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Date of the document's last update/modification {28/09/93}

This file is the work of Stan Rosenthal. It has been placed here, with
his kind permission, by Bill Fear. The author has asked that no hard
copies, ie. paper copies, are made.

Stan Rosenthal may be contacted at 44 High street, St. Davids,
Pembrokeshire, Dyfed, Wales, UK. Bill Fear may be contacted at 29
Blackweir Terrace, Cathays, Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales, UK. email
fear@thor.cf.ac.uk. Please use email as first method of contact, if
possible. Messages can be sent to Stan Rosenthal via the above email
address - they will be forwarded on in person by myself.

.......................................................................

TAO: THE GATELESS GATE
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TAISO: CALLISHTENICS


RAI WO SURU:
BOWING

     Bowing is of no important.

But not bowing is of great importance.
'It is bad manners
to forget to bow,
but the greatest insult
is not not bowing
but bowing
in an off-hand way.'

There are two forms of bowing,
     takhi-rai, the standing bow
and
    za-rai, the kneeling bow.

Takhi-rai is performed by standing with the heels together, feet at an
angle of forty-five degrees.

The hands are placed on the thighs, and the body bent forward from the
waist.  The depth of bow, and the angle of the head are dependent upon
the relation- ship and relative status of the participating parties.
The length of time for which the bowing position is held is considered
critical.

Za-rai, the kneeling bow, is performed by kneeling, feet together,
insteps along the mat.  The hands are placed on the mat, finger tips
nearly touching.  The head and upper trunk are lowered so that the head
touches, or nearly touches the mat.  Again, the length of time for which
the bowing position is held is considered critical.

Rai wo suru is a formal part of meditation.


ZA:
SITTING

After about three weeks of regular taiso practice, and when you can
perform rai wo suru without embarrassment, yu are ready to sit.

When we talk of sitting, we mean that form of sitting involved in
meditatin.

A small cushion is used, or, for a beginner, a pile of books, the height
of which may be adjusted for individual suitability.

For most people, a foot hassock is ideal.

Whatever is used, it must be firm, and provide a solid base for sitting.

(The following instructions refer to the position with the right foot
'inside'.  The position may be reversed, there is no ruling).

     The feet should be bare.  On no account should shoes or sandals be
worn.

Clothing should be light and unrstrictive.

Plas the cushin on the mat.

Bow to the cushion (for it is about to aid you).

Sit on the edge of the cushion, knees up, feet flat on the floor, as
shown.  Only the rear of the buttocks should be on the cushion.   The
position should be firm (if books are used, ensure that they are placed
so that they do not slip).  ow concentrate for a few moments on the
position so far achieved.

Grasp the right ankle with both hands, and draw it inwards and to the
left.  The right lower leg should now be in contact with the mat, the
right heel nearly touching the cushin.  Concentrate upon the position so
far achieved.

Grasp the left ankle with both hands, and draw it inwards, and to the
right.  The left lower leg shuld now be n contact wiht the mat, the sole
of the left foot in contact with the right calf.  Concentrate upon the
position so far achieved.

It is of the utmost imporance that the position of the legs forms a
solid base.

If either or both of the knees is raised, passive movement shuld be
applied by gently rocking theknee under hand pressure only.

Anohter way of lowering the knees is to adjust the height of the cusion
or books forming ehe base.  The final exercise in the taiso series is
also of help in overcoming this particular problem.

The weight of the body should now be evenly distributed between the
buttocks and that part of the lower legs which are in contact with the
mat.

The shoulders should be set square.

The hands should rest in the hap, forearms resting on the thighs.

For the novice, each hand shuld be held os as to form a circle with
fingers and thumb, both hands being placed together so that opposing
thumb tips touch forming two circles.

The thumbs should be curved slightly upward, and should not be allowed
to drop whilst in the meditative posture.

The head shuold be held upright so that it is well balanced on the
vertebral column.  In this way the shoulder and neck muscles should be
relaxed, and the trachea will be unrestricted.  From the side the ears
should be in line with the shoulders.

The lips should be lightly closed or very slightly open, and the tongue
tip touching the back of the upper gums.

The breath should be drawn in through the nose and expelled through the
mouth.

Breathing should be relaxed and rythmic, ideally using the diaphragmatic
method.

(Opinions vary as to the value of diaphragmatic breathing, but there can
be little doubt that it is an aid to effective breathing once the
rechnique has been mastered.)

     Diaphragmatic breathing is carired out by allowing the belly to
swell as air is drawn into the lungs.  This lowers the diaphragm,
allowing full ventilation of the air sacs of the lower lobes of the
lungs. Breathing out diaphragmatically involves drawing inthe abdomen,
thus raising the diaphragm and using it to aid expulsion of stale air
from the lungs.

The total sitting posture should present the solidity of equilibrium of
a tetrahedron within a tetrahedron, the apex of the inner shape being
the solar plexus, which should be the centre of gravity of the seated
figure.

There are no prizes for endurance, so sit only for a few moments at a
time until the body becomes accustomed to the posture.


TAKHI:
RISING

The method of rising from the seated position is of the utmost
importance, particularly for the wellbeing of the novice.

There is no doubt that the sitting position previously described can
lead to extreme physical discomfort initially, particularly if taiso is
not practiced regularly.

Certainly during the early weeks of sitting practice, rising from the
sitting position shuld be carried out with great care in order to
eliminate the risk of injury.

Whilst still in the seated position, move the shoulders in a circular
motion, and rotate the head slowly.

When the movement of head, neck and shoulders is free and withouut paink
grasp the outer ankle with both hands, and move the foot passively,
(without using the muscles of the lower lims) in a circular motion.

Extend the leg passively.  If there is pain, move the leg in a series of
short movements, extending the movement of the leg a little further each
time until full mobility is regain.

Repeat with the other ankle and leg.

Place both feet on the mat, shoulder width apart, close to the cushin,
pointing forward.

Place the hands on the mat, and raise the buttocks gently from the
cushion, taking the weight of the body mainly on the arms.

Transfer the weight of the body onto the feet by leaning forward
slightly.  Some slight discomfort may be felt in the legs and hips at
this stage. When the pain subsides, allow the body weight to be taken
fully by the legs, rising slowly to the standing positoin.

Move around slowly, raising the knees to the chest gently to regain full
mobility.

Turn to face the cushion, and bow to it.

Carry out a few exercises from the taiso series if stiffness remains.

RAKU HITZU:
THE CONTACT

     Practice sitting and rising without remaining seated for too long
at any one time (five minutes is long enough for a novice.)

Repear the sitting and rising until it is possible to sit in the correct
position immediately, that is, without having to adjust the posture when
seated.

The words 'raku hitzu' are more correctly applied to the art of
painting.  The words mean 'that instant when the brush touches the
paper'.  It is implied that, if the first contact is wrong, then the
resultant picture is unlikely to be satisfactory.

The implication in 'sitting' is that it should not be necessary to
adjust the posture once the initial contact is made.  As the buttocks
touch the cushion, there shuld be one flowing movement f the shulders,
arms, neck and head, together with the legs, into the complete sitting
posutre.  If the initial contact is incorrect,the posture is unlikely to
be satisfactory.

When practicing raku hitzu, beware of fatigue,  for the act of repeated
rising and sitting can be extremely tiring for the novice.

Continue to rpactice raku hitzu until you are able to assume the correct
posture immediately, each time you sit.

Increase the time for which yu sit, until you are able to sit without
adjusting your posture for an uninterrupted period of thirty minutes
(this may take many months to practice.)

You are now ready to practice 'zazen', seated meditation.


ZAZEN:
SEATED MEDITATION

He who sits, abides by many rules, he does so that he may transcend his
mind.

Observe the sitter, how he comes,
he has not eaten, his body empty, exercised,
he now prepared his mind.
His cushion, he does place upon the mat,
and now he paces back a step, and bows.

And now he stands before his base
and gently sits, legs crossed
to form the tetrahedron that is firm.
And as he sits, his arms he stretches out,
and in one movement, as he sits,
places his hands upon his lap.
His head is upright, not to right nor left.
His back is straight, neither arched nor bent.

And as he sits, he sits, he does not move,
or rise to find a way of greater comfort.
For as he sits, he is unto
the likeness of the rock
that from the rock
beneath the earth does grow,
the firmest object of them all,
wide at the base,
the point of gravity quite low.

And as the rock, he does nt move.
His head is still, no shaking limbs,
no movement in the hands.
The only movement that w see
is as his belly falls and rises.

And so his mind is stopped.

But firsthe had to learn
to stop the body,
then the senses
and then he learned
to stop the mind.

And as he sat, he ached,
and so he sat some more.
The ache then thought
that it was in his knee.
He knew that it was in his mind,
and so he did not say,
'Now then ache, please go away.'
Instead, he told his mind,
'Well, this ache is yours,
you look at it.'

And then, eventually,
the mind and ache were one.
And so another ache did come to aid the first.

He did the same with it,
as with the first,
and when could truly say,
'Thesewere the aches I had in mind.'

And so he sat some more.

But this time, as he sat,
he carried out that exercise,
'the counting of the breath
in which each breath is counted
as it leaves the body,
to the count of five.

And as he counted in his mind,
he tried to make eachbreath
the same in length and amplitude,
as that which did precede it.

And as the days grew into weeks,
and weeks grew into months,
and months to years, he found
the more that he did concentrate
upon the breath
the less his legs did ache.

And then, doubtless it occurred to him
as it had occurred to many
who had gone before,
that as he sat,
each time he sat,
he sat a little longer.

In sitting, this is good,
but in rising, we need care,
for limbs, and joints, and tissue,
if kept in immobility,
and then moved quickly, tear.

And then he learned to use his hands
to move his feet, and lower legs,
before he moved his thighs,
and stood, again to bow.

And once again,
when days and weeks
and months had passed,
(fr time means nothing in this art)
he found that he had sat upon
'the counting of the breath'
for all the time that he had sat,
and had heard the count inside his head,
from when he sat, to when he rose. 
And so he sat some more.

And next he learned
to concentrate the breath
upon a sound.

On breathing out, he caught the breath
and to it did attach a humming note.
The note he tried to make, was straight,
of even thickness from the start
to when it reached its end,
when all the breath was gone.

And doubtless, at the first,
the sound was strong,
and then grew weak, as he exhaled.
And then, in tryin cnsciously
to keep it strong,
it did grow stronger at the end.
And next, resounding middle,
tempered ends.
And next, a waver in the pitch.

And then, one day
when he forgot to look,
the sound came forth,
both strong and sweet, and straight,
a wide and deep and sonorous tone.

And as his mind did recognise
that this was right,
it doubtless did go wrong.

And so he sat some more.

And once again,
when so much time had passed
that he was ready to depart the way,
it caught him by surprise again.
Again, the right sound came.
But this time, he ignored the thought,
and felt no sudden joy,
but let it just continue,
and did it once, and twice again,
the 'straight line sound',
the sound of 'one'.

And so he sat some more.

And now that he had found
he could produce the sound,
he learned to look at it
with both eyes closed,
and balance it, within his mind, upon his nose.

And next, when this he could accomplish
each time he sat,
he learned to make the soundless sound,
and balance that
within his mind.

And so he sat some more.

And so he learned t make the sound
withi his mind,
and to keep it balanced on his nose,
by that one single thought.
And each time that his mind did say,
'Now look t this or 'look to that',
the soundles sound did disappear.

And so he learned to stop
all other thughts,
except that single thought
that keeps the soundless osund alive.

And then he learned
to leave the soundless sound
alone.

So, as an object
he does sit
and passes through that gate
which is tranquility.

And through the aches of sitting,
that senses apprehend,
again he sits,
and passes through that gate
which is tranquility.

And through the knowledge
of the aches, he sits,
and through the gate of reason
pases, beneath the gate
which is tranquility.
'And i the soundless sound
that is pure light,
there is no object,
sensibility or mind,
no observer, no observed,
for he whom we wtch,
within tranquility,
has left them far behind.'


TANK HSAI I NIEN:
INSTANTANEOUS THOUGHT 
In true meditation, there is not thought.  But the tranquility of true
meditation so clears the mind that works of great beauty are often
created as a result ofthis clarity of mind.  Such a work is said to be
the result of instantaneous thought.

Itseems fitting that this brief work shuld end with an example of such a
work.  It is taken from an episode in the life of Tekisui.

When visiting a sick friend, they had sat together on the grass in
silence, his friend in a very dejected state.  Tekisui plucked a blade
of grass from whic hung a single dewdrop.  Taking his friend's hand in
his, he tipped the blade of grass so that the dewdrop fell into the palm
of his friend's ahnd, and spread as a pool of water.  For the first time
in many weeks, he friend smiled.

Returning home that night, Tekisui felt frustrated that he had been
unable to do more for his friend.  He gradually realised that eh sorrow
he felt was not for his friend, but for himself adn for his own
inability.

Determined not to be mastered by his own ego, he threw hismelf into his
work, but still his mind dwelled on his seeming failure.  He decided to
sit in meditation without rising until he could beat his mindfulness.

For the first hour he experienced all the pangs that he had felt as a
novice.  Towards the end of the second hour his mind became still.  He
then gained two hours of trquility, rising at about four in the morning.
He immediately wrote the poem shown overleaf, and later that morning
gave it to his friend as a token of how his friend, in his own sickness,
had helped him to overcome his own weakness.

High in the mountain, the trembling leaf,
drops a crystal dewdrop, onto the rock.
And myriad dewdrops upon those stones,
become the stream,
that form the mountain flows.

And weeping willow trees upon the plain,
dip their languid branches
into the dewdrop stream.
And in their millions, but as one,
the dewdrops make the pebbles,
over which they run.

And so the dewdrop, and the stone,
and the muntain, and the stream,
and the willow, make the dream,
which I, too old to cross the plain,
or climb the muntain where it all began,
may while away the passing time,
in hapy memory of my youth, 
For in those far off days, 
with those companions of my childhood time,
I climbed the mountain
to the very top,
and whilst my friends
looked at the clouds,
I beheld the dewdrop,
and never have forgot.
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