thumb is to not stop when the first impulse to stop appears. Keep sitting and watch how that desire gets stronger and stronger, but then suddenly disappears. Sit some more, and wait until the desire appears again freshly. Still don't get up. Wait until the third arising of the desire. Then it is time to end the meditation session.

Beginnings and Endings

In a very real sense, the work we do in zazen to free ourselves (and others) from suffering and dissatisfaction might be the most important and noble thing we do each day. Re the question of when to sit, as you become more experienced it is less a matter of fitting zazen practice into your life, and rather a matter of fitting the rest of your life around your practice. So we try to approach each sitting with due appreciation, by taking our seat nobly. Move slowly and deliberately. Take you time to arrange the body (get comfortable). And take a few minutes to get "settled in". Adjust your posture, and take a few deep and slow breaths - especially if your practice is to follow the breath.

Similarly, try to end each sitting with the same deliberate sense of movement - not popping up as soon as the timer rings! If your legs have fallen asleep, take a moment to massage them a bit (otherwise you might fall over when you try to stand). When you are once again standing, and leaving your place of meditation, you will probably like to be able to retain some of the tranquility and peace that developed during the sitting. So don't carelessly toss it aside by jumping up and immediately rushing to check your email.

Some people find it helpful to mark the start and end of periods of zazen by bowing. Just placing the upright palms together as in "namaste" or "wai", and bending at the waist. Some Westerners, and in particular some anti-religious people, can find this uncomfortable or embarrassing - "what the hell and I bowing to, and why?" they ask, not unreasonably. Maybe think of it this way: you are bowing to yourself, to the future liberated you that you are working to discover, to the place where you sit and get serious shit done, to all the other people who came before you on this same path and who have laid the groundwork for you, to the people who have discovered the skillful means that actually work. If you still don't like the idea of bowing, then don't bow. No problem! There's nothing in this practice that you are supposed to do, nothing that you have to blindly follow. Just experiment and see what works for you.