Question
Can you talk about breathing during zazen?
Answer
I will try, but it is not easy. Traditionally, the masters never taught it. In yoga on the other hand, it's the first thing you learn. But in zazen breathing is not taught. When your posture is right you automatically arrive at the right breathing. To show you properly, I would have to take off all my clothes, but you must understand through your own body.
A short, natural inhalation at the level of the solar plexus. Then, breathe out, pushing down on the intestines beneath the navel. Anapanasati is breathing out, the Buddha's breathing. It was through anapanasati that he found satori under the Bodhi tree. You don't need to breathe in, only out. Even after you have let out all your breath you can still breathe more tiny, tiny, tiny breaths.
When I chant the sutras my breath is very long because I am used to breathing out. As I breathe out there is a tiny in-and-out movement of air in the nostrils so I can go for a long time. But I have been training for forty years.
First you must understand with your brain, and then practice. This method of breathing can help you to live a long life. Most of the people in the Orient who live to be very old breathe this way; so I say you must concentrate on breathing out.
During kin-hin, if I moved at the rate of my own breathing everybody behind me would be standing still. So I breathe more often, to harmonize with you. One takes a step forward with each breath; so someone who breathes only once or twice a minute is covering very little ground. In kin-hin you must push the floor with the big toe, the thumb inside the left fist. You can feel the energy all through the pelvic region. This breathing is used in the martial arts, which are not sports.
The hara, the center of energy below the navel, has to be strong. To understand this kind of breathing, however, just chanting sutras is enough. Ceremonies and chanting sutras are perfect for training your breathing. When you chant, you must go all the way to the end of your breath. it's good training.
Professor Herrigel talked about it in his book on archery. He studied that art for six years. At first he thought the master was crazy but at the end he abandoned all his book-learning and philosophy, and then he improved.
He went to Japan to study true Zen. They told him, "It is very difficult. if you want to study Zen you should practice a martial art first." Herrigel was very good at shooting with a rifle so he took up archery. But he worked six years before he understood how to breathe. My master said, "If he had come to me first, it wouldn't have taken him nearly so long." He succeeded when he understood "push down on the intestines," and not before.
Judo also trains breathing, but most people don't know about it. Breathing doesn't come into it until the second or third dan or degree. Herrigel understood unconsciously: the arrow is released at the end of the outward breath. It's the same in judo: breathing out you are strong, breathing in you are weak. You must overcome your adversary while he is breathing in.
When a man is breathing in, I can kill him with one finger. You don't need a knife. I tried it on a man when I was young. I didn't really kill him, I only knocked him down. But at the end of the inward breath there is a weak moment, Breathing out, on the other hand, you can receive a blow and it doesn't affect you, you don't even move.
That is why yoga breathing is not at all effective for the martial arts. The Japanese do not care for yoga. Nobody practices it in Japan because people there know about Zen breathing. Breathing is very important for massages, too, and for fencing. And if you really understand, you can use that method of breathing in everyday life.
In a conversation, when you get excited about something, if you breathe as I have taught you it will calm you down again. The heart is massaged, the lungs fill. People who practice zazen become brave because of the downward thrust against the diaphragm. They take little things without a fuss and are less afraid.
Through the body, through breathing, one becomes calm and wise, unconsciously. Ideas quit the body. If you practice zazen you will become used to it. You think, "Maybe Sensei [Master] breathes like that from the beginning to the end of zazen." No. Sometimes I forget; but it is a habit with me in everyday life.
Find your own way yourself. Concentrate on breathing out, like a cow when it moos. if you spend more time breathing in you grow weak. Breathing in, you catch cold, you sniff. It's the same when you cry. But when you are happy, when you laugh, you breathe out.
You can use your breathing to control your mind and attitude. It is important and not so difficult. But people forget. When you are sad or weak, concentrate on breathing out and your state of mind will change. You can regulate your life and your emotions by your breathing.
? Deshimaru.
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All critique, comments and further advice welcomed.
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