Zen meditation is typically practiced alone, in a quiet room. Disciples should sit with their backs a heads erect, hands folded with palms facing upwards, legs partially or fully crossed, and eyes open while breathing rhythmically and easily. All logical and analytic thinking should be ceased, along with desires, attachments, and judgments, leaving the mind in a state of relaxed attention.

Practicing zen meditation (zazen)

Zen meditation, or zazen, is a form of meditation that usually takes place while seated. It involves gaining insight into the nature of their existence by allowing awareness of  the immediate, uninterpreted experience of the present moment and then letting those thoughts and feelings go.  


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- Shamatha practices
- Vipassana (insight) meditation
- Zen meditation

Kinds of Buddhist Meditation Practices 

- Integrative body-mind training (IBMT)
- Zen meditation

Examples of Mindfulness Meditations

Harris, J. (2021, June 10). How to Practice Zazen. Lion's Roar. https://www.lionsroar.com/how-to-practice-zazen/. 


How to practice zen (zazen) meditation


Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2016, November 10). zazen. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/zazen

zazen

Kinds of Buddhist meditation practices for the development of a relaxed, stable, and clear mind. Shamatha involves the stages of meditation proposed by Kamalashila in the eighth century. The stages start with a mind, which cannot focus for more than a few seconds (stage 1), culminating in a state of stability and vividness which can be sustained for hours (stage 9). Excitation and laxity are seen as imbalances and their effects are reduced during the progress in these stages. 

Shamatha Practices

Vipassana meditation is a form of Buddhist meditation that involves continued close attention to sensations and mental events with the intention of gaining insight to the true nature of existence/ reality.  

Vipassana (insight) meditation

Zen meditation (zazen)

Integrative body-mind training stresses not putting in the effort to control thoughts but instead focusing on a state of restful alertness that allows a high degree of awareness of the body, breathing, and external instructions. IBMT improves attention and self-regulation through interaction between the central and the autonomic nervous systems.


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