Question
Have you ever advised someone against practicing zazen,
and for what reasons?
Anonymous
Answer from Master Kosen
When my 83-year-old mother broke her hip in November 2006, I advised her not to attend the overnight sesshin on January 1. She did not listen and came anyway, telling me she would do zazen in a chair. She did indeed do the first two sessions in a chair, but saying that she was bored to death in it and might as well die in the posture, she finally sat in zazen, healed very quickly, and now practices normally. Although the doctors had told her she would never be able to do it again, she thinks doctors are liars for those who know they are more than their bodies.
Kosen