How to Create a Zen Altar
Zen Buddhist altars reflect the teachings, practice and mind of Zen practitioners. Make your Zen altar with the same openness with which you attend your sitting and walking practice. Create a dignified and simple altar environment that reflects qualities like nonattachment and serenity. Keep your mind open to change by creating an altar with changing elements and aspects.
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Things You'll Need
- Low table
- Enso poster
- Silk or cotton cloth
- Buddha statue
- Zen chimes or singing bowl
- Incense holder
- Stones
Instructions
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Set a low wooden table in a serene corner or room. Choose an area without any electronics or electrical items that will distract from the simplicity of your altar and its surroundings.
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Hang a poster of the enso, the Asian calligraphy that resembles a zero. Use the image to remind you of Zen Buddhist mental spaciousness, of the closed experience of life and death and of the Buddhist teaching to sit in the present moment.
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Lay a silk or cotton cloth across the table. Place a statue of Lord Buddha on the cloth.
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Place Zen chimes or a singing bowl to one side of the Buddha statue. Ring the chime to focus your attention before Zazen --- sitting meditation. Set an incense holder near the chimes.
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Use a handful of small stones to recall and experience the Buddhist idea of impermanence. Arrange the stones in different configurations, whenever you feel like doing so. Use the stones to bring your thoughts into the present moment.
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References
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