Again, How Much Time?

Okay, so it’s difficult. I have a lot on my plate. Even retired, there’s family, and Zen students, and doctors’ appointments. I have my writing. How much time do I have for meditation or prayer or chanting?

I’ve been answering that question for a long time now, for myself, for others. A half hour a day is enough. For most of us. Most days. Not every day. There are days, I learned early in my practice, when I am just as agitated after a half hour on my cushion as I was when I sat down. On those days, Ken, sit a second period. Almost always, that’s enough.

But it won’t always be. It was early in my Zen practice, still sitting at the Soho Zendo, when I realized this meditation practice was my refuge. I felt that I could sit through anything, certainly not in thirty minutes or an hour, maybe not even in a weeklong retreat, maybe I would have to go to live in a monastery, maybe a year, but if I sat long enough, I would emerge whole, healed. That is my refuge. It still feels good, but is it true? Will I really be able to sit through whatever life throws at me? Really, I don’t know. I’ll try. I’ll find out.

Meanwhile, a half hour a day is enough. And, yes, it was a good idea when I was able to manage a couple of retreats a year. I thought of them as boosters for my practice, but I’ve been wondering lately where my 30-minute rule came from. Did I hear it in a zendo? Did I read it in a book? Did I make it up? How is it possible that thirty minutes is right for everyone? We’re all different.

Zen practice is in so many ways about learning to pay attention. There is the obvious instruction when we first begin sitting practice, to pay attention to our breath. Usually we begin by counting exhalations: one to ten and begin again; lose count and begin again. More subtly, we are also learning to pay attention to our bodies: notice the tensions – tensions held for more than a minute or so result in isometric pain – release the tensions. But how long should I sit? Why wasn’t that a matter for attention?

I think I know the answer now. We need to train ourselves to sit still. And to do that, it helps – it may even be essential – that we take the decision making out of our sitting practice. We were urged to do that in a lot of ways: in particular, when you’re starting out, always sit at the same time every day. For me, it was always early morning. For others, it was late evening. Whenever possible, sit it the same place. Use the same cushion. Take the deciding out of the practice. Most importantly, take the decision-making out of the length of the sitting. A teacher can help beginners with this, setting weekly goals as we build our sitting practice.

But is thirty minutes right for you? When are you ready to decide? It helps to have a teacher to make this decision with you. It’s too easy to run away from what’s arising.

Is thirty minutes right for me? Although I did sit an hour a day during Covid, I’m back to my half hour. Is there really any certainty that thirty minutes is better than thirty-one? Or twenty-nine? Probably not. It just helps to take the extra decision-making out of the practice.