Zazen as an Enactment Ritual

Chapter 5 examines zazen, or seated meditation, the central ritual of Zen, from the Sōtō Zen perspective initiated by Dōgen. Rather than viewing zazen as a means to attain enlightenment, the essay presents it as 'the practice-realization of totally culminated awakening,' reversing the typical cause-and-effect logic. The author traces this approach to Vajrayana teachings influential in Japanese Shingon, Nichiren, Tendai, Jōdo, and Zen. The essay develops the 'unity of practice and realization' through Dōgen's instructions for meditation ritual, his extended essays, and direct teachings to his monks. When meditation is understood as the expression or function of buddhas rather than a technique for spiritual acquisition, meditative awareness in everyday life becomes possible.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 5 addresses what many today would consider the central ritual of Zen—zazen—or seated meditation. Although zazen is commonly understood by way of instrumental logic as a means or method for attaining enlightenment, from the Sōtō Zen perspective initiated by Dōgen and featured in this essay, the order of cause and effect is reversed—zazen is “the practice‐realization of totally culminated awakening.” In developing this approach to meditation, Leighton traces its roots to Vajrayana teachings that were influential not simply in Japanese Shingon, but also in Nichiren, Tendai, Jōdo, and Zen. Upon that Buddhist foundation, the essay develops the “unity of practice and realization” by showing how this theme appears in Dōgen's instructions for meditation ritual (Eihei shingi), in his extended essays (Shōbōgenzō), and in direct teachings to his monks (Eihei kōroku). The essay claims that when meditation is taken as “the expression or function of buddhas,” rather than as a technique of spiritual acquisition, an emphasis on meditative awareness in everyday life is made possible.