Why Not? Wednesdays

Nov 15, 2023

You’ve heard the quote: “You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes every day unless you are too busy; then you should sit for an hour.”

No idea who said it. But I get it.

If you think you’re too busy to calm your mind…you’re simply too busy.

Why 40 minutes?

Zazen, the daily meditation practice in the Soto Zen tradition, is 40 minutes long.

Why?

Many reasons, probably. But my guess is that 40 minutes seemed to work best for most of the early practitioners, so it stuck.

What about the earliest meditators?

15,000 years ago, meditators? How long did they sit? How did they measure it?

Did they poke a stick in the earth like a sundial?

What about cloudy days, evenings, and early morning meditators?

In the early stages, when we’re learning how, it’s helpful to have a guide.

Mine was Shunryu Suzuki, the Soto Zen priest.

I read everything written by and about him, and he sat zazen for 40 minutes, so I would sit 40 minutes, but how?

There were no clocks, and I didn’t own a watch, but the guards walked rounds every 20 minutes, and that was like a clock.

Zazen began when the guard peeked into my cell.

His jangling keys faded as I settled in.

Jangling keys signaled his return, but on the other side of the walk now. Looking into their cells.

The same jangling keys ebbed and flowed to signal the halfway point of the period, but I couldn’t always be sure.

Did I miss it?

Is this his second or third round?

These things tend to get lost in the din. Maybe I missed it. Maybe he was already by. Second round? Or third? Am I done?

After a while, it didn’t matter.

The period wasn’t the point.

I think you owe it to yourself to try it, to follow the rules, and learn how to do it according to best practices.

But then you have to trust, lean in, and learn it again.

But this time, learn it from yourself.

I love you guys! ☺️

-Paul