Question
I am not sure of the correct sequence of movements after entering the dojo to practice zazen. No one talks about it, and I see some monks do nothing, others make gassho toward the center and then the wall, others toward the zafu and then the center, others toward the godo and then the wall. Since I learn by following their example, I have ended up doing what feels right.
Perhaps it is not important at all, because I have seen nothing written about it. But if it is, could you explain how to behave from entering the dojo until we are seated?
Anonymous
Answer from Master Kosen
Enter the dojo with the left foot first, except for the master, who should generally enter with the right. Bow to the altar and at the same time to the assembly of people who, like you, have come to participate in zazen with complete purity. Go to your place, always moving clockwise around the altar. Say goodbye to yourself—or hello, depending on how you see things—by bowing to the place of your zafu, and bow again to the other practitioners, inwardly promising not to disturb them as much as possible. Sit down and arrange your clothing as neatly as you can. Once that is done, sit upright, exhale deeply, then sway from left to right seven times, with increasingly smaller movements until you become still. (This swaying is always done with the thumbs enclosed in the palms and the hands resting palm-side up on the knees.) Then place your left hand in your right, straighten up even more, and begin zazen…
Kosen