Where are you located in your body? Most of us, without ever having chosen it, sense ourselves somewhere behind the eyes. Zazen instructions typically bundle two separable practices: disidentifying from thinking, and relocating the self in the belly. Contemporary mindfulness often teaches the first and omits the second. Zen's own instruction is to sit as a buddha rather than in order to become one, trusting a monastic container to do that work silently; outside such a container, this talk suggests, it has to be made explicit. To that end it explores a Daoist qigong exercise, “Sun Ding Fut,” translated as “Sitting Like a Buddha.” While disidentifying from thoughts, the practitioner draws down (inhales) the experiential quality of each sense field to the belly, so that a sense impression isn't just perceived but also felt. After the new locus is built in this way, the final instruction is to release it and sit with an undivided mind. Freedom is always freedom from something: releasing a belly locus is not the same as releasing a head locus, and neither means never having a center, only not occupying one compulsively.

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Zenki Christian Dillo Roshi is the the guiding teacher at the Boulder Zen Center in Colorado, USA. This podcast shares the regular dharma talks given at the center. Zenki Roshi approaches Zen practice as a craft of transformation, liberation, wisdom and compassionate action. His interest is to bring Buddhism alive within the Western cultural context, while staying committed to the traditional emphasis on embodiment.