Practice Resources

Below are few resources to help with home practice and with increasing awareness of zendo behaviors.

Establishing a Home Practice

While sitting once or twice a week with the Sangha is an excellent and necessary part of Zen practice, our spiritual work really requires a daily effort.  Indeed, it is more important to sit every day, even if you can only devote ten minutes to that effort, than to sit for longer periods only occasionally.

To establish a stable home practice, it is good to designate a room or at least a corner of a room as a meditation space.  Purchasing your own zabuton and zafu, as well as items for a small altar can help provide a physical and psychological space that encourage regular practice.

Any small table will serve for your altar.  On it you should place a candle, a small vase of fresh flowers, a water cup, and an incense bowl with the sand, rice, or ash in which to burn sticks of incense.  (If incense smoke bothers you, we suggest that you try one of the many varieties of “low smoke” or “smokeless” incense types.  These can be used alone or in combination with incense warmers that heat, but do not burn, incense.)  Finally, you should have an image of Buddha for your altar.  (It is also acceptable to have an image of Manjusri Bodhisattva or Kanzeon Bodhisattva.)

Each of the items on your altar has symbolic value that will help you connect to your practice, deepening your sense of gratitude, reverence, generosity, compassion, and wisdom.  The Buddha image reminds us of the awakening of wisdom.  The candle, which is placed on the right (from the viewer’s perspective), represents the light of prajna, or wisdom.  The fresh flowers, which are placed to the left of the Buddha, represent impermanence.  The water cup, which should never be filled more than half-full of water, is a symbol of generosity and a gift to the Buddha, as well as the “hungry ghosts” who are said to hover about the things on an altar.  These ghosts suffer with worldly “thirsts” they can never satisfy and help us remember that we ourselves hunger for the truth.  The water cup is placed on a small stand directly in front of the Buddha image.  Finally, the incense burner is placed in front of the water cup.  The burning incense is a symbol of purity.  You may also think of the incense as a symbol of the brevity of our lives—and therefore of the urgent need for practice.

Please note that, although we bow toward the Buddha image in the zendo (and you should do likewise at home), we are not “worshipping” the image; we are, rather, ritually enacting an expression of gratitude for the Buddha’s teaching and honoring the years he spent in teaching others to liberate themselves from suffering.  Also, because each of us has Buddha-nature, our bows toward the Buddha image are bows made to ourselves.  Treat the Buddha image with the same reverence that you would treat the actual Buddha, and the Buddha will then appear within you.

You needn’t buy expensive, large, ornate, or fancy things for your home altar.  You will likely find that simply keeping your meditation room or area clean, orderly, and uncluttered will help support consistent and orderly practice.

To learn more about weekly meditation meetings with the sangha, please read Zendo Procedures.

Daily Chants

The following vows and gathas are frequently chanted both in the temple and at home.  Because they are short, it is best to commit them to memory.

The Four Bodhisattva Vows

are chanted three times after weekly meetings for zazen and after a teisho.

Sentient Being are Numberless; I vow to save them.
Desires are inexhaustible; I vow to put an end to them.
The Dharmas are boundless; I vow to master them.
The Buddha Way is unsurpassable; I vow to attain it.

The Hand-Washing Gatha

may be chanted whenever one washes one’s hands.  This helps keep the mind directed toward practice.

As I wash my hands,
I vow that all beings attain pure, clean hands
To receive and uphold the Buddha’s teaching.

The Gatha on Opening the Sutra

is chanted before a teisho.

The Dharma, incomparably profound and infinitely subtle,
Is rarely encountered, even in millions of ages.
Now we see it, hear it, receive and maintain it.
May we completely realize the Tathagatha’s true meaning.

The Evening Gatha

is chanted at the end of the day during Ango.  It is often found imprinted on the han.

Let me respectfully remind you,
Life and death are of supreme importance.
Time swiftly passes by, and opportunity lost.
Each of us should strive to awaken!
Awaken!  Take heed!
Do not squander your life!

Zen Terms Glossary

Many Japanese terms are used in Zen.  You may wish to refer to our glossary for quick definitions of the ones most frequently encountered.

Books

Everyday Zen: Love and Work by Charlotte Joko Beck, Roshi
Taking the Path of Zen by Robert Aitken, Roshi
The Driftwood Shrine: Discovering Zen in American Poetry by John Gendo Wolff, Roshi
The Three Pillars of Zen by Phillip Kapleau, Roshi
What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi, Roshi
On Zen Practice: Body, Breath, and Mind by Taizan Maezumi, Roshi, and Bernie Glassman