Meditation: Resistance to being presence

Another expression for Zazen might be, being presence, but when we first sit down we may experience a strong pull away from being presence, almost like being caught in a rip current. Sometimes, it is best not to resist resistance and allow ourselves to be carried away by the rip in the faith that it will naturally come to an end and we will wake up again, in the light of a deep sense of being presence.

Resistance to just-sitting is part of our experience of just-sitting. It is hard to just rest in being here now without desiring something to happen or to be entertained in some way or to get involved in our thoughts. Or to get preoccupied with constant evaluations of how are we going? Am I doing this right or wrong? Am I there yet? As if there is a there to get too. As my teacher, Barry Magid says, “In that just sitting we enter a place which is neither right or wrong. We don't have to make anything happen. This practise heals our separation from life. Nirvana is nonseparation from life. This is our healing.