“FOCUS, and then you will be able to relax…”

Now, that definitely sounds like an oxymoron to me.

At least it was when I first heard it from Reverend Takafumi Kawakami (“Rev.”), while we were seated cross-legged from each other on our separate small cushions. The meditation hall was quiet….it was 9am in a spring morning Kyoto and the air outside was crisp and cool. I was taking this Zen meditation session very seriously. Still, I couldn’t help but ask Rev. in English, “Ermm, really? Is that possible?”


Reverend Takafumi meditating with me at Shunko-In Temple, Kyoto

Now first you got to know a little about Rev. Takafumi. If he was any stricter, I think I would have been hit on the head by the keisaku (a piece of wood used to whack meditators for losing focus or falling asleep, or in my case for being too inquisitive). Fortunately, Rev. is quite atypical of a Zen Abbot although he might seem like a stiff-necked serious guy from this picture (well that was because I asked him to pose…). Probably in his mid-thirties, Rev is the Vice-Abbot of Shunko-in Temple in Kyoto. His family had been caretakers of the Shunko-in Temple in Kyoto for centuries, and he would one day become his family’s 5th generation Chief Abbot here. Despite this heavy duty background, Rev. was actually a light-hearted guy. Educated in the U.S., Rev. was not only forward looking with his programs to educate foreigners on Zen monastery architecture and meditation, he very much looked like any hip city guy after ‘official’ working hours in his jeans and bubble jacket! Best of all, he believes that meditation is for relaxation, not torture! :)

Being introduced to the halls of the temple...fascinating

It might also be appropriate at this juncture to talk a little about Zen Buddhism, which is said to have come to Japan from China and flourished in Japan in the 14th century. The austere discipline and practical approach of Zen made it the Buddhism of the medieval Japanese military class. It is easy to categorize Zen Buddhism as a religion or a philosophy, but dig deeper and one would realize it is neither. Zen Buddhism is an experience…big on ‘intuitive understanding’ and recognition of the original nature of things, rather than on intellectual reasoning and philosophizing. It is concerned with what actually IS, rather than what we think or feel about what it is. It is concerned with the present, the Now. According to Rev., we should all experience less stress in our lives by concentrating our tasks based on what we have at present, unhampered by past failures nor the uncertainties of the future. Now this sounds easy enough, but how do we reinforce this approach and be aware of the present?

Simple. Through Zen meditation. And I had chosen to learn about it here within the compounds of the huge Myoshinji Temple in the northwest part of Kyoto, where I had also decided to stay 1 night the day before. This is the perfect place to learn about Zen meditation since Kyoto was one of the key places where Zen Buddhism flourished and several Zen monasteries here had become educational centers.

Zen meditation practices singular concentration on the breathing movement. If you think about it, our breathing really IS the perfect representative of the Now. We breathe all the time, all the ‘Nows’. Of course, like all other things that we take for granted in our lives, we never pay attention to it. By concentrating on breathing though, we are able to bring ourselves closer to an awareness of the present.

Well, up to this point all these made sense to me…I shouldn’t have any problem. But getting “there” with Zen meditation is not as easy as how Rev. made it sound to be. He lit a joss stick (used to measure time, not as an offering to any god or ancestor, thank goodness), hit the wooden blocks three times and rang a bell to signal the start of a meditation session. I was so aware of my concentration on breathing itself, that I couldn’t REALLY concentrate. I know it sounds confusing, but it’s true. My eyes were closed, but my eyeballs were roaming in all directions with random images and thoughts flashing before me…those of the bird chirping outside, of my posture, my breakfast, my lunch, my existence (ok, not in order of importance). I had to sit and keep my back as straight as possible while drawing in my breaths and exhaling them out. After the first joss stick was almost burnt and I had made my first attempt at meditation, Rev. looked me seriously in the eye and said, “I see your head nodding downwards…" followed by my declaration that no, I was not asleep. "You must sit up straighter. To sit straighter, imagine that your belly button is being pushed upwards….”. And to think that being a ballet dancer, I would have no problem whatsoever with posture.

And so I started my 2nd session, concentrating on my breathing and trying to imagine my belly button moving upwards from my belly to my abdomen…and then upwards somemore..up the abdomen..to...

And then, all of a sudden, I snapped back and returned to concentrate on my breathing. It was hard.

The joss-stick is meant to measure time! No cheating now...

Halfway through the second session though, I was starting to roam less and was concentrating better on just a few things (like my breathing, and still, the birds chirping outside!). Quite strangely the more I listened to my breathing, the less I concentrated on my concentration, and I actually began to…relax. I wasn’t even conscious that I was starting to relax. I guess that was the point. That was the answer to the oxymoron. Now perhaps I am starting to understand what Rev. meant by relaxing through meditation, through a one-minded focus on breathing.

Of course I am a long way away from mastering Zen meditation, but the short sessions helped me experience the idea of being singularly focused on the present. Surprisingly, it somehow gave an invigorating effect…a ‘can-do’ attitude to face life (for that day at least!). I had been looking forward to this, and I must say that practicing meditation under the direct teachings of a Zen abbot must be the best personal encounter of my inner self in Kyoto and with Kyoto, and perhaps with the underlying spirit of Zen.

View of its Zen garden from the corridor of Shunko-in Temple