Many people begin Shodo practice because of its mindfulness qualities. The activity of drawing a stroke and composing a Kanji character unifies the mind and body and can bring clarity and relaxation to everyday tasks. We live stressful lives. We have work, family, businesses, relationships, and a gazillion other things in our minds. Because we are always under pressure, we yearn, even for a moment, for a way out of our minds. Therefore a mindfulness practice such as Shodo is very appealing. Since many people link Shodo to the trendy “mindfulness meditation” practices we see today, I’m going to discuss some critical differences between mindfulness and meditation from a Zen Buddhism point of view.
I began to study Zen Buddhism in 1998 while participating in a summer intensive Aikido training. Since then, I have practiced zazen (seated Zen meditation) at different Zen dojos while maintaining a consistent practice while at home. In-between I have also participated in Zen meditation retreats headed by recognized Zen teachers of the Rinzai school. In addition, while in graduate school pursuing a Masters of Science in Management, I wrote a thesis on the effects of meditation on stress management. Because of these experiences combined with calligraphy practice and martial arts training, I have come to realize the diversion between the general understanding of mindfulness practice and what it is from a Zen Buddhism perspective.
These days people are turning to mindfulness meditation as a way to clear their minds, find relaxation, and calmness. Mindfulness and meditation are so hot right now that Amazon lists over 50,000 results when you search books on the subject. If you search on YouTube, there are many more hundreds of thousands of videos on mindfulness meditation. Pretty much every influencer, self-help guru, and minimalists have a video about how meditation has impacted their lives. They offer advice on how to meditate so their viewers can reach the same level of happiness they portray. Others go on to explain how they are more productive because they meditate every morning, allowing themselves to stay focused and eliminate distractions. Businesses are even teaching these popular ideas to their employees to maximize productivity and general workplace well-being.
Unfortunately, these types of meditation practices, often wrapped in the “meditate 10 minutes for 30 days to find happiness” package, carry two big misconceptions.
The first is that mindfulness meditation is a state of being aware of the present moment, therefore letting go of worries about the past and future. This present moment awareness is expected to lead towards relaxation and happiness. While true, to some extent, this vastly differs from what mindfulness is from a Buddhist point of view. Mindfulness meditation is thousands of years old and associated mostly with Buddhist practices. Over the centuries, many Buddhist masters, especially in the lineage of Zen, have refined the method to the high degree of efficiency practiced today in formal Zen training centers and monasteries. For this reason, it is adequate to use the meaning of mindfulness from a Buddhist perspective as the benchmark.
In a research article published in the Journal of Management Inquiry reveals that numerous studies and reports on mindfulness are only focusing on the benefits the practice has to present moment awareness and stress reduction effect. However, the definition of mindfulness from a western context differs from the classic Buddhist canonical sources. In other words, most mindfulness practices that are being implemented by many individuals and organizations are lacking the understanding of what mindfulness is from the context of the Buddhist tradition. Therefore, mindfulness is then reduced to a self-help technique. This approach is even dangerous when misused by corporations to promote non-judgment of work environments and have employees accept and cope with their jobs, including cases where the work environment may be toxic (Purser & Milillo, 2015). The authors of this article also argue that mindfulness is not equivalent to non-judgmental awareness and that Buddhist mindfulness is not merely a practice to reduce stress. In the context of Buddhist practice, mindfulness is not a state of relaxation but a state of realization.
Classical Buddhist texts define mindfulness as an active state of retention and remembrance; a state of realization of one’s true self. It is difficult, if not impossible, to define what our true self is with words. Zen does not find these answers intellectually. Instead, one must embody this realization, often called awakening (kensho), and manifest it during daily activities.
“Buddhist mindfulness has a clear soteriological purpose: liberative cognitive transformations that dramatically lessen self-centeredness by removing mental afflictions and unhealthy states of mind while enhancing ethical sensitivity, moral development, and an altruistic concern for the welfare of all sentient beings. Right mindfulness is grounded in an embodied, first-person, and ethically informed theory and practice. (Purser & Milillo, 2015)”
The misunderstanding lies in the thinking that mindfulness meditation is a way to escape from the mind when it rather is a way to enter it and deal with it head-on. Mindfulness meditation is the pursuit to find who we are.
Then, how do Zen meditation offers the relaxation and happiness the modern trends promote? It doesn’t really. The idea that sitting still in silence for long periods is peaceful comes from folks who approach meditation merely from a mental state and disregard altogether the role the body plays in achieving the meditative state.
The second misconception is that mindfulness meditation is achieved through the mind, when, in fact, it is through the body that is truly absorbed.
Meditation instructions given by the modern trends only say to close your eyes, and focus on the present moment without judgment. It may also help if you listen to a guided meditation to make it easier to deal with random thoughts. On the other hand, traditional Zen meditation requires the engagement of the breath and body to enter a state of meditative absorption. The eyes remain opened with conscious awareness while expanding our field of view. The breath, driven by the diaphragm, is slow yet full, focused on deep long exhalations while engaging the abdomen muscles. The posture crossed-legged on a cushion with the back straight, shoulders relaxed and chin drew, is used as the bridge that unifies the mind and body as one unit in meditation. In the beginning, this posture is challenging and can cause discomfort and physical pain, which one must deal with in meditation.
There are no real instructions on what to do with our mind while meditating. Beginners are often told to count their breath as a tool to help them unify the body and the mind, but that’s really it. When students bring mental concerns about their meditation, the teacher often corrects their posture or their breath to fix these problems. Zen meditation is physical work, or manual labor as Greene Roshi, head priest of the Wisconsin Zen Dojo likes to say. If we disregard the role of the body in meditation, we then aren’t really entering a meditative state; instead, all we’re doing is sitting in idleness with our AirPods on.
So, why the hell will anyone do Zen meditation? These YouTube videos are telling us to simply close our eyes for 10 minutes, be non-judgmental, and in the present moment. Zen, on the other hand, is demanding we sit on a cushion uncomfortable for 45 minutes, to breathe with all our might, and face the realities of our true self. It’s hard to argue with that. And is probably the reason why the word Zen is popular but the practice is not. While meditation and mindfulness are hot topics these days, Zen dojos are not full of practitioners.
The truth is Zen meditation can indeed be calming. The physical and mental struggles eventually fade. But it takes time. A lot of time. However, this achievement is a byproduct of the training, a benefit of training for a long time sort of speak, but it is not the intent to meditate.
To endure the physical and mental challenges of the training, the catalyst that takes us to the so-called relaxed state of mind is the constant pursuit of self-realization and to confront the dualistic view of the human life: the separation of mind and body, self and other, life and death.
References:
Purser, R. E., & Milillo, J. (2015). Mindfulness revisited: A Buddhist-based conceptualization. Journal of Management Inquiry, 24(1), 3-24.