Question

Hello Master, In a previous mondo, you recommend alternating the crossing of the legs during the practice of zazen to balance the body. Why not also reverse the mudra? (left leg on right / left hand in right, right leg on left / right hand in left) Master Dogen seems to insist that only the left leg should sit on the right one, the left hand in the right. Does this produce any imbalance, or rather a "certain balance"? Was it written for a really pedagogical purpose, or is it "only" theoretical, and different from the transmission?

Yours truly,

Teodor 

Answer from Master Kosen

Dear friend, I think like you, but it is a secret teaching. To me, to my knowledge, no patriarch spoke about it, so I myself, the humble monk kosen, how can I reform the teaching!? But what prevents you from experimenting quietly without anyone noticing? In Zen there was always a part of the teaching that had to be transmitted in secret. This is not for the sake of secrecy but simply the need to pass some knowledge through a channel other than that of speech and linear thinking.

Kosen


Mondo On the same theme : Posture

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