Morning Zazen — The Zen Practice of First Light
Zen monasteries begin the day with pre-dawn zazen, seated meditation that cultivates the clear, present awareness from which skillful and unwasteful action arises.
In Zen monastic life the day opens long before sunrise with zazen, just sitting in upright awareness, followed by chanting and mindful work practice (samu). Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen, taught that enlightenment and practice are one, so the simple act of sitting attentively at dawn is itself the realization of clarity, not merely a means to it. This trained presence carries into every subsequent act, so that sweeping a path or balancing the monastery's accounts is done with full, undivided attention. Waste — of time, of resources, of attention — arises from distraction, and Zen's economy of effort flows from its discipline of presence. The frugal, mindful stewardship for which Zen communities are known is the natural fruit of a mind made clear by morning sitting, a discipline whose attentional benefits are now well documented in mindfulness research.
To study the Way is to study the self; to study the self is to forget the self.
Mindfulness research linking meditation to reduced impulsivity and improved attention illuminates how Zen's pre-dawn sitting cultivates the present, unwasteful stewardship characteristic of monastic economy.
Shobogenzo
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Zen monasteries open the day with seated meditation at first light. What is named here is clear attention rather than blessing, which makes it the odd one out in this group.