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Friday, July 5, 2013

On being a victim.

I have spent, all totaled, three or four years at Tassajara Zen Monastery   The location of the monastery is roughly east of Big Sur in a strikingly remote mountain valley.  Residents spend the winter following a traditional Zen schedule, and in the summer it is open to guests.  Until two years ago, I had never been there as a guest.  Now I get a monthly update about the summer programs, reminding me that it is a wonderful place to visit.  I started to read their most recent beautifully written email, but I could not get past the third sentence.  It want like this:

"Perhaps the greatest treasure you find when you visit Tassajara is the luxury of time.  Time to reconnect with your joy and your fundamental goodness.  On our retreats the movement loosens your body ..."

Of note, is that Tassarara has several retreats focusing on Yoga, and they have a beautiful new building perfect for such retreats.

I do not doubt for a moment that these retreats lossen the body.  And if Tassajara was simply a for-profit retreat center, I would have no problem with this at all.  But as Buddhists, we have some commitment towards orienting ourselves to the truth, and toward taking responsibility 

Imagine a poor fellow, who every day comes home after work to find one of his curtains terribly wrinkled.  It happens every day.  He spends about an hour with the fabric every evening: shaking it out, pressing it, stretching it, ironing it.  Finally, when he's done, it quite nice.  The next day he tosses it in the corner and goes to work.  It may sound that there is no improvement being made, in fact there is.  He is betting better at the shaking and pressing and each day its a little bit smoother and wrinkle free than the previous day.  And when he gets home and picks it up off the floor it's a bit less winkled than the day before.  He's thinking about going on a retreat, with his curtain fabric, to do some intensive pressing and stretching.

Should a Buddhist feel responsible for suggesting this fellow hang his curtain on a curtain rod?  I'm not a Buddhist teacher, so I can't say.  My personal opinion is that we are all responsible for everything.

What is the truth here?  The truth is that we are supporting a notion of victimhood: supporting the poor modern men and women, forced to deal with stress of their jobs and family, their uncomfortable chairs and their defective bodies, all the time being dragged down by the unrelenting force of gravity.  It is an obvious conclusion that they will have a body that will need to be loosened.

This is victimhood.  To offer yoga classes only supports this notion of victimhood and perpetuates ignorance.  Instead of addressing the root cause of this tension we allow the cycle of suffering to continue.  By focusing on yoga, we ignore an opportunity to learn how to live a life free from the habit of creating tension.

How to we recommit to our intention to alleviate suffering?  It is well known that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  Lessons in the Alexander Technique have been shown to be dramatically effective in helping with chronic pain - in only 12 to 24 lessons!  Unlike yoga, the Alexander Technique is completely safe.  It teaches how play in gravity, how to go 'up' even in poor chairs, how to respond in a more thoughtful way to difficult family and work situations.  It shows us how to take responsibility for our lives and drop off all hints of victimhood.



AmSAT article

Directions Article:

At the Oregon Center for the Alexander Technique, my teacher training program begins each day with simple self directed activities.  Among the activities recommended by our director, Rebecca Robbins MAmSAT, is sitting in a chair while being “in process”.  This is to say we inhibit end-gaining and review our directions.  The activity is to make a mark on a piece of paper when we are distracted from “inhibition” and “direction”.  After ten minutes we are better able to participate fully in class.  In addition, over time, we can see if we are improving.
A teacher trainee might want to practice their craft in a quiet, simplified setting to hone the basics of bringing reason to bear.  If the skills can be developed in a conducive atmosphere, then they will be more available in distracting, stressful environments.
In an effort to further simplify our morning activity, I eliminated paper and pen, and let go of the judgement regarding if I am “in process” or not.  The activity now is just to sit and inhibit any end-gaining beyond sitting and “directing”.  Now, everything that is not just bare sitting and “directing” is “end-gaining”.   Although this happens in one unified self, it can be conceptualized as the mind being active in inhibiting any end-gaining, and the body being actively directed away from shortening and narrowing.  In practice however, it feels to me like the same activity.
I find this quite challenging.  The impulse to end-gain - to take action to make improvements or to avoid discomfort - are usually quite strong.  
Is there a way to sit that would be more supportive?  How is it best to arrange the body to support such a very simple “just sitting”?   Clearly, collapsing in an easy chair is not the best way for a beginner to proceed.
The question of how to arrange one’s body to best support this simple “just sitting” was thoroughly investigated by Indian yogis thousands of years ago.  They suggest that the yogic pose called the “full lotus” is the most conducive arrangement to support this continuous “inhibition”.
This simple sitting in the full lotus has been practiced for over 2000 years by Zen practitioners.  This practice of “just sitting” in the full lotus is the core practice of Zen practitioners and the ne plus ultra of Buddhist meditation.  In Japanese Zen, this practice is called Shikantaza.  According to Wikipedia, shikantaza literally means, "nothing but (shikan) precisely (da) sitting (za)."


This article is an attempt to introduce Zen practice to the AT community, with hopes that it inspires a dialogue.


Buddhism began in India, and migrated to China where Buddhism was refined into Zen practice. From there it spread throughout Asia.  Most of the Zen practiced in the US is here by way of Japan.
As Zen traveled to each country, the teachings took on different flavors to meet the needs of the new culture.  It also dropped the practices that were not helpful in promoting the core teachings.  Many aspects of Japanese Zen found fertile ground in the US during the 60’s counter culture movement - some did not.
One of the hallmarks of Japanese Zen is the close-knit monastic practice.  They were trained with detailed guidelines on how to use themselves in nearly all activities.  American zen calls this set of teaching “the forms”.  This is a non verbal form of teaching Zen.  
To the casual western observer, however, the Japanese practice of “the forms” appeared to be a harsh and cruel discipline.  In an age characterized by free expression, experimentation and feminism, this traditional physical Zen practice was never warmly embraced in the US.  Because Westerners never fully adopted this aspect of practice, western Zen has become much more inclusive and welcoming to those with more delicate bodies and minds.
But this abandoning of the physical culture of Japanese Zen has come with a price.  Although there is still a great emphasis on being upright while sitting, contemporary Zen teaching is surprisingly mute on how to actually become upright.  There is no longer a deep, robust, coherent verbal or non-verbal teaching on how to practice Zen physically.

The one remnant of the strict physical Eastern Zen practice that has been retained is some expectation that the Zen practitioner remain physically still during a period of sitting.  During this 30 to 60 minute sitting, any defect in use is highlighted with pain.  Any poor use in the Zen student leads to a non neutral posture that is highlighted with pain if one does not move about.  This occurs with Zen students in the same way as orchestral musicians.  The big difference is that the full lotus pose, if done well, is completely neutral and upright, and can be effortlessly maintained indefinitely.
There is no doubt in my mind that the training in the AT would be highly effective at helping Zen student who sit in pain.  The etiology of their pain is the same as musicians and it is well known that the AT is very helpful in enabling musicians to play with less pain.

For those AT teachers who conceptualize the teaching and benefits in physical terms there is no reason to go further.  In this narrow formulation, Zen students have pain in their bodies because of poor use of their bodies and the AT teacher can show them how apply the tools and concepts of the AT to help them use their bodies better and sit with less stress and pain.   The AT can be marketed to Zen students as a way to incrementally help with aches and pain, balance and coordination.  It is easy to grasp and explain.
But to limit the AT to this simple conceptualization forgoes an opportunity.  If we expanding this concept, we can explore the incredibly rich interaction between the most profound distillation of Eastern wisdom and one of the most useful discoveries of Western civilization: bringing consciousness to bear.

To begin to explore the rich interaction between the AT and Zen, lets go to the heart of the matter and compare the AT ‘self’ and the Zen ‘self’.  
In the Alexandrian ‘self’  we are not using ourselves in a way to meet the demands of modern life.  Driven by subconscious habits and errors in perception we develop a host of physical and psychic problems and lead us to fall short of our potential.   These problems prevent ease of action and interfere with appropriate responses to stimuli.  To relieve this sorry state Alexander suggests inhibiting end-gaining, and applying the directions that are taught by a teacher.
The Zen self is explained in the fundamental teaching of Buddha called the Four Noble Truths.  The first is that our lives feel like we are riding in a cart whose wheels were built with the axel not in the center.  No matter were we go in the cart, it will never feel quite right.  The reason we have this problem is that we are primarily concerned with our cravings and aversions.  We can translate this as more concerned with end-gaining than the means where-by.  Buddha went on to suggest remedies - much like a physician offers prescriptions.  One of his suggestions was meditation, and this is the bedrock of Zen practice as I wrote above.
Although the backbone of Zen meditation is being physically upright, western Zen teaching is largely mute regarding how exactly to sit upright.  Zen student have little else besides their unreliable sensory appreciation to guide them.   By offering ‘direction’ to Zen student the AT teacher is doing more than just offering a way to sit in less pain.  The AT teacher is actually teaching the Zen student how to do Zen practice.  To teach the fencer or violinist the AT does not actually teach them how to do their activities - it only prepares the field for their training and creativity to germinate and grow.  But ‘direction’ describes how to actually physically perform the vital activity of Zen practice.  Of course, there are other aspects to Zen sitting such as concentration, equanimity, compassion, etc. but the teaching that the AT teacher provides goes to the very heart of the core activity.

Although the Alexandrian self is poorly suited for modern life, it is not because of some fundamental flaw.  Modern men and women are not broken or deficient.  Rather, we cover up and obscure the good use of the self.  For example, Magnus found that our basic reflexes are enduring and quite independent of our thinking brain.  But we certainly can learn habits that interfere with appropriate use.   Working with our beliefs and habits to stop the interference and allow consciousness to return to activities is the heart of Alexanders work.  To says that we are not fundamentally flawed is not to say that hard work is not needed or that change over time does not occur.   However, the goal is to stop the interference with the inherent appropriate function of the self as opposed to adding new skills.
Zen Buddhist thinking is remarkably similar.  Another of the core teaching of Buddhism is that all beings are fundamentally enlightened.  That is, our core self is already enlightened.  It is our aversions and cravings that have covered up this true self.  Once these are set aside our original enlightened state is apparent.
Both the AT and Zen are “good news” teaching in that everyone can improve because our inherent self is fully capable of living well.
Both Zen teaching and the AT teachings throw about the expression “non-doing” but this phrase can be misleading.  There is a life time of hard work involved with both practices.  But the work is decidedly different in nature than all other pursuits.  The AT and Zen ask us to give up our habits, not acquire new skills.  It offers us the opportunity to enjoy our default state rather than run after some cure or avoid some defect.
The Zen student should be expected to take to the notion of inhibition quickly and should be a rewarding student for the AT teacher.


I suggested initially that Zen offers the AT practitioner a chance to practice inhibition and direction with minimal distractions along with like minded people.  Zen practice offers AT students something else as well.
Alexander suggested that we constantly utilize the practice of inhibition.  This remodels ones sense of the self.  Alexander writes that he found that the self can not be fragmented into mental and physical.   Alexander went on to suggest that the AT would influence institutions and nation states.   But inhibition is a very powerful tool that goes beyond what Alexander wrote.
Zen student find that by continuing to use the tool of inhibition one’s concept of self continues to be remodeled.  Zen authors write about how the limited self continues to erode, and expands beyond the border of ones skin.  It can expand to include other people.  Indeed, continued use of inhibition can even erode the deeply held assumption that the self exists independently.
Here we can see one of the differences in the AT and Zen.  Alexander and his technique are resolutely secular and plainly practical.  Zen, with it’s radically expanded concept of the self, seems to go well beyond the secular.
Although arguably not secular or practical, inhibition taken to this extreme has the power to add new depths of ease and happiness well beyond what which the AT promises.

One final point - and I believe this to be most important: the AT describes how the Zen student is to bring practice into everyday life.
One conceptualization that might occur to beginning students is that the Zen student, after spending time on the meditation cushion has a focused mind.  Zen meditation builds concentration and equanimity.   Zen students become accustomed to a keen, expanded, tranquil mind.  When the Zen student leaves the meditation hall and encounters a stressful, difficult situation they notice the variance between their now agitated state of mind and the quality of their mind they had when they were sitting.  Once this variance is realized they are prompted to use their tools to bring their attention back to the present moment and thus to respond in a favorable fashion.
This same conceptualization can be applied to the AT.  After a lesson or a lie down, one becomes accustomed to a felt sense of length and width, and a lack of undue muscular tension.  Once the AT student leaves the lesson, invariably they will receive a stimulus from a situation deemed stressful and will pull down and contract.  That sensation of contraction will be noted in distinction to the felt sense one had after a lesson.  The AT student will then employ their tools to return to process and respond to stimuli with consciousness.
The tool the Zen student uses while interacting with the world is labled “mindfulness”.  Unfortunately, we do not have a word for the the activity the AT student uses.  Rebecca Ferguson uses the term “physically based mindfulness”.   Although this seems like a bit of an oxymoron, I have no better suggestion.
Clearly these practices - the Zen “mind based” practice and the AT “body based” practice are complementary and can be used concurrently.  Ultimately, they are two ways to approach the same activity.  And the more advanced student, instead of going in and out to process, will practice them continuously.
They are not, however, equivalent.  The tools practiced by AT student are far more effective at anchoring the student.  The reasoning behind this is too involved to discuss here, but I hope to present the argument in a subsequent article.   By understanding the principals and applying the two tools provided by the AT, the Zen student will be far more able to express their fundamental understanding and wishes in everyday life.
And this of critical importance.
Western Buddhist did not invent the concept of bringing their practice into social, environmental and political spheres, but they did give it the name “socially engaged Buddhism”.  I suspect that it was not emphasized by the first generation Japanese Zen teachers because of the shame they may have felt related to the Buddhist participation in the Japanese WWII efforts.  In any event, socially engaged Buddhism is a growing force within the contemporary western Zen community.  American Zen practitioners generally feel the strong urge to work towards social, environmental and political justice.
Zen student have a unique approach to social change.  It is based on the Zen emphasis on immediacy.  Although it does not negate the need for thoughtful planning, the emphasis remains on what the Zen student is doing RIGHT NOW!  Rather than being attached to bringing about some utopian society in the distant future, the socially engaged Zen student focuses on acting in the present moment.  The Zen student strives to bring the whole of ones heart felt intent to bear on every situation, moment after moment.  This is challenging in the most favorable of environments, but in endeavoring to help the neediest, Zen student can find themselves in extremely stressful environments.  Zen students will need the best tools to enable them to bring their their fundamental intention to bear, and not fall back on their self-centered habits.  To learn the importance of the primary control, to loosen the grip of their overexcited fear response and to learn the skill of direction is absolutely essential to success.  They are sure to be very grateful.

In writing this I have tried to explain that the AT teacher can do much more for the Zen student than to help them sit in less pain.  I have suggested that the AT describes how to physically do their central meditation practice.  In addition, I have introduced how the AT will help the Zen student bring their understanding and heartfelt intention to the most stressful situations.  Finally, I have suggested some ideas on how Zen practice can assist the AT student who is interested in exploring inhibition.

It is my hope to encourage AT teacher to reach out to Zen students.  I  am sure you will find them to be among your most appreciative students.