Aspects of Zazen III: Oneness of Body and Mind...


Nishijima Roshi's third point about zazen is the experience of the non-duality of body-mind.

Generally we identify with our thoughts ("me") and think that the thinker is sort of like the entity driving the body, as a person drives a car.

In zazen, when thought quietens down and we stop identifying with the "me" or "I", we can see this isn't the case. We stop thoughts that separate "me" from "my body" and experience ourselves as open, unlimited and undivided by those thoughts.

We can only ever experience this in the present moment, and so in 'dropping off body and mind' we also become one with time, which Master Dogen looked at in detail in the important chapter of Shobogenzo called 'Uji'.


3. Oneness of Body and Mind in the Present Moment

Usually we think there is something that is called “mind” and something else called “body” and that the two are separate, although they have a great effect on each other. In Buddhism we believe that body and mind are two sides of one entity, which we call “myself,” but that we actually cannot fully grasp. We believe that every mental phenomenon has a physical side, and every physical phenomenon has a mental side. We do not believe in the independent existence of something called “mind” that is separate from the physical body, brain, nervous system, and so on. When we sit in Zazen, because we do not concentrate on thoughts, or perceptions, our body-and-mind exist undivided in the present moment. When our mind is in the ordinary state and our autonomic nervous system is balanced, we are in the “balanced state of body-and-mind".

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