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Koun Franz (1973-)
https://nyoho.com/about/
Kōun 幸雲 Franz was born in Helena, Montana, but has spent a good deal of his adult life in Japan. He was ordained in 2001, then trained at Zuiōji ずいおうじ 【随応寺】 and Shōgoji [Shōgoji functions as a branch temple of Zuiōji] monasteries. From 2006 to 2010, he served as resident priest of the Anchorage Zen Community in Alaska. Koun is married to Tracy Franz—they now live with their two kids in Canada (Halifax, Nova Scotia), where he leads practice at Zen Nova Scotia.
https://thousandharbourszen.com/about
Koun Franz came to Halifax, Nova Scotia, from Japan, where he trained, taught, and translated at traditional monasteries and temples. From 2006 to 2010, he also served as resident priest of the Anchorage Zen Community in Alaska. Some of his writings on Buddhist practice can be found at Nyoho Zen [nyohō-e 如法衣] and One Continuous Mistake; many of his talks are available on the THZ Podcast. A former board member for the Association of Soto Zen Buddhists and Soto Zen Buddhist Association, he is recognized by the Soto school in Japan as a kokusai fukyoshi, or international teacher.
Interviews
http://sweepingzen.com/koun-franz-interview/
http://nonduality.org/2014/05/05/5213-colin-drake-on-awakening-koun-franz-on-zen-dugald-semple-on-simplicity/
Keizan’s “Notes on What to Be Aware of in Zazen.” (Zazen Yōjinki)
by Koun Franz
https://nyoho.com/2018/07/07/you-know-what-youre-doing-keizans-yojinki-part-1/
https://nyoho.com/2018/07/25/do-nothing-at-all-zazen-yojinki-part-2/
https://nyoho.com/2018/08/06/no-back-or-front-no-inside-or-outside-zazen-yojinki-part-3/
https://nyoho.com/2018/09/02/like-a-fool-like-an-idiot-zazen-yojinki-part-4/
https://nyoho.com/2018/09/07/avoid-getting-caught-up-zazen-yojinki-part-5/
https://nyoho.com/2018/09/15/no-struggle-zazen-yojinki-part-6/
Dharma Lineage
永平道元 Eihei Dōgen (1200-1253)
孤雲懐奘 Koun Ejō (1198-1280)
徹通義介 Tettsū Gikai (1219-1309)
螢山紹瑾 Keizan Jōkin (1268-1325)
峨山韶碩 Gasan Jōseki (1275-1366)
通幻寂靈 Tsūgen Jakurei (1322-1391)
石屋真梁 Sekioku Shinryō (1345-1423)
竹居正猷 Chikkyo Shōyū (1380-1461)
器之為璠 Kishi Ihan (1404-1468)
大庵須益 Dai'an Su'eki (1406-1473)
全岩東純 Zengan Tōjun (?-1495)
足翁永滿 Soku'ō Eiman (1435-1505)
Hanrin Zuishun
Isen Sōgei
Ryokushi Tōsho
Mitsuden Kison
Sen-An Myōgen
Kengan Sōin
Yūzan Chōshuku
Kenshū Shunsatsu
Kōgan Chōkun
Gushin Shūken
Sōsen Myōkai
Daisō Chigan
Dokusen Takuryū
Gyōgan Genshū
Daibi Keijun
Taisei Seikai
Seigan Genshuku
Zenkoku Genjun
Bokugan Ryōjun
Kigan Hōsen
Kakuan Dairin
Kōgan Keichū
Taiun Gensei
Mankai Taikei
Mokuden Daiyō
Keishitsu Ichimei
Zentō Dairyū
Kanchū Setsudō
Daigaku Shūdō
Yōin Kōsoku
幸雲 Kōun Franz (1973-)
An Attempt at Instructions for Zazen
by Kōun 幸雲 Franz
Last summer, as I was re-reading Carl Bielefeldt’s Dogen’s Manuals of Zen Meditation, I received a very kind email from a reader asking me to offer my take on how to do zazen. I have no idea how many times I’ve offered zazen instruction in person, but in reading that request, I realized that I had never tried to write it all down. Furthermore, it had never really occurred to me that I have a particular take on it — when I explain it to someone else, I’m very aware of both Dogen’s instructions and things I’ve heard from my teachers. But the timing — that book, with this request — inspired me to look more closely at how I approach zazen, how I hear the explanation in my head.
Much of Bielefeldt’s book (which I cannot recommend highly enough) chronicles the evolution of Dogen’s “Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen [Fukanzazengi]” from an earlier draft to a later one, showing that Dogen’s understanding of zazen — both how to practice it, and how to express that practice to others — was evolving. Dogen passed away when he was 53; if he’d lived to 80, I have no doubt that the zazen instructions we read in temples every evening would be different, somehow, from what they are.
I am fond of complaining that we rely too heavily on Dogen in this tradition. That doesn’t come from any complaint about him or his writings — not at all. But it seems to me that in the 800 years since his death, we should have a few more people to reference. More teachers should have stepped forward with their own understanding of the tradition. Or perhaps the institutions around this practice should have given greater voice to those who were trying, in vain, to be heard. In any case, 800 years later, it’s still pretty much all Dogen.
So on planes and in line at the bank, I have found myself picking away at my own instructions for zazen. Of this, I’m sure: if I had tried to write these instructions 10 years ago, they would have been very, very different. And I sincerely hope that 10 years from now, these instructions will be equally different, that they will have evolved with my understanding of the practice. If all goes well, I’ll read these instructions when I’m an old man and wince a little, seeing more clearly then what I don’t see clearly now.
But today, at age 40, I think this is my best effort. I put out these instructions (some are pretty standard, but a few are not) not to rewrite anything, but to put myself on the spot, to make myself open to whatever discussion or comments might follow. This is a work in progress. More than that, I do it in the hopes that it might start a dialogue, and that others might feel a push to publish their own instructions. I would very much like to read them.
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INSTRUCTIONS FOR ZAZEN
Choose this place.
Whenever you can, sit with others. When you can’t, sit with others. Let others sit with you.
Wear the kashaya. Just as Buddhas sit in zazen while zazen is the activity of Buddhas, Buddhas wear the kashaya — the kashaya manifests the shape of a Buddha. Even if there is no robe, just wear it.
Do not put yourself into sitting — come empty handed. Do not make zazen — let sitting reveal itself. Do not use zazen for this or that — sitting is neither means nor end.
Spread a blanket or mat and place a zafu on top. Sit down, marking the center of the zafu with the base of the spine.
To sit in the full lotus, place the right foot over the left thigh, then the left foot over the right thigh. Rest your left hand on your right hand, palm up — the middle joint of the middle finger below aligns with the middle joint of the middle finger above, and thumbtips touch as if trying not to, just near enough to feel the electricity between them. This is called Sitting in Practice.
Reverse the legs; reverse the hands. This is called Sitting in Verification.
Sit in practice today and in two days. Sit in verification tomorrow and yesterday.
If not full lotus, half lotus. If not half lotus, rest the foot of the raised leg across the calf of the lower leg. Or kneel. Or sit on a chair. Remember that this body is the buddha’s body. Do not harm it. Also, do not underestimate it.
Always place the knees below the hips, the pelvis tilted forward, the lower back slightly curved. Establish a posture that need not fight gravity.
Be the tree beneath which other buddhas sit.
Press the hands below the navel; let them move with the breath. In full lotus, rest them on top of the heels. In any other posture, support the hands with a blanket or cushion.
Once seated, rotate the torso at the hips in wide circles, then in small ones until the spine is holding the earth in place; pull in the chin and stretch the back of the neck upwards, lifting the sky.
Take seven long breaths. As you inhale, fill the body with a wind that loops through your feet and across your thumbs. As you exhale, do so slowly, continuing until your breath has touched the far corners of the world. Exhale until nothing remains.
On the eighth breath, just breathe.
How long must one sit? How many breaths? Ancient buddhas did not measure zazen in minutes or hours.
Let in all sounds — hear the shifting of the continents, a bird turning in flight. Facing the wall, see beyond the horizon. Feel your heart beating, your lungs moving, your skin expanding and shrinking, the magnetic draw of your thumbs. Breathe in the stench and the perfume of the world. Let your tongue rest flat in your mouth, and taste.
Mara visits during zazen, but not as visions — visions, if only glanced at, will pass by like shadows. Nor will Mara come disguised as desire — desires, confronted directly, lose their power to haunt. Mara will visit as a weight on the eyelids, bearing the soft seduction of sleep. Open your eyes; if they grow heavy or the world blurs, open them wider. Keep the room cool. Let light in. Explore the waking world, not dreams.
Be the force of gravity, pulling you deep into the ground; be the weight of a flame. Do not move from this posture. With every cell in your body, every drop of blood, every inch of skin, constantly do not move.
Zazen is not non-doing; it is not non-thinking. Zazen is a deep, dreamless sleep on fire. It is clutching a boulder to your belly at the bottom of the cool ocean. Roots penetrate and plunge downward into the rough textures of the earth. A cloud dissolves into open sky.
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Sitting in Practice: gōmaza (降魔坐)
Sitting in Verification: kichijōza (吉祥坐)
The phrase “weight of a flame” is taken from a verse provided by Dai-en Bennage, abbess of Mt. Equity Zendo: “Abandoning myself to breathing out, and letting breathing in naturally fill me. All that is left is this empty zafu under the vast sky, the weight of a flame.” (original source unknown)
