A Talk to My AT Training School

This is a talk that I just gave at my AT Training Course.

I want to talk about what the AT teacher can offer Zen students.

As a preface I want to be clear: I am not a Zen teacher, nor am I particularly well read.  All I have is about 30 yrs of tepid experience in Zen practice.  I have opinions instead of credentials.

Here are some reasons for the AT teacher to know something about Zen:
1.  To help understand the Zen students questions: They may use words or concepts that are technical or foreign.
2.  To help you market AT practice to Zen students.
3.  To help the Zen students learn more about Zen practice.
4.  To learn some concepts that can be used to teach the the AT.
5.  To learn a bit about the beliefs that a Zen student might have.
I also want to suggest that Zen is something that the AT teachers can recommend to their students

First, background:
Buddha is said to have lived about 500BC.  Zen is a sect of Buddhism.  There are many other sects of Buddhism. .  Buddhism started in India, but when it migrated to China where Zen was developed.     From there, Zen spread throughout Asia and took on the flavors of each country.  Most Zen today is here by way of Japan.

I can not give you even a brief introduction to Buddhism, I just want to mention three things: the four noble truths, the reliance on experience, and the fundamental nature of enlightenment.
 I think of Buddha more as a doctor than a spiritual figure.
 
-4 Noble truths: 1.  Life is suffering: but this is a poor translation.  A better translation is that there is a gnawing sense of dissatisfaction with life.  2. There is a reason for this: attachment to transient things, inc the attachment to the notion of an abiding, separate self.  3.  there is relief from suffering: that is the forsaking of cravings and aversions.  It is perfectly reasonable to substitute forsaking ‘end-gaining’.  Now this is not ending likes and dislikes;as long as we're human we will have desires and aversion - it’s the obsessiveness or attachment that is the problem)  4.  There is a path to the cessation of suffering which in Zen is based on mindfulness.

-Next, Buddha was quite clear that we should not rely on what is written, what is tradition, what the wise tell us.  We should rely instead on our direct experience with reality.

-Buddha's first teaching is that he along with everyone else is enlightened.  Fundamentally there is nothing that needs to be added or changed.   We do not realize this perfection because it is covered with conditioning. Hence, enlightenment, or the cessation of suffering, is not something extra to be gained.  Zen is the most direct expression of this realization.

Zen is about setting aside cravings and aversions.  Zen emphasizes meditation.
 
There are two forms of meditation in Zen.  The first is Koan studies: continuously and intensively studying incomprehensible questions, such as  “what is the sound of one hand clapping?”.  This is not the dominant form of zen meditation so I won’t go into it.

Most of your Zen student on the west coast will be doing a practice called Shikantaza or ‘just sitting’.  Strictly speaking it is not meditation.  Meditation is fixing the mind's attention on some object.  But in Shikantaza, trying to fix the mind on something is extra.   This is the purest, simplest form of Buddhist practice: if you are enlightened already you just need to sit without adding anything extra.
Just sitting results in a blend of concentration and expansive awareness.  It is taught: not flabby or tense.
 ‘Just sitting’ is not learning meditation - there is no improvement.  How could you get better at just sitting?   Shikantaza is appreciating the mind just as it is.  Just sitting.  Bare attention.  It has been called “beginners mind”.  

Going back to my original definition of Buddhism:  This ‘just sitting’ is experienced based: direct experience of sitting.  It is the forsaking of conditioning moment after moment.  It is allowing the desires and aversions to fall away again and again.  If you want to get better at it you will want to get better at creatively resolving desires and aversions.   It is not about what you gain, it is about what you give up.  Finally, if we are all enlightened just as we are there is no reason to actually “do” anything.  So sitting is not based on doing, it is intention based.  The intention is to just sit.

In ‘just sitting’ there is also a great emphasis on being upright, eyes open, preferably cross legged with the hands held in a very particular way.  In Yoga it is known as the Full Lotus Posture.  Parenthetically, the aim of yoga, I am told, is to be able to sit comfortably like this for long periods.

What does the AT teacher have to offer Zen students?:

1.  help with sitting:
-You can help the student sit with less pain
-You can help the zen student develop a dialogue with the body: a new tool to creatively resolve cravings and aversions.
-Help understand the concept of non-doing.
-Help the students learn about the unreliability of sensory information.
2.  help with bringing their  Zen practice into everyday life

You can help the Zen student sit with less pain.  As I said earlier, there is great emphasis placed on posture.  And yes, Zen students do call it ‘posture’ and they emphasize “not moving” during sitting.   Woefully, little attention is given to teaching how to physically sit.  Initial instructions are given, and very infrequently teachers with do brief postural adjustments during periods of zazen.  But basically how-to-sit is left up to each individual.  
Instructions for shikantaza is based on the teachings of a 16th century zen master,  Dogen, in his writing called the Shobogenzo.   This brief writing is highly regarded and frequently used as a talking point in lectures.  Students often recite it.  It is very interesting that he talks quite a lot about posture in this writing, yet the portion regarding the posture is NEVER discussed in talks.
So there is minimal instructions on how to sit, yet the students are expected to take a cross legged position - which is distinctly foreign to chair accustomed Americans - and not move for 30 minutes or longer.  That hurts.    So sit in pain is common.

The AT teacher can help the Zen Student sit more comfortably in the same way musicians and surgeons are helped.   All three hold static, non neutral postures which produce pain and disability as the result of inefficient patterns of use.

As I mentioned, Zen takes the flavor of its host country.   Japanese zen is extremely physical and seems to us brutal.  American Zen students - perhaps because they are generally white, middle class, and colored with feminist sensibilities - relate to sitting as a mental or emotional practice.  
 Although efforts were made to import the Japanese physical approach to sitting it was abandoned as Zen became more feminized and inclusive.  Now, in American Zen we are left with the occasional admonition to:  “Sit upright!”  “Correct your posture!”  “Tuck in your chin!”  Unfortunately, this inevitably creates even more tension, bad habits and no improvement in use.    There is now a great void in American Zen: how do we physically sit zazen?
  Zen Student has three spheres to in which to investigate sitting:
-Mind approach: using some amount of effort to bring the attention back
-Emotional approach: which might include fully experiencing the emotions surrounding the distraction.
-Physical approach: AT is the path to correct sitting.  AT is the Yoga of Zen.  The AT is How to Physically Sit.    Now, along with creatively engaging the mind and emotional spheres the zen student now has a whole new arena to play in. The AT is a tool to creatively resolve clinging and aversions. The AT is a huge addition to the East's premier contribution to humanity.

NON DOING:  I mentioned earlier the Buddha said that we are all already enlightened and that we just have to set aside the cravings and aversions to see it.  Hence, if we stop doing the wrong thing then the right thing will do itself: the enlightened mind will come forward and express itself.  There are very few activities that are explicitly based on non-doing, Zen and the AT are the only two I know of.  It takes some maturity for the Zen student to understand sitting as non-doing.  Americans DO things and non-doing is a foreign concept.  And pain while sitting is a big stimulus to do something.  Unfortunately, in my opinion, Zen teacher coddle their students:  Often students are given ‘training wheels’.  Instead of supporting the practice of just sitting, teacher suggest the students bring your attention back to their breathing 0r even suggest counting the exhalations.  But the AT teacher can teach them about non-doing and show them the benefits: Alexander used the terms ‘wishing’ and ‘letting’ and the Zen students should be very interested in these terms.  You can teach them both AT and Zen at the same time.

Unreliable sensory appreciation.  When sitting for long hours Zen students encounter much sensory input and we interpret it and create meaning based on these sensations.  If we do not questioning our interpretations and instead act on these interpretations we can develop bad habits quite quickly.   This is actually what brought me to the AT.  I would guess Zen student would be more open to hearing about unreliable sensory information than most people.
As I said, being upright is highly valued.  But if Zen students can not base attempts to sit upright on sensory information, what can guide us to sit upright?  Personally I found this really scary to face.  You can save them by teaching the students about ‘direction’.  The Zen student knows all about inhibition.  In fact, sitting is nothing but pure inhibition of end-gaining.  But they have have not heard of the use direction.  It is very sad, but you can help.  

Bringing Zen practice to everyday life.

I’ve talked about Zen as if it is all about sitting.  However Buddhism changes at if enters every country.  The US is changing zen is several ways. I want to talk about the movement called “engaged buddhism”.

The East's great contribution is personal or spiritual liberation.  The East has shown how the individual can find relief from suffering.  But the East lacks a concept that social and political structures can be changed.  The West, on the other hand, since ancient Greek time, is characterized by change to social and political structures.  However, because we are not good at personal transformation, our new leaders and structures are just as mired in greed, hate, and delusion as the old ones.  So it is the wish of engaged Buddhists to combine their efforts to change social and political structures, with their enlightened awareness and compassion that naturally springs forth from their practice.

As opposed to many Buddhists, Zen Buddhist have a unique perspective.  There is an immediacy to Zen practice.  It is a simple direct focus on what one is doing in this present moment.  The Zen student is interested in what she is doing right now to make the world a better place.    Most older Zen students know that a strong sitting practice is ultimately not important if one continues to react in habitual ways:  small minded, self centered, selfish, impulsive, prejudicial, habitual, shortened, contracted, egotistical.    When practitioners leave their supportive community and retreats they are often struck by how their responses to stimuli are not in accord with their fundamental intention.

The tools Zen students have to act on their fundamental intention outside the meditation hall are quite limited.   Students might be told to  “Think of the one who is not busy”.  Or they will adopt a slow deliberate pace of activity.  Or they might try to adopt a simpler lifestyle to avoid derailing stimuli.   Or do even more meditation.

However, the lack of tools that are given to Zen Students is really a great shortcoming in Zen, especially given the emphasis that American Zen has placed on social activism.  In essence, they have limited tools to interrupt the manifestation of “small mind”.
 
 Preempting the startle reflex by persistently allowing the neck be free prevents the distraction that are the bane of the zen students daily life.  The tools you can give them, inhibition and direction, are a priceless jewel for the Zen student who hopes to bring their practice to their daily life.

The AT teacher also open up another front on inhibition.   Zen student are very in-tune with the quality of their mind.   Once a Zen student is done with meditation she is left with a quieter, more attentive mind.  When she becomes distracted she will note the discordance between how a quiet expansive mind feels and her increasing contracted agitated mind,  and that discord will prompt her to return to mindfulness.  

In contrast, after a lesson an AT student will have have an overall body perception of length, width, and poise.  Later, she will be sensitive to the physical discordance between how she feels after a lesson and how she feels going into a stressful situation.  So she will stop, inhibit end gaining, and employ direction as she goes forward.  If we separate the self into physical and mental, the Zen student approaches a practice with her mind and the AT student approaches practice with her body.   They are complementary.
Because they are complementary techniques, I think that the AT teacher can recommend Zen practice to some students.

In conclusion, the AT teacher can offer quite a bit to the zen student.  The AT teacher:
- can show them how to sit with less physical pain.
- can give the zen student a new tool to creatively resolve cravings and aversions
- can help the Zen student understand the nature and power of non-doing.
- and can help her come to a realization of unreliable sensory appreciation.
AND in addition to help with sitting, the AT teacher can show the zen student how to inhibit the manifestation of a contracted, habit driven mind.  The AT can help them develop a kinesthetic sense when they are beginning to stray from their fundamental intention and the tools to help them remain anchored in an appreciation of the present moment.

Thank you for listening to me.

Transitions

OK, quiz time.  If you are reading this you are likely familiar with the Zen meditation "Just Sitting" or shikantaza.  Various instruction on how to do this have been written, but the most famous (according to me) is the Fukanzazengi by Zen Master Dogen.  This is his instructions on how to do shikantaza.  He talks mostly about correct understanding, very briefly about what to do with the mind and some detailed instructions about how to physically do shikantaza.  This essay is commonly discussed in contemporary teachings.  There is one detail, one action, that he emphasizes using seven adverbs.  He tells us how to do it, and in case there is any confusion, turns around and tells us how not to do it.  Here is the quiz question: what instruction is this?  And why have you never hear any comments on the passage?

"When you arise from sitting, move slowly and quietly, calmly and deliberately. Do not rise suddenly or abruptly. In surveying the past, we find that transcendence of both unenlightenment and enlightenment, and dying while either sitting or standing, have all depended entirely on the strength (of zazen)."

I wish I were an expert in ancient Japanese and/or a zen teacher, because then I could have something worthwhile to say about this passage.  Well, sorry that's not going to stop me.  I'll try to keep it simple.

Transitions are important.

For your Average Joe Zen Student (for whom I can speak confidently), who is sitting a long period of zazen, the sound of the bell to end zazen generates a predictable series of events: a thought such as "Oh, it's about fucking time!"  Then stretching to get the wrinkles out.  Then waiting for the slowpokes to get up so we can finally do some walking or get some coffee.  For your Average Joe, "when you arise from sitting" is a time to say "whew!  Glad that over!".

I really want to understand what Dogen is saying.  Is he saying that one acquires some "strength" in zazen?  Is he hoping we do not to fritter it away when getting up?  What is it to "deliberately" arise from sitting?  Should we think about getting up?

I'll say that for the AT student every moment there is the possibility of choice.  If things are going well, then every moment there is a choice: am I going to respond to the stimulus to do something, or am I not?  If I neglect the opportunity of choice then I respond in a way that is primitive, unconscious, impulsive, ill considered, habit driven, small minded, selfish.  If I recognize a choice then I have at least some hope of responding with consideration.  I'll call that freedom.

So what is a transition?  Are transitions a trap?  Are transitions an opportunity?  Or are they an illusion?  Is every moment a transition?

I'll bet my AT teacher would suggest that when I hear the end of zazen bell I do nothing.   Really do it.  Say "No!".  Stop until the end-gaining resolves and I have an opportunity to consciously direct my use.

I've heard beginner taught "when the bell is struck we all bow together".  To see the whole group bowing together meets someones expectations of good aesthetics:  'Oh look!  We have finally squashed our individuality, defeated our selfish ego!'  But have we defeated our ego, or are we half asleep mindless sheep?  Have we really stopped, considered and then chosen to do this bow at this time - to act in time with other to create harmonious living - or are we just going through the paces?

Maybe I'm not a good zen student.  I'd much rather be free from habits.  Good comes from recognizing that one has stopped, considered the alternatives, and then choosing to be good.  Simply trying to act like everyone else is really scary, it's the heart of fascism and I'll bet it kept FM Alexander up at night.

I spent 40 minutes sitting, trying not to follow after habits, to leave all the stimuli alone, to just sit.  And when the bell rings and I respond like a Pavlov Dog.  Oh, I feel like an animal.  Like a common beast with real nice robes.  It's very depressing.  And I do that ALL THE TIME.  It drives me nuts.  It's humiliating.

The inhibitory quality of zazen must be brought into other affairs, and to that we have to bring deliberation to transitions.  I'm going to start by inhibiting and directing when I arise from sitting.  It's an important transition.

Almost as important as this transition.
 

Don't Move!

Like most people I vividly remember my first sesshine.  I had been sitting at the Santa Cruz Zen Center.  Now it's the most charming community zen center.  But back in the day, yo, it was distinctively informal and decidedly rustic.  Both my knees could not fit on the napkin size zabutan at the same time.  They would rest on the grass mat that was rolled out over the worn linóleum.  So it was quite a awesome shock, to to to the San Francisco Zen Center Page St. Zendo for my first sesshine.  My main impression, other than the this block of wood across the threshold entryway, was the senior students.  Black robes, upright, and they did not move all day.  Just amazing.  My body was all pain, all day, every day: constantly squirming.  Ah, those senior students were so cool and I was so not.  Clearly, I thought, they are doing good zazen and I am not.  I wanted to be like them.

Years later I was sitting a 10 day sesshin with the Zen Society of Oregon, we were urged, deep into the night, to "Don't Move!" for the remainder of the sitting.  Maybe I'm wrong, but this "Don't move!" teaching is commonly implicit and not uncommonly explicit.

If one wants to talk about how to sit physically - wants to develop a 'Yoga of Zen', then "Don't Move!" will have to be addressed.

Maybe the "Don't Move!" teaching is helpful for some people at some times, but I don't think it's a good teaching that can be generalized, at least not as it commonly understood.   As commonly understood this "Don't move!" is a blunt stick. Mostly it is used to impose some external inhibition: to inhibit the adjustment of posture, or scratching ones nose, the squirming.   Maybe the teaching is best for the macho young man doing late night sitting.  'Put a snake in a bambo pole and he snake will realize his true nature.'   Maybe for some snakes, but some might be upset and hurt.  What about those of us who are more sensitive? More apt to judge ourselves harshly?  Or those of us who are already struggling mightily?

People are living beings.  Living things move.  On it's face the "Don't Move!" teaching does not make sense.  But by setting our intention to sit still we can more easily see our tendencies, our proclivities.  Our habits.   For example, if my nose itches, I scratch it.  There is no gap between the stimulis and my act.  At it's best "Don't Move!" helps people recognize their habits, their conditioning.

So there should be some encouragement to sit still.  Certainly, it might be encouraging for the beginner to sit with other who are still.  If we all do what we can to sit still, it that enough?

Zen and the Alexander Technique find common ground in finding liberation from habit and conditioning.  They are both about finding freedom from acting on our prejudicial, reactionary, small mind.  Through Zen and AT training we develop tools to act based on a more considered, conscious, more heartfelt intention.   We have beautiful, refined, effective tools in both Zen and AT.  We don't need blunt sticks.  We encourage each other by how we use our bodies, not so much by what we say.

I propose we remove "Don't Move!" from the Yoga of Zen.  Really, that awesome abilities of mature Zen students to sit all day while apparently not moving is plenty of encouragement for the rest of us to do our best to 'not move'.  We don't need any more reminding.

I propose we take "Don't Move!" from the Yoga of Zen and put it in the category of precept practice.
I use the precepts as advice on how to sit, on what my intention durring zazen should be.  For me, first precept against killing has nothing do do with becoming a vegetaran:  After all, not killing is without limits.  There are no qualifications here: don't kill anything!  Not even the present moment!  If there is a stimulus to act, don't kill the stimulus!  Don't move to touch anything.  Don't try to run away!  Don't move a speck of dust.  Just sit.  It's OK.

What is good Zazen?

If your going to accept that there is a physical way to sit zazen, some technique, or 'yoga of zazen', does it follow that there must be a better way to go about doing zazen and a not-so-good way?  Does it also follow that there is better zazen and not so good zazen?  I'll bet you are like me and have had plenty of opinion about "better" and "not-so-good" zazen.

Well, I think, tonight anyway, that the path to better zazen would have two components.

The first is that in trying to do better zazen I will not be end-gaining.  That is, in the midst zazen and wanting to do better zazen I'm not grabbing onto the wanting.  I'm not driven by it.  I'm more attentive to the means by which I'm trying to do good zazen, and not so distracted by actually getting to good zazen.  I want to sit good zazen.  But heck, I want lots of things, but I won't neglect the 'how I get there', I won't neglect the 'means where-by'.

The second  component along the path to better zazen is not interfering with the Primary Control.  My betters have referred to 'Primary Control' as the way in which our head/neck/back relationship is a primary influence and dynamic organiser for the co-ordination of our whole body mechanism and all our movements.  And yes Zazen is a movement.  Don't let the "Don't Move!" durring zazen edict fool you - if you are alive you are moving.  Once you are dead you won't move.  I've been told I do not look like I am moving while I'm sitting, but my experience of myself is one of constant movement.  So if you are alive, the primary organizer and primary influence is the head/neck/back relationship.  Myself, I figure on trying not to mess with this Primary Control.  It is very subtle and I can really screw things up if I mess with it.  On day maybe I'll have the wisdom to play with it, but for now it works just fine if I leave it alone.

So in my quest to do really good zazen, or at least move past 'really sucky' zazen, I pledge not to end-gain and intend not to interfere with the Primary Control.  In practical terms the latter runs in the background.  I've been trying, in my usual activities to not mess with the Primary Control.  I'm trying to have sustained intention - moment to moment - all day long to not interfere with the Primary Control.  Durring zazen I mostly let that intention run in the background.  That way I can focus more on not end-gaining as I try to move from my 'really sucky' zazen to 'really good' zazen.

Oh, and sorry.  I guess I never got around to answering the question "what is good zazen?".  Maybe I'll get to that later.

You are perfect the way you are.

This is me talking to you.  I believe you are just fine the way you are.  You and your life are OK.  No, not just ok.  I am telling you that I think you are perfect.

Someone needs to tell you that.  Perhaps you do not hear that regularly.  Maybe you have not heard this from your parents in a while.  You teachers have found "opportunities for improvement".  Your Significant Other has found 'shortcomings' and has shared that with you.  And we have not even gotten to what your boss and coworkers have said to you.  Sure your friends say nice things about you, but mostly after a few drinks.    And what they say has been qualified.  Does your Zen teacher tell you that you are OK?  Does you AT teacher tell you you are OK the way you are?  I hope so, I fear not.

But I think you are perfect.

Maybe you reflect on you life and have found what you think are faults.  You have some regrets and memories that you think demonstrate evidence that you are not perfect.   I won't argue with you, but I will say it again, despite all this, I think you are perfect.

What do you think about someone who says you are OK, without even knowing you?  Well, I am not stupid.  And I am not a hippie airhead.  I am a sober middle age, middle class western white person.  I have few friends.  I'm introverted and staid.  My wife calls me a borderline misanthrope (a shortcoming?).   I'm the last person that would believe something nice about you.  But it's true.  I think you are just fine the way you are.

Sure we all pull down, shorten ourselves.  But that is just because we don't believe we are OK.  If we believed we are OK we would leave ourselves alone.  Why would we feel the need to meddle about with how we use ourselves?  We would just leave good enough alone and the "right way would do it self".
If you believe you are OK, that you are perfect, you will feel no reason to pull yourself down, you will not narrow yourself.  You will leave yourself alone.
Oh, I know you suffer.  There is suffering and it sucks.  Really bad.  I've traveled over 3000 miles to be with my father in a hospital room.  I'm in the hall now while the staff washes his frail body.  He's OK now, but with the weight he's lost I'm sure he is not long for this world.  And around me I see other middle age folk who have ailing parents.  Oh, there is suffering.  I totally get that.  And yet their life is OK.  That's what I think.  That is what I am saying.

I am told that Suzuki Roshi, the founder of the SFZC said something like "You are perfect the way you are, and you could use some improvement."  I think he got it half right.

So, how does one sit physically?  I have no idea and I'm too tired to think about it.  I just want to say I believe you are OK.  Yes there is someone who fully believe you are perfect.  Now, go sit.  Is there need to do anything?  Let zazen do zazen.  Just sit.

It's OK