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.