How Long Should You Do Zazen?

[@blackbird5634]

Thanks again, i go through periods of longer and shorter zazen sittings and this advice helps. I am joined now by my cat who often flicks his tail at me to let me know he's bored as well. I am really glad to find these posts as companions to your books.

[@robynevans1287]

*BAM!!!* You shared some *MAJORLY BENEFICIAL WISDOM* in this video!! Ideas that when put into action have helped me all throughout this life! I *LOVE* that you just dropped such *life changing knowledge bombs* in this short little video & did it so nonchalantly!😅 My hope is that *MANY* people will watch this video & put into action what you've shared! Those things are beneficial on so many levels!! Thank you for sharing this & spreading that wisdom! 🤗💖

[@HardcoreZen]

Thank you!

[@robynevans1287]

@@HardcoreZen You're most welcome!

[@Wintermute782]

Tim McCarthy always recommended half an hour when I sat with him in Kent.

[@HardcoreZen]

Yeah. That's why I usually do 30 minutes. That's what he told me too!

[@gra6649]

Sitting is hard. When I first started around forty years ago I tried sitting for twenty minutes. It was torture, so then I would stop. What finally worked was I sat for ten minutes every day for two weeks. Then every week I'd add one minute. Eventually I got to thirty five minutes, and there is where I settled. Now, I was listening to one of my teachers Teishos a little while ago, and he was talking about how long one should sit. He said, don't sit for ten, fifteen, twenty, or even thirty five minutes. Sit for one breath, and when you've done that, sit for one breath, and then, one breath. Forget about what remains on the timer, just sit for one breath. I wish that I'd known that when I started, because it does make it somewhat easier.

[@HardcoreZen]

That's a very good way to think of it. Thank you!

[@KevJDunn]

Miss your zazenkai's in Japan years ago Brad.

[@HardcoreZen]

Me too. One of these days I'll go back to Japan, but doing a retreat there is a logistical problem.

[@jonashjerpe7421]

I am not a meditation master, but why set the bar so low? After all we eventually discover that meditation is not really an activity that we do, but rather our primordial being itself. So I have always sensed that we should do enough meditation to discover that we are always meditation. That is our true nature. And after we have discovered that we should do some more of it until we are basically present 24/7. Of course the mind will wander and catapult us away from presence every now and then, but currently I am so firmly anchored in just being that it would be ridiculous to count and focus on the minutes I am doing formal zazen. Thr people I see around me who do no or very little progress always seem to identify meditation with the zafu activity and the robes. I guess that is not the way to go, ideally.

[@BeHumbleOkay]

Exactly. Zen’s final blossoming comes when the practitioners entire life becomes zen, effortlessly.

[@bobbi2044]

My screaming Kwan Yin, is very deliberate. It's when I shut up that becomes concerning. You don't know me. But I know that it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.

[@reservordawg]

I've tried mediating for some time but it doesn't help because I have chronic pain. I tend to make sure I get the right amount of sleep and be mindful of health and other things.

[@sylvanstrength7520]

You can meditate with legs crossed, sitting in a chair, standing up, or even lying in bed if you have to so long as you can keep awake

[@ryonarin9503]

It's true

[@dorkstar85]

Question: Could you possibly do a video on how to lead a group in zazen from beginning to end? (30-45 min) We are trying to open up my retreat center to other schools of thought and I want to start leading a weekly or biweekly session.

[@andjunglepunkthirteen760]

Good question

[@alexhristov1167]

Brad, do you think sometimes about "3 years in a dark room retreat"? It's buddhist practice for some rare individuals. But i know that when your ability for attention and concentration is strong enough, this 3 years are not so hard, but it's more like different way of being. It's not like constant war with yourself and your lack of attention, but more like real way to go very deep in the nature of reality. Yes, very rare individuals go for this crazy buddhist retreat, but i wonder is there something similar in zen tradition? I mean... zen in dark room for 3 years and then another 3 years. :)

[@HardcoreZen]

The solo retreat isn't part of the Zen tradition. I think it's a Tibetan Buddhist thing. Bodhidharma, who predates Zen but is often cited as its founder, supposedly sat alone in a cave for nine years. But there's never been a tradition of others doing that in the Zen lineages. It seems to me that would make a person very strange.

[@enterthevoidIi]

That's not a Buddhist thing a all. Dark room retreats are some esoteric Hinduist thing

[@jonashjerpe7421]

@@enterthevoidIi It is a part of Tibetan Varjana forms.of buddhism.

[@edgepixel8467]

In Zen there is an emphasis of doing things together, not alone.

[@andreshernandez3107]

Hi, Brad. I've been looking at your channel these past few days. I will admit that your videos have been informative and cleared up many confusions regarding the Buddhist tradition. However, I am wondering what your opinion on Alan Watt is, considering some people in the community disagree with his lectures. His talks introduced me to Zen and he seems like an insightful man, despite his vices.

[@HardcoreZen]

For a long time, I didn't pay any attention to Alan Watts. I just wasn't interested. Then a few years ago I happened to read an essay of his called This Is It. I really liked that essay a lot and I started reading more of his material and watching videos of his lectures. I think he's pretty good. I haven't read everything he wrote or watched all of his lectures that you can find on KZbin. But everything that I *have* seen from him has been really good.

[@Tsotha]

@@HardcoreZen I like the two books of Watts' I've read but I find his entire style and approach very theoretical and abstract, the reason I liked your "Don't be a Jerk" so much is precisely that it's more "yeah but what does this actually do" explaining the surrounding context as well as what the practical purpose of everything I typically find confusing and weird about Buddhism.

[@HardcoreZen]

Thanks@@Tsotha

[@druma9691]

Zen Identity

[@sparrowsparrow4197]

Howdie pàl...!!!

[@n3ur0n3t]

Brad, any advice on when your legs go to sleep? I sit full lotus & mine start to tingle around 20min (which usually tells me it's been ~20min). I've read various things... that you should sit through it, to adjust etc. I usually just continue unless they're going completely numb and it's too much of a distraction, then I'll adjust to half-lotus. Is this correct, or is there a better way?

[@devintraciwiesner6235]

I know you wrote this to Brad, however I hope you don't mind if I throw out a thing or two. As you mentioned, when your legs fall asleep, try adjusting your position on your meditation cushion, specifically try moving forward closer to the edge. Try even just moving forward 1/4 of an inch at a time. Hopefully through these adjustments you will find where you need to be on the cushion and you could start there so that your legs do not fall asleep at all. Also, recognize that legs falling asleep does not have to be a distraction, even if they are completely numb. Just let go of your concern and sit through it until your round ends. As long as you are only sitting for a 30 or 35 minute round you should be find without changing your posture.

[@FS-dm6et]

25 or 40 minutes???? didn't sit bodhidarma for 7 years or something like that? lol

[@osip7315]

my view is that zazen teaches a certain mental skill which once gained obviates the necessity to do zazen "do nothing time" is still needed and often quite large chunks of it, but sitting in acutal zazen is not required or even useful you should pick up this skill within three years, if you haven't by then, please consider golf or breeding

[@Yeti_Boop]

I have no idea where you are getting this information but I disagree.

[@osip7315]

james, why not talk about what zazen you do and how its making you more open minded ? or is it time to look at golf ?

[@vishnu2407]

Wat

[@maxomnicast6010]

Zazen is not required to begin with. Thats the whole point of doing it.

[@osip7315]

max, i found i needed to do it and i could only do it in group sittings and the group aspect did improve very poor social skills

[@sparrowsparrow4197]

Howdie pàl...!!!