To know what you are, it’s good to start by finding out what you are not. The process can feel like pealing the layers of an onion, until we find the empty center. This emptiness is the non conceptual key to the real-ization of Self, which can paradoxically be called non-self… (to real-ize and live with this paradox, its necessary to develop a good sense of humor 🙂
Zen meditation (Zazen) is considered the heart of Japanese Soto Zen Buddhist practice. The (aimless) aim of zazen is just sitting, that is, simply witnessing all conceptual and judgmental thinking that the mind creates in a most automatic and mechanical way, and letting words, ideas, images and thoughts pass by without getting I-dentified with them. This slowly enables us to dive deeper into the Ocean of Being, well below the waves created by the wind of the conceptual mind, to the inner silence that contains the essence of Existence.
The session involves two twenty minute sittings, with Kinhin (walking meditation) between them, and a short tea ceremony. We end with Satsang – questions and answers about whatever the session brings up for participants.
Here’s an example of an introductory talk before a sitting in our Yoga Center in Tel Aviv: