Zen Meditation

Meditation Guided Zen Practice

Zen Meditation , ,

Article by Irwin Myers

Meditation guided in the Zen style might conjure up some familiar images of Buddhist monks reaching enlightenment, but you do not have to have such a deep level of commitment to receive the benefits of Zen guided meditation. In fact, a daily meditation routine that you can work on at your leisure will provide all the positive energy you could want from a meditation routine.

As you work more in Zen guided meditation techniques, you will become a stronger practitioner of meditation and be able to feel results more quickly. Be sure to practice daily to maintain your growth. When choosing a space to meditate in, be sure there is enough room for you. While the maximum benefit of Zen guided meditation might be received from sitting in the full lotus position, it is not mandatory. Your posture should be dictated by your level of comfort first, so when choosing your meditation zone, pick one that will accommodate any posture. It should also be near a wall.

When you practice Zen meditation, sit no more than three feet away from the wall. Your sitting posture is not as important as your physical comfort and state of mind when you meditate, so if you are unable to sit on the floor, sitting in a comfortable chair will do just fine. Be sure to maintain this posture, however. However you choose to sit, keep your back straight and your head just barely titled forward. Your eyes should be open and directed toward the floor (and not the wall in front of you). Place your hands in your lap with the palms facing up.

Unlike certain other guided meditation techniques, there is no set way to breathe, so incorporate any breathing exercise you like into the routine. To begin the more intensive meditation work, you may want to try counting each breath cycle. Try counting from one to ten, and then reversing your count back to one. This is a great way to keep cluttering thoughts from entering your head, as you are focusing mental energy on counting and paying attention to your body’s natural rhythms.

If you are less inclined to counting, you may prefer chanting a mantra, which will have basically the same effect. Continue this until you feel yourself reaching the meditative trance. When you continue to practice Zen meditation, you will hopefully feel a decrease in mood swings, anger and stress. If you are looking to remedy those facets, Zen is a great format to try for meditation guided.

About the Author

Irwin Myers is the president of Wellness Engine, a company that is dedicated to teaching wellness through multimedia. Our first production is Psychic Smarts. Visit us at our website at Visit our website at Psychic Smarts and our blog at Psychic Smarts BlogDistributed by ContentCrooner.com

Everyday Zen

Zen Meditation

Article by The Health Spa Guru

Zen can be a difficult concept to understand. Translated by many as meaning “meditation” or “a state of mind”, Zen can be perceived as a new understanding on how to live one’s life. Demanding persistence, patience and discipline, living a life of Zen everyday is not an easy process but can ultimately prove to be extremely meaningful and worthwhile.

Zen is not a religion. Zen does not tell you what to do. Zen is an approach that has been refined through many years that can be practiced everyday by anyone. The main aim of Zen is to develop self-awareness and an understanding of everything around you. Through the course of one’s life, people are conditioned into believing things without thinking about them too deeply. Zen encourages you to release lifelong conditioning and preconceptions and enables you to find a deeper understanding of yourself and reality. Zen frees your mind to live a life of heightened awareness which in turn enriches and improves your daily life experiences.

Achieving complete Zen is known as the process of enlightenment. As mentioned above, it is the process of discovering a new viewpoint on life and discovering ones inner truth. Discovering this complete inner truth comes from persistent practice and getting to know the true you. This can be achieved through daily meditation as well as through trying to live a life of deep respect and compassion for all things around you.

Zen meditation is one of the techniques that have assisted many in the Zen path. Setting time aside daily to meditate aids in allowing one to focus and receive clarity on the world and oneself. This clarity comes with practice and patience and there are numerous meditation techniques that can be used to assist you in this process. It has been mentioned countless times by many how the way one sees the world is often very similar to how one see’s oneself. (Read Meditation For a Better Life to find out more about meditation).

Consequently, Zen living is to live a life with respect for all living things and can be utilized in every aspect of one’s life. Zen deals with the present and things that have practical relevance in one’s life and ignores concepts of things that do not have an effect on ones daily experiences. Zen encourages one to live for the moment and to look at things in different ways in order to make them take on more meaning and in turn provide greater enjoyment.

Practiced for thousands of years and an approach that is available to everyone. Zen can either be practiced daily or its ideas can be incorporated into one’s lifestyle, to assist in encouraging a more fulfilled and pleasure filled life.

About the Author

Wellness Writer for: Health Spa Guru

Basics of Zen Teaching – Past and Present

Zen Meditation , , ,

Article by Warren Marion

Zen Buddhism is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism, and the basis is of the Mahayana sutras, written in India and China. The most important among them include lankavatara sutra, diamond sutra, heart sutra and a chapter in Lotus sutra. Also notable are the following points about Zen:

1) The basics of Zen teachings also include the fundamental elements of Buddhist philosophy. The eightfold path, four noble truths, five skandhas and three dharma seals are included in Zen teachings. However, the teachings in Zen tradition are restricted only to Mahayana Buddhism.

2) Zen teachings are influenced by Chinese philosophy, particularly Taoism. The Zen teachings do not entail any intellectual philosophy. In fact, they help to practice meditation regularly. They emphasize the prevention of ego and selfishness. The disciples who learn Zen teachings need to perform some tedious tasks as a common person; Zen philosophy believes in acquiring knowledge from all the aspects of life. The knowledge thus acquired can help to get enlightenment.

3) The main aim of Zen teachings is to discover and feel the nature of Buddha, which is the nature of the mind within each and every person. It is important to understand that alertness can help attaining this easily. Another thing required to reach Buddha-nature includes six paramitas. The six paramitas surpass the confines of the mortal body. They include charity, discipline, patience, strength, meditation and wisdom. The Zen practitioner can master these six paramitas by practice, and it is also important to remove the obstructions that block the supreme vision of Buddha nature.

4) In order to attain the Buddha nature, Zen practitioners believe in meditation and mindfulness that can help in gaining new perspectives and insights, thereby leading to enlightenment.

5) Zen philosophy does not support religious texts. They condemn the textual hermeneutics. Instead, the Zen Gurus leads the practitioner to seek external answers. The Gurus guide the practitioner to search within himself the Buddha-nature. They help in focusing the attention on meditation that can lead to unmediated consciousness. This is normally termed as turning an eye inward

Zen Buddhism

Zen Meditation
Zen Buddhism

Article by Allison Ryan

Zen is a part of Mahayana Buddhism, referred to as “Chan” in Chinese. There are different forms of meditation emphasized by Zen, one being “zazen.” The goal is the attainment of awakening, or becoming enlightened. It focuses less on theoretical knowledge but the actual experience through meditation and dharma practices.

The establishment of Zen is credited to Bodhidharma. The first documented school of Zen Buddhism in China was built in the 7th century. Zen spread from China to several places such as Vietnam, Korea, and Japan.

Zen emphasizes that all awoken beings have Buddha-Nature and that Buddha-Nature is nothing other than the nature of the mind. The objective of Zen practice is to become enlightened through meditation. Guided meditation is an alternative that can also relieve the symptoms of stress.

Zen is mainly known for the monk who once used to be an Indian prince, Bodhidharma. He settled in the kingdom of Wei with his two disciples Daoyu and Huike. His teachings became known as Chan not too long after he moved to China. Right before Bodhidharma passed away; and he asked Huike to take his place and continue to teach people about Zen practices.

While surviving several decades in a cave, Bodhidharma spent his time staring at the cavern walls, meditating. He took a three year trip to China and arrived in 520 C.E. The meaning of this journey was to spread Buddhism to Asia. He saw that China had already established Buddhism beliefs but they were very different.

Bodhidharma spent his time in China trying to change people’s views on Buddhism because of their wrong view on the religion. While he was there he met Emperor Wu of Liang, who had a high interest in Buddhism and spent a lot of public wealth on funding Buddhist monasteries in China.

Much of Zen history comes from mythology. Scholars believe that Zen was used in yogic practices such as kammatthana and kasina. Kammatthana is the consideration of objects and kasina is the total fixation of the mind.

Buddhism was first introduced into China when Taoist faiths and Taoism in general were brought in. Buddhist scriptures were translated into Chinese using Taoism.

When Zen is explained in words it often gets misrepresented because there really aren’t any words to describe it. In the beginning, Zen only applied to Mahayana and Lankavatara sutras.

There are many basic concepts of Zen that come directly from Mahayana Buddhism. Both share a grand amount of ideas coming from many different sutras, including a part of the famed Lotus Sutra.

Zen has a lot of literature pertaining to it and is used while practicing or teaching this form of Buddhist meditation. Some texts about Zen date back to the ninth century. These are mostly koans and the Shobogenzo of Dogen Zenji.

It is usual to do Zen practices at least once per day, as well as, take long periods of time and is recommended to be practiced with a group. Although there’s a lot of labor involved, most find it to be worth the time spent because of the stress relief, reduction in the physical effects of stress, and the improved health and wellness after each session.

An important part of Zen practice is having a teacher or guide. Dharma following the Dharma Transmission is also very important when learning about this type of meditation. Dharma, the “guide students in meditation,” should follow the notion of Dharma Transmission, which is the line of authority.

To simplify things, the basic meaning is to obey your master, teacher, or whoever’s commanding the Zen practice. By following this rule, you will end up benefiting yourself by getting more out of the time you spend performing Zen meditation, mindfulness meditation, or any other form of spiritual meditation.

About the Author

Allison Ryan is a freelance marketing writer from San Diego, CA. She specializes in effective ways to reduce stress and to alleviate the physical effects of stress on the mind and body. For more information on guided meditation, stop by https://secrets2meditation.com/goto/?url=http://www.wilddivine.com/.