Question
Hello, Master,
In a previous mondo, you recommend alternating the crossing of the legs during zazen to balance the body. Why not also reverse the mudra? (Left leg over right/left hand in right, right leg over left/right hand in left.)
Master Dogen seems to insist that only the left leg should cover the right, with the left hand resting in the right. Does that create an imbalance, or rather a "certain balance"?
Was this written for a truly instructional purpose, or is it "only" theoretical and different in transmission?
Best wishes,
Teodor
teodor
Answer from Master Kosen
Dear friend, I think as you do, but it is a secret teaching.
To my knowledge—and I stress, to my knowledge—no patriarch has spoken of it. So how could I, the simple monk Kosen, take it upon myself to reform the teaching? But what prevents you from discreetly trying it without anyone noticing? In Zen, part of the teaching has always had to be transmitted in secret. This is not for the pleasure of keeping secrets, but simply because certain knowledge needs to be conveyed through a channel other than words and linear thought.
Kosen