Zen Meditation

 Last week I went to a Zen Meditation class at a Chinese cultural center here in Beijing.  I did not really know what to expect and know almost nothing about meditation techniques, but was interested to learn.  The meditation session was led by a young buddhist monk who had a very quiet voice.  We began the session with slow hand movements standing up, matching them to our breathing.  We then sat on the mats, covered up with the blankets, and used different meditation techniques over the next hour and a half, with several slow meditative stretch breaks interspersed.  The one that worked the best for me was to concentrate on my breathing, in and out, but I definitely need more practice.  At first there were lots of thoughts flitting around in my head and I had to keep reminding myself to think about my breaths.  Gradually, my mind became calmer, but I was still aware that I was having to force myself to concentrate - I was aware that I was forcing myself to be aware in other words, instead of just being aware of breathing and nothing else.  Near the end of the meditation, we did a walking meditation, taking slow steps around in a circle while concentrating on each step and on our our bodies felt.  It indeed felt wonderful to stand up and move after sitting for so long.

After the walking meditation, we sat back down and the monk asked us if we had any questions.  There were several questions about posture and technique of the meditation - indeed your back is supposed to be 'naturally' straight, which was quite uncomfortable for a long period of time.  Then we started talking about the zen state of mind you should have during meditation, which Zen Buddhists believe should carry over into your everyday life.  The 'zen' way when confronted with a phenomenon, a thing or a person acting a certain way, is to 'neither reject nor attach' but to just accept it for what it is.  Don't get angry and push it away, or cling to it as something you like, but try to view it steadily and objectively.  The monk said that over much time and patience, your own subjective view of things would slowly dissipate and you would be able to see the real truth in things.  There is a Truth, that is the same for everyone, it just might be unable to be seen because it is clouded with our own attachments or negative feelings towards it.

I know almost nothing about Zen Buddhism or the philosophical tenets that it teaches, and this session made me eager to learn more.  The idea of one single Truth, to be found in everything, seems strange to me.  Perhaps I am too scientific, but I feel like by observing a phenomenon, the very act of us watching and thinking about it, perhaps acting on it, can change the phenomenon; and thus, it is not an immutable truth separate from us.  There is a physics principle about this called the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle; you can't know where an object is and how fast its going at the same time, because by knowing both things you've changed it with your observation.  I have more of a gut feeling about this too; I feel like there are so many different ways of viewing the world, each of which can be true for the person viewing them, depending on their background and culture and intellect.

I did feel very relaxed and at peace after the session, and intrigued the philosophies behind the meditation.  I will hopefully be able to return soon.