Orientation to Zen – Week Four

Welcome to week four of the Online Orientation to Zen Course! You have completed three weeks of daily sitting. Congratulations on making this far. It is quite the accomplishment to have sat regularly for three weeks. You should feel like you are really settling into this practice habit and that it is becoming a part of your daily routine. This week we will increase the time you sit to twenty five minutes. We have provided a 25-minute practice video below for you use to use help time your sits, if you wish to use it. You will also be chanting every sit this week to really get some experience with chanting practice in addition to your sitting practice.

Watch Video:

Instructions for Week Four

This week will will increase the length of the sits significantly to 25 minutes. While this might seem like a stretch, it should be achievable if you have been sitting consistently over the last three weeks. The other change to our practice this week is to let go of the raft of counting and just following the breath.

Timed 25-Minute Practice Session

You have been sitting for fifteen minutes a day for the last week. This next week we will increase the length of the sits to twenty five minutes. The video below will take you through a twenty five minute sit, with bells to indicate when the sit begins and ends. Feel free to use this video for all of your sits this week, or sit in silence without the video if you prefer.

Practice Schedule:

  • Twenty-five minutes of zazen each day
  • Complete “Week Four Training Journal” each day
  • Three twenty-five-minute periods of zazen on day seven with five minutes of kinhin or rest kinhin between

Remember to update your practice journal each day so you can keep track of your progress through this program.

Chanting Practice:

This week you will chant before and after each sit. Record any thoughts or feelings you have about chanting in your journal.

Supplementary Training Videos:

Arriving and Entering the Zendo

In this supplementary video, we will learn about arriving at and entering the Zendo.