The benefits of zen meditation, zazen

Many studies and books have been published on the benefits of meditation, notably zen meditation (zazen), and its relationship with well-being.

It is proven that meditation, through regular practice, brings many benefits to our mental balance.

It leads to a higher state of calm, attention, and concentration, better management of our emotions, and a reduction in stress.

However, the term meditation is very broad today. It covers a multitude of techniques and practices that do not all have the same virtues or the same effectiveness. This page presents the benefits of zen meditation (zazen).

Strengthen your concentration

The current world undermines our ability to concentrate and wastes our attention.

Between messaging and call notifications, social media apps and their infinite content, videos on the Internet, unlimited series and movies, etc., there is enough to easily let go of the present moment.

Gyms to maintain the body are numerous, as are fitness tutorials on the Internet, but what about the muscle building of our concentration? It is talked about more rarely…

We can indeed see this essential ability as a muscle weakened by all the distractions of modern life. Social networks and series are like fast sugar. Consuming too much of them decreases our ability to concentrate.

Practicing meditation can therefore be seen as muscle building for concentration. In our personal as well as professional life, this gives us a definite advantage, in all our tasks and social interactions.

And just like sports, regular practice is important to feel the beneficial effects.

Letting go, an energetic effect

In the hustle and bustle of life, the upper body, at the level of the solar plexus, is often more or less tense, blocked. The lower abdomen, the hara, source of energy, then finds itself isolated.

This cut between the bottom and the top is a sign of complications in our daily life, of mental fog.

Zazen, through concentration on the body and breathing, creates a letting go that reconnects the solar plexus with the lower abdomen. The stagnant energy of the upper body then finds its source again and circulates throughout the body with renewed freshness.

Zen, without goal or spirit of profit

Talking about the benefits of meditation more or less contradicts the principles at the very heart of zen meditation (zazen): shikantaza, simply sitting, and mushotoku, without goal or spirit of profit.

Because in the end, who receives these benefits? Zen is not so much a search for benefits for oneself as a perception of one’s true nature: the impermanence of the ego.

In zazen, one should not seek anything. Neither a special state, nor a personal benefit, nor even awakening. Simply sitting here and now, concentrated on the body and breathing, letting thoughts pass, like clouds passing in front of a mountain.

It is when we seek nothing that we can truly let go. When the I stops wanting to grasp or reject the thoughts, desires, or emotions that arise spontaneously.

When the mind seeks nothing, the true mind appears.
Diamond Sutra

However, when starting in zen, having a goal is inevitable and even necessary. It is what makes us move forward, move. Frequently practicing zazen effectively helps us feel better in our life.

But by dint of practicing this meditation, there is a realization that the ego is without substance, impermanent, that it only exists through the movement of karma and through interdependence with others.

Sitting in zazen, we let thoughts pass, without voluntary action, simply concentrated on the body and breathing. Totally absorbed here and now, we hear without listening, we see without looking. Beyond thought and non-thought (hishiryo), we find the natural condition of the human being: a joy without object, deep and lasting, beyond good and evil.

Being zen

In daily life, being zen means accepting things as they are. No longer constantly running after temporary pleasures, no longer fleeing suffering, but not seeking it either. It is living in the present moment, doing what we have to do, without thinking of anything else.

It is becoming intimate with oneself, with the nature of one’s ego, the I. This leads us to better appreciate the world around us, discovering it as it is, and not distorted by the tinted glasses of our prejudices.

Accepting the world as it is makes us free not to blindly accept the prescriptions given to us since our birth, not to let ourselves be abused by others… or by ourselves! We therefore have the choice not to let ourselves be dragged into vicious circles from which we cannot escape, until death.

Being zen means knowing how to forget oneself and concentrate on a single thing. Knowing why we do things, then acting without doubt or regret. Not doubting also means balancing fear and courage.

Being zen means knowing how to make silence inside oneself. Our true dimension then appears, as if words had kept it hidden until then.

Try it for yourself

Talking about meditation is good, but it is better to try it for yourself so as not to stick to external opinions.

Like not being satisfied with the description of the taste of an apple, but experiencing eating the fruit yourself, understanding it with your whole being. Not staying in a limited intellectual understanding.