Embedded Files
次回（令和7年１１月）の坐禅会は第３月曜日１７日からです。
The Nishoukai is a one-hour zazen session held from 6am to 7am on the third Monday to Sunday of every month (except August) at the Hakata Torinji zazendo of the Soto sect of Buddhism.
Anyone can participate, regardless of denomination or religion.
For enquiries, please contact the contact listed at the bottom of the page.
About Nishoukai
About Nishoukai
The Nishoukai is a group of ordinary laypeople who practice zazen in the zazen hall of Tōrin-ji Temple, but anyone can join, regardless of denomination or religion.
The name of the association was given by the predecessor of Tōrin-ji, Zen Master Umeda Shinryu, after a passage in the Vajrayana Sutra, "應無所住而生其心" (Omu shōju ni shō go shin), and it has a history of over 80 years.
Without dwelling, the heart is born.
Without dwelling, the heart is born.
The mind that is not attached to anything.
One day, Enō (Huineng), who came to the town to sell firewood, heard this passage from the Vajra Sutra.
Enō, who had lost his father at the age of three and had been selling firewood to support his mother since he was a child, decided to become a monk because of this passage.
After eight months of working as a rice-picker for the fifth patriarch Kounin, he responded to the chant "...work hard from time to time and do not let dust fall" by his disciple Shinshu: "...there is no such thing as dust, but dust is attracted somewhere". He surpassed 1,000 practising monks to become the sixth founder of China and successor to the Dharma of Hong Shinobu.
As proof of his succession to the Dharma, he bestowed upon him the kesa (robe) that had been handed down to him by his founder, but anticipating the protests of his students, he secretly sent Enō away from the monastery.
After a few months, one of his disciples, Huiming, caught up with him and demanded the return of his kesa.
However, he realised that the true Dharma of the Dharma is not in the kesa, and asked Enō again what the true Dharma is.
Enō replies, "It is neither good nor evil, but the true nature of the self at that moment".
The passage from the Vajra Sutra overheard by the firewood vendor would eventually become the language that pervades Chinese Zen.
Schedule
Schedule
The Nishoukai holds monthly zazen sessions（except August), usually for a week starting on the third Monday of the month, as follows. (All of these days are only available when time permits, and full attendance is not required). However, the schedule is subject to change depending on the situation with the new coronavirus infection and other temple events.
The day before (Sunday): 8 am for 30 minutes; cleaning of the zazen hall and temple grounds.
First day (Monday): 6am for 30 minutes; zazen meditation, kinhin (walking around the hall quietly).
Second half hour: recitation of the Fukan zazen gi
Second day (Tuesday): 6am for 1 hour; zazen, kinhin, zazen.
...
Seventh day (Sunday): 6 am for 1 hour; zazen, kinhin, zazen.
7:00 am.;30-minute morning lesson
(recitation of the Heart Sutra and Shushogi)
7:30 am; Porridge sitting; meal.
8:00 am; for 1 hour sermon (Q&A)
9.00 am; 30 minutes cleaning of the zazen hall and precincts.
Dismissal after cleaning.
Schedule for next month.（２０２５ Nov.）
Schedule for next month.（２０２５ Nov.）
The Nishoukai will be held on the third Monday(11/17) to Sunday(11/23).
The Practice of Zazen【SOTO ZEN】
The Practice of Zazen【SOTO ZEN】
1. Position of the hands
Gassho
Hold the palms and fingers of both hands together. Your arms should be slightly away from your chest, your elbows should extend outward from your sides in a straight line parallel with the floor. The tips of your fingers should be approximately the same level as your nose.
Gassho is an expression of respect, faith, and devotion. Since the two hands (duality) are joined together, it expresses the 'One Mind."
Shashu
Put the thumb of your left hand in the middle of the palm and make a fist around it. Place the fist in front of your chest. Cover the fist with your right hand. Keep your elbows away from your body forming a straight line with both forearms.
2. Entering the zendo
Hold your hands in shashu position and step forward with your left foot at the left side of the entrance. After entering the hall, bow in gassho toward the altar and go to your seat.
As a sign of respect, you should refrain from walking in front of the statue of Manjushri Bodhisattva. Rather, you should walk around behind the image. When walking, keep your hands in the shashu position.
(Manners in the zendo may vary in detail, depending upon the temple. Only the basic manners regarding zazen are described here.)
3. Arriving at your seat
When you arrive at your seat, face the seat and bow in gassho. This is a greeting to the people seated on either side of you who are about to do zazen with you The people sitting next to you also bow. This is called rin'imonjin.
Then, turn clockwise until your seat is behind you, and bow again to those sitting on the opposite side of the hall, This is a greeting to the people across the hall and is referred to as taizamonjin.
4. Sitting positions
Kekkafuza (Full-lotus position)
Place your right foot on your left thigh, and then your left foot on your right thigh. Cross your legs so that the tips of your toes and the outer edge of your thighs form a single line. The order of crossing the legs may be reversed.
Hankafuza (Half-lotus position)
Simply place your left foot on your right thigh. When you cross your legs, your knees and the base of your spine should form an equilateral triangle. Raising the opposite leg is also acceptable.
Sitting in a chair
Sit upright in a chair as you would on a zafu. Do not lean backwards. Use a square support cushion on the seat and/or under your feet as needed to find a comfortable upright posture. Hold your hands in your lap in the cosmic mudra (hokkai-join).
5. Posture
Rest both knees firmly on the zabuton, straighten the lower part of your back, push your buttocks outward and hips forward, and straighten your spine, Pull in your chin and extend your neck as though reaching toward the ceiling. Your ears should be in a line parallel to your shoulders, and your nose should be in line with your navel. After straightening your back, relax your shoulders, back, and abdomen without changing your posture. Sit upright, leaning neither to the left nor right, neither forward nor backward.
6. Cosmic mudra (Hokkai-join)
Place your right hand, palm-up, on your left foot, and your left hand, palm-up, on your right palm. The tips of your thumbs should be lightly touching each other. This is called the cosmic mudra (hokkai-join). Place the tips of your thumbs in front of your navel and your arms slightly apart from your body.
7. The mouth and breathing
Keep your mouth closed, placing your tongue against the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth.
During zazen, breathe quietly through your nose. Do not try to control your breathing.
Let it come and go so naturally that you forget you are breathing. Let long breaths be long, and short breaths be short. Do not make noise by breathing heavily,
8. The eyes
Keep your eyes slightly open. Cast them downward at about a 45-degree angle. Without focusing on any particular thing, let everything have its place in your field of vision. If your eyes are closed, you will easily drift into drowsiness or daydreaming.
9. Exhale completely and take a breath (Kanki-issoku)
Quietly make a deep exhalation and inhalation. Slightly open your mouth and exhale smoothly and slowly. In order to expel all the air from your lungs, exhale from the abdomen. Then close your mouth and continue to breathe through your nose naturally. This is called kanki-issoku.
10. Swaying the body
Place your hands palms-up on your knees and sway the upper half of your body from left to right a few times. Without moving your hips, move the trunk as if it were a pole leaning to one side then the other, so that the waist and hip muscles are stretched. You may also sway forward and backward. At first this movement should be large, gradually becoming smaller and smaller, and stopping with your body centered in an upright position. Once again forming the cosmic mudra with your hands, assume an unmoving upright posture.
11. The art of zazen
Do not concentrate on any particular object or try to control your thoughts. When you maintain the proper posture and your breathing settles down, your mind will naturally become tranquil. When various thoughts arise in your mind, do not become caught up in them or struggle with them; neither pursue nor try to escape from them. Leave thoughts alone, allowing them to come up and go away freely. The essential thing is, by neither falling into distraction (thinking) nor dullness (drowsiness), to let zazen sit zazen.
12. Bells
A bell is rung to signal the beginning and end of zazen. When zazen begins, a bell is rung three times. When kinhin begins, the bell is rung twice. And when kinhin is finished, the bell is rung once. Also, when zazen is finished, the bell is rung once.
13. Kyosaku
If you want to be struck by the kyosaku (wooden stick), signal with gassho and wait. Bow when the person carrying the kyosaku sets it on your shoulder and lean your head to the left. After you are hit on the shoulder, straighten your head again and bow.
The person using the kysaku also bows to you as he or she stands behind you, holding the stick with both hands.
14. Getting up from zazen
When you finish zazen, bow in gassho, place your hands palms-up on your thighs; sway your body a few times, first a little, and then more extensively. Take a deep breath. Unfold your legs. Move slowly, especially when your legs are asleep. Do not stand up abruptly. Then, after you are standing, straighten up the sitting cushions.
15. Kinhin
Hold your hands in shashu position. From the waist up, your posture should be the same as that in zazen. Take the first step with your right foot.
Advance by taking only half step for each full breath (one exhalation and inhalation)
16. Leaving the zendo
If there is no kinhin, leave your seat and walk to the entrance of the hall with your hands in the shashu position, leaving the hall by stepping out with your right foot.
⑥2007 by SOTOSHU SHUMUCHO. All rights reserved
Demonstration! Let's do ZAZEN in English!
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse