Meditation is the activity of the reality of life. In meditation we see our potential to centre our resolutions on personal growth in harmony with all around us.

Meditation is not separate from the rest of life, it is not something that is practised for a moment each day and then forgotten until the next time we sit down to practice. All situations provide an opportunity to practice, to grow in wisdom and compassion. We should be mindful in all circumstances without withdrawing from the world, and learn to let go of our worldly attachments. During meditation we learn to let go of our thoughts, which enables us to wake up to the undivided reality of life that pervades the whole universe.

The aim of Buddhist meditation is to purify the mind of all negative tendencies - such as greed, anger and delusion, and to gain insight into ourselves and the reality of the world around us - Perfect Insight. Perfect Insight is the real and palpable knowledge that all conditioned things are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and without an enduring, changeless substance. When all negative tendencies are removed, the mind will be free from suffering and realise the universal non-dual life. Meditation is quite simply the practice which palpably and relentlessly destroys the grip of desire, aversion and confusion. Meditation enables us to cut through to the truth of the matter.

Everything which comes into existence will eventually go out of existence. Anything that can go out of existence cannot bring true and lasting happiness. To believe otherwise is delusion. The practice of meditation begins with Correct Effort (Shõshõjin 正精進). During meditation it is Correct Mindfulness (shõnen 正念) that keeps you anchored and stable, free from distractions. With sustained concentration - Correct Concentration (shõjõ 正定) - tranquility arises. With practice we can train our minds to control the content and quality of our thoughts.

Insight arises in a still, observant, well-trained mind. We can then take these insights into our daily lives, where they can make a real difference.

There are two aspects to Mukyõhõ Niõ zazen meditation practice which we call shikan (samathavipasyana in Sanskrit). Shikan isn't two types of meditation, but rather two qualities of mind, two aspects to a concentrated mind. We learn to polish the mind, sharpen the mind, clean the mind through these two qualities of mind. Shi which can be called "tranquility meditation" and kan which is often called "insight meditation." First through shi - we sharpen our concentration and then using that sharpened concentration we learn to see things as they really are - kan.

"There are many paths for entering the reality of enlightenment,
but in essence they are all contained within two practices:
stopping (shi) and seeing (kan)."
- Hsiao Chih-kuan, Chih-i

Shi is the concentration of the tranquil and peaceful mind. It involves the very controlled or mindful action of holding onto an object, and does not allow the mind to wander. The mind remains completely still, not moving. The word shi (止) means "stopping" and refers to stopping the false or misleading activity of the mind. When the mind becomes still it becomes very peaceful, a concentration of pure states of mind. The mind becomes free of defilement. When you can fix the mind to a single object and stop it from wandering there is no fluctuation and the mind becomes stable and peaceful. Having accomplished this, we look within to contemplate our thoughts. There we soon discover that our thoughts arise in a great number and often without any relatedness, appearing for the most part randomly.

We also soon come to realise that future thoughts have not yet come. When we ask ourselves which of these thoughts is our mind, we realise that our false mind rises and falls and is actually devoid of any reality. If we continue this way, we become familiar with this unreality, and our false mind comes to an end by itself; and with the false mind at an end, reality is evident.

"Shi is the effective cause of attaining concentrative repose.
Kan is the very basis of enlightened wisdom."
- Hsiao Chih-kuan, Chih-i

When we first sit down to practice, our mind is often unsettled. This is known as the unsettled mind, and to set it at rest, shi meditation is used. If it is stopped again and again, the random unsettled mind soon comes to rest.

"In the practice of the Way of the Buddha
you should use the Buddha image as a model.
Beginners, however, should not fix their eyes upon the Nyorai Buddha image
for they are not capable of Nyorai Zazen.
They should first affix their eyes on the images
of the fierce Niõ (仁王) and Fudõ Myõ-õ (不動明王)."
- Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi

Our practice consists of clenching the teeth and fists
and focusing all of our attention
on the images of the fierce Niõ (仁王)
and the delusion-subduing “Immovable One” - Fudõ Myõ-õ (不動明王).
- Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi

In Niõ zazen (仁王坐禅) practice we see our potential to centre our resolutions on personal growth in harmony with the inevitable. The Niõ and Fudõ Myõ-õ represent those aspects of the universe that encourage and enforce the proper progress of the scheme of totality. The Niõ with their knowledge of combat, their kongõsho representing the diamond-hard wisdom of the Dharma, and their determination to defend truth and reality; and Fudõ Myõ-õ, with his wisdom sword, which cuts through the most stubborn delusions, and his rope that binds our violent passions and emotions. We concentrate on their fierce, threatening images as our model for spiritual energy.

“Rouse your vital energy, fix your gaze, and acquire the energy
of the delusion-conquering forms of the Niõ and Fudõ Myõ-õ.
Guarding this Niõshin (Niõ-mind) and Fudõshin (immovable mind),
you will overcome delusions.”
- Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi

The Niõ are to be found at the gates to many Buddhist temples where they symbolically stop evil from passing through and allow virtuous people to enter. They are considered to have extraordinary strength and it is their strength and determination to fight off evil that we wish to emulate and acquire.

Fudõ Myõ-õ is to be emulated as he represents the battle with evil with a powerful mind of compassion, working for the protection of true happiness. He sits (or stands) on a flat rock which symbolises the unshakeable peace and bliss which he bestows upon us. He represents the awakening of enlightenment.

"You must realise that acquiring the energy of the Buddhist images is your most urgent concern."
- Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi

The Niõ and Fudõ Myõ-õ are not deities, they are not to be prayed to or believed in. Statues and paintings in Buddhism are simply tools. Buddhists do not believe in deities or gods. Practitioners are encouraged to study the images in meditation and to embody their represented qualities.

"Fixing one's eyes upon these images we are able to infuse our practice with their intensive energy, to emulate their qualities."
- Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi

Meditation is not separate from the rest of life, it is not something that is practised for a moment each day and then forgotten until the next time we sit down to practice. All situations provide an opportunity to practice, to grow in wisdom and compassion. We should be mindful in all circumstances without withdrawing from the world, and learn to let go of our worldly attachments.

"Fix your attention solely on the Buddhist images
and maintain your kongõshin (金剛心 diamond-hard mind) day and night."
- Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi

Having become masters of our our mind we awaken it by means of kan meditation practice. Kan (観) means "to see" and refers to contemplation or insight. Kan involves looking inward to the source of our thoughts. Kan does not involve holding the mind still. It is a penetrative observation, without thinking. It allows the mind to realise things as they truly are without conceptualisation. It allows us to see the world just-as-it-is, the true nature of our surroundings. The mind will transcend everything, it transcends conceptual reality and conditioned reality and finally realises absolute reality. We come to develop an understanding of the nature of the world, the nature of mind-body processes. Everything in the world is a mind-body process. They are realised in their true nature as impermanent, suffering and non-self.

Kan meditation leads the practitioner to intuitively experience the true nature of reality, without judgement, preconception or wishful thinking. The object is to learn to pay attention. We think that we are paying attention already, but that is not so. Through the process of mindfulness, we will slowly become aware of what is really happening around us and within us, devoid of our conceptual imagery. It is a process of self discovery, a participatory investigation in which we observe our own experiences while participating in them, and as they occur.

The object in shi meditation is a concept conceived by the mind, the Niõ (仁王) and Fudõ Myõ-õ (不動明王). It is not real. It is something that is created by the mind. With kan meditation the object is real in the sense that it is a mind-body process. The mind does not think or conceive the reality. The concentrated mind sees things as they really are. To see things as they really are we need to have a clear state of mind, that clarity comes from kan practice. But we must first train our concentration to have a sharp one-pointed state of mind which comes from shi.

Both shi and kan forms of meditation develop deep concentration and mindfulness. These are not two different meditation systems, they are integral parts of the same practice of complete meditation.

"This fickle, unsteady mind, difficult to guard, difficult to control,
the wise man makes straight, as the fletcher the arrow."
- The Dhammapada