Atlas›Domain XIII · Contemplative & religious disciplines›Guide 076
Guide XIII-076

Chan and Zen (zazen, shikantaza, koan)

A 25 · L 53 · M 2227 interventions in the Trinity explorer
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[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: Soto zazen, kinhin and zendo forms as published by Sotoshu Shumucho (Soto Zen Headquarters) in the leaflet "The Practice of Zazen" (2014); breath-counting zazen (susokukan) as published on the English site of Myoshin-ji, Kyoto; Chan silent illumination and huatou as taught in the Dharma Drum lineage of Chan Master Sheng Yen (Dharma Drum Retreat Center, New York); sesshin and samu as described for newcomers by the International Zen Association UK (IZAUK); suizen as described by Japan House, University of Illinois (secondary). Koan curricula, oryoki and Dogen's own instructions are given as public outlines only and marked where not verified.

Chan (Chinese) and Zen (Japanese) are East Asian Buddhist schools centred on seated meditation (zazen), walking meditation (kinhin), work and meal practice, intensive retreat (sesshin) and, in some lines, inquiry into a koan or huatou under a teacher. Soto Zen presents zazen as sitting without fixing on any object, letting thoughts "come up and go away freely" while avoiding both distraction and dullness [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014]. Chan silent illumination is presented as "relaxation and awareness" of body, mind and environment, in which settling wandering thought is called "silence" and the emerging clarity "illumination" [source: Dharma Drum, Silent Illumination retreat page]. Huatou practice, as Sheng Yen explains it, works by asking a question until a sensation of doubt grows and, in the tradition's account, breaks open [source: Sheng Yen, Q&A on the huatou method]. Within the tradition, change is framed as awakening or realisation (kensho, enlightenment), a religious concept held by the tradition and described here as the tradition holds it, neither asserted nor dismissed.

For the psychotherapist this is a contemplative practice of a living religious tradition, not a therapy. The therapist's work is: supporting a client who already practises or wishes to practise (client-led, with consent, in the client's own tradition and vocabulary); knowing the published secular adaptations (Domain II: MBSR, MBCT, MSC, CFT; Domain VII: contemplative and Buddhist psychotherapy, spiritually integrated psychotherapy; Domain IV: trauma-sensitive yoga); referring to authorised teachers; adapting for trauma; and recognising and responding to meditation-related adverse effects, particularly around sesshin [synthesis]. No Zen practice is presented as treating physical disease.

2. Framework

The tradition's own progression (as published). There are no clinical phases or session counts in the sources; the tradition describes a pathway of increasing intensity [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014; IZAUK newcomer guide; Dharma Drum retreat page]:

  • Introduction: instruction in posture, hands, eyes, breath and attitude to thought, plus zendo etiquette (gassho, shashu, bowing). The Soto leaflet notes that protocols vary between temples and that chair sitting is permitted [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014].
  • Regular sitting with a group: periods of zazen separated by kinhin; the Soto leaflet describes a bell-marked sequence of zazen, kinhin and closing bows, with a zazen period of about 40 minutes [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014] [uncertain: exact wording not verified].
  • Day-long sittings, then sesshin: IZAUK recommends practising with a local group or attending a local Zen day before a first sesshin; its sesshin includes several long sitting periods each day, silence, communal meals, samu and one-to-one interviews with the teacher (godo) [source: IZAUK]. Dharma Drum's silent illumination intensive ran for about a week with daily lectures, instruction, guided meditation and personal interviews [source: Dharma Drum].
  • Teacher relationship and inquiry practice: huatou is given by the teacher "once a student reaches a certain stage" [source: Sheng Yen Q&A]; koan work in Rinzai lines proceeds in private interview with an authorised teacher [uncertain: not verified].

Criteria the tradition gives for moving on: prior experience with a group before sesshin; readiness judged by the teacher for huatou; and, for sesshin, IZAUK advises that recent or current significant mental distress may mean it is not the right time, to be discussed with the organiser [source: IZAUK; Sheng Yen Q&A].

The therapist's work alongside, in four phases [synthesis]:

  1. Assessment and meaning: what the practice means to the client, lineage and teacher, current dose, retreat plans, trauma history, psychiatric history (especially psychosis, mania, dissociation), and consent to bring the practice into therapy. Move on when the client's goals for including the practice are clear and risk is mapped.
  2. Collaborative integration (ongoing): the practice stays the client's; therapy explores what arises, helps adapt dose and form for safety, and links with secular adaptations if the client prefers non-religious practice. Move on when the client can regulate within practice and knows when to pause.
  3. Intensive periods (around sesshin): screening, a written plan for warning signs, grounding, permission to step out, and contact with the teacher if the client wishes. Move to review after the retreat.
  4. Review and integration: making sense of experiences, including difficult ones, without pathologising or dismissing; adjusting practice; referral if adverse effects persist.

Session count and format for the therapist's work follow the client's main treatment; no source gives a specific number [synthesis].

3. Guiding principles

  • The practice belongs to the tradition and the client. Practical meaning: describe, ask and support; do not teach zazen as a religious instructor or give koans [synthesis].
  • Client-led and consented. Practical meaning: raise the practice only if the client brings it or agrees; record consent and the client's own terms (zazen, sesshin, kensho, sangha) [synthesis].
  • Name the version. Practical meaning: Soto, Rinzai, Chan (Dharma Drum or other), Korean Seon, Vietnamese Thien and Western lineages differ in forms; ask which the client follows rather than assuming [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014 notes temple variation; synthesis].
  • Not concentrating, not suppressing. Practical meaning: in Soto and Chan as published, thoughts are neither fought nor chased; therapy can use the same non-struggle stance with intrusive material while watching for avoidance dressed as acceptance [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014; Myoshin-ji; synthesis].
  • Relaxed alertness. Practical meaning: both dullness and agitation are recognised as obstacles; help the client notice which way they tend to slide [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014; Dharma Drum].
  • Practice in daily activity. Practical meaning: walking, working and eating are practice too; use samu and kinhin as lower-intensity options when sitting is overwhelming [source: Dharma Drum; IZAUK; synthesis].
  • Adverse effects are real and not rare. Practical meaning: ask routinely about difficult experiences; meditation-related challenges range "from minimal and transient to severe and enduring" and occur in people without prior mental-health history [source: Lindahl et al. 2017; Farias et al. 2020].
  • Trauma sensitivity. Practical meaning: manage attention, arousal, relationship, dissociation and social context as Treleaven's five principles frame them [source: Treleaven 2018, publisher description].
  • Dose is adjustable. Practical meaning: shorter sits, eyes open, chair, walking instead of sitting, stepping out of sesshin; all within what the tradition already permits (chair sitting, half lotus, cushions) [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014; Myoshin-ji; synthesis].
  • Respect the teacher's role, and watch its power. Practical meaning: coordinate with the teacher if the client wishes, and stay alert to misuse of authority, which has been documented in some Western Zen communities [source: Tricycle 2014; Lion's Roar 2013].
  • Do not pathologise religious experience; do not miss illness. Practical meaning: assess function, sleep, risk, insight and course rather than content alone [synthesis].
  • Separate roles. Practical meaning: the therapist is not the client's Zen teacher; avoid dual relationships (for example practising in the client's sangha) and disclose one's own practice only when it serves the client [synthesis; ethics code not verified].
  • No health claims. Practical meaning: zazen is not presented as treatment for any physical disease [synthesis].

4. Intervention inventory

Part A describes the practices as the tradition publishes them, so the therapist can understand and discuss what the client does; the teaching itself belongs with the client's teacher. Part B is the therapist's own work alongside. Example language throughout is illustrative.

A1. Zazen posture and setting (Soto version)

  • Purpose and when to use: the foundation of all Zen and Chan sitting. For the therapist, knowing it helps adapt posture for pain, trauma or disability within what the tradition permits [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014].
  • Steps (as published, in summary): sit in the centre of a round cushion (zafu) so that knees and buttocks form a stable triangle, or sit on a chair with an upright back and feet supported; full lotus or half lotus, or any stable position without strain; chin drawn in, neck long, ears over shoulders and nose over navel; shoulders and belly relaxed; hands in the cosmic mudra, one hand resting in the other, palms up, thumb tips lightly touching, in front of the navel; eyes half open, gaze resting on the floor about a metre ahead without focusing; mouth closed, tongue against the palate; a few full breaths, then quiet natural nasal breathing; sway side to side, from larger to smaller movements, to settle upright; at the end, sway again and unfold the legs slowly [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014]. Myoshin-ji's version is similar, with the gaze about two metres ahead and the breath centred in the lower abdomen (tanden) [source: Myoshin-ji]. The two sources describe the hand placement differently; follow the client's own temple [uncertain: sources differ].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Your tradition already allows a chair or a half-lotus. Which position lets you stay upright without pain pulling your attention?"
  • Watch for: knee and back pain pushed through out of pride or fear of doing it wrong; drowsiness with eyes closed (the leaflet gives this as the reason eyes stay half open); for trauma survivors, eyes-closed or still postures that raise arousal. Working signs: stable posture, less strain, the client choosing adaptations without shame [synthesis].

A2. Open-awareness zazen and shikantaza (Soto)

  • Purpose and when to use: Soto's central practice. The Soto tradition associates it with Dogen's Fukanzazengi; shikantaza is commonly glossed "just sitting" [uncertain: not verified]. Useful context when a client describes "not doing anything" in meditation.
  • Steps (as published, in summary): once posture and breathing settle, do not concentrate on an object or try to control thoughts; when thoughts arise, neither struggle with, chase nor flee them; let them come and go; the essential point is to avoid both distraction (being lost in thinking) and dullness (drowsiness) [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014].
  • Example language (illustrative): "When you say you let thoughts come and go, what happens with the heavy ones, the memories that keep returning?"
  • Watch for: objectless practice can leave trauma survivors without an anchor and allow intrusive material to flood; dissociation can look like calm. Offer an anchor (sound, the feel of the cushion, eyes open) as a trauma-sensitive option [synthesis; source: Treleaven 2018].

A3. Breath-counting zazen (susokukan, Myoshin-ji version)

  • Purpose and when to use: a beginner's concentration method in Rinzai settings; gives the mind a simple task. Stated here as the temple publishes it, with natural breathing and no retention [source: Myoshin-ji].
  • Steps (as published, in summary): let the out-breath be long and relaxed and the in-breath follow by itself; count each out-breath from one to ten, then begin again at one; if the count is lost, return to one; do not suppress thoughts, stay alert and relaxed so they do not take hold [source: Myoshin-ji].
  • Example language (illustrative): "When you lose count, what is the first thing you say to yourself? Is it closer to 'back to one' or to 'I'm failing'?"
  • Watch for: breath focus is a common trigger for panic or trauma memory; self-criticism about losing count; effortful, controlled breathing replacing natural breathing. Alternatives: count with eyes open, attend to sound or the feet [synthesis; source: Treleaven 2018].

A4. Silent illumination (Chan, Dharma Drum lineage)

  • Purpose and when to use: the Caodong (Soto) Chan method traced to Hongzhi Zhengjue (12th century) and his "Inscription on Silent Illumination", taught in Sheng Yen's lineage [source: Dharma Drum].
  • Steps (public outline): relax and be aware of the state of body, mind and environment; as wandering thought settles ("silence"), clarity emerges ("illumination"); practised not only sitting but in standing, walking, working, eating and sleeping; Dharma Drum retreats add chanting and gentle yoga to harmonise body, breath and mind [source: Dharma Drum]. Detailed stages are taught in retreat and in Sheng Yen's published books [uncertain: not verified].
  • Example language (illustrative): "In your retreat they spoke of relaxing and being aware of body and surroundings. Where in the body does relaxing come easily, and where does it not?"
  • Watch for: depersonalisation or derealisation described as "spaciousness" with distress or loss of function; difficulty returning to ordinary tasks after retreat [synthesis; source: Lindahl et al. 2017 on sense-of-self and perceptual domains].

A5. Huatou inquiry (Chan, Sheng Yen)

  • Purpose and when to use: an inquiry method in which the practitioner asks a short question pointing to what lies before words ("hua" words, "tou" head or source). Sheng Yen's example: "before your parents give birth to you, who are you?" Given by a teacher, usually after some stability in practice [source: Sheng Yen Q&A].
  • Steps (public outline as Sheng Yen describes stages): reciting the words; asking (without answering oneself); investigating; the arising of doubt, small, medium or great; in great doubt, awareness of body and world falls away leaving the question; in the tradition's account this may "explode" into awakening. If the huatou disappears, relax a while and return to it. The question must matter deeply to the practitioner [source: Sheng Yen Q&A]. Sheng Yen cautions that some students "may even fall into demonic states", a concept held within the tradition and attributed here [source: Sheng Yen Q&A]. Huatou practice is associated with Dahui Zonggao in the Song dynasty [uncertain: not verified].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Your teacher gave you a question to hold. You don't need to tell me the answer. I'm interested in how holding it is affecting your sleep and your days."
  • Watch for: intense effort, tension, headaches, insomnia, agitation or a sense of unreality, especially in retreat; never press the client for the huatou or its content, and never supply answers. Signs it is going well (in therapy terms): the client stays functional and can step back from the effort when advised [synthesis].

A6. Koan practice in private interview (Rinzai and Western lineages): public outline only

  • Purpose and when to use: koans (Chinese gong'an, "public cases") are encounter stories or phrases investigated with a teacher; Sheng Yen notes that some huatou resemble gong'an, whole incidents to investigate, such as the story of Nanquan and the cat [source: Sheng Yen Q&A]. In Rinzai lines a curriculum of koans is worked through in private interview (sanzen or dokusan) with an authorised teacher, and the expected responses are not published [uncertain: not verified].
  • Steps: none given here. The method, sequence and responses belong to the teacher-student relationship; refer the client to their teacher [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "We can talk about what the interviews are like for you, how you feel going in and coming out, without going into the koan itself."
  • Watch for: shame or fear around interview; a teacher using "answering the koan" to justify touching or sexual demands, which an independent council of Zen teachers reported in the case of Joshu Sasaki [source: Tricycle 2014]; see B10.

A7. Kinhin (walking meditation)

  • Purpose and when to use: walking between periods of zazen; for clients, a lower-arousal option when sitting is too intense [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014; synthesis].
  • Steps (Soto version, in summary): at the bell, sway, unfold the legs slowly and stand without hurrying; bow; hold the hands in shashu (one hand loosely closed, covered by the other, at chest height); walk slowly, one step per full breath (in and out) as the leaflet puts it, until the bell; bow and return to the seat [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014] [uncertain: exact step wording not verified]. Rinzai kinhin is often brisker [uncertain: not verified].
  • Example language (illustrative): "If sitting stirs too much, would your group let you walk slowly at the back, the way you do in kinhin?"
  • Watch for: dizziness on standing after long sits (the leaflet warns not to stand abruptly); use as grounding works if the client reports feeling feet and floor and calmer arousal [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014; synthesis].

A8. Gassho, shashu, bowing and zendo forms

  • Purpose and when to use: gassho (palms together) expresses respect, faith and devotion; bows to the altar and to neighbours open and close sitting [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014].
  • Steps (public outline): enter the hall in shashu, bow in gassho toward the altar figure, bow to neighbours and to those opposite on reaching the seat; forms vary between temples [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014].
  • Example language (illustrative): "What does bowing mean to you, and does it ever feel uncomfortable?"
  • Watch for: for some clients, forms of deference echo past abuse or authoritarian religion; for others, worry about doing forms perfectly becomes scrupulous checking (see B12) [synthesis].

A9. Kyosaku (encouragement stick): public outline

  • Purpose and when to use: in Soto temples, a sitter who is drowsy or daydreaming may receive light blows on the shoulder from a monk with a flat stick; the leaflet describes the sitter requesting it with gassho, then bowing afterwards [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014] [uncertain: whether it is ever given unasked is not verified]. Practice varies between centres [synthesis]. Consent: the stick involves being struck, so it should be received only at the sitter's own request; a client should be free to decline it without explanation [synthesis].
  • Steps: none for the therapist; this is a centre practice.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Before the retreat, would it help to ask the centre how the stick is used and whether you can simply not request it?"
  • Watch for: startle, fear or trauma reactions to being approached from behind or struck. Before a retreat, help the client confirm with the centre that the stick is given only on request and that declining is accepted; clients with histories of physical abuse or trauma may choose never to request it, and physical conditions that make blows unsafe are for the client's doctor. The therapist never recommends receiving it [synthesis].

A10. Sesshin (intensive retreat)

  • Purpose and when to use: days of extended zazen in silence with communal routine; the most intensive form of practice and the setting most associated with challenging experiences [source: IZAUK; Lindahl et al. 2017].
  • Steps (IZAUK version, in summary): talk with the local group leader beforehand; bring cushion and bowls as advised; several long sitting periods each day; communal meals with chanting; samu after meals; a group question-and-answer (mondo); one-to-one interviews with the teacher arranged through the secretary; a newcomer support person; tell the dojo leaders (ino or shuso) at once about illness, missed sits, posture problems or struggling; keep connected rather than withdrawing; staff are not health workers or therapists [source: IZAUK].
  • Example language (illustrative): "The guide says to tell the ino or shuso as soon as you are struggling. Who will that be, and what would you say?"
  • Watch for: sleep loss, insomnia, agitation, euphoria, derealisation, re-emerging trauma, suicidal thoughts; see B5 and B6. IZAUK itself suggests recent significant distress may mean it is not the right time [source: IZAUK].

A11. Samu (work practice)

  • Purpose and when to use: practical work (washing up, food preparation, clearing) done as a continuation of practice [source: IZAUK]; Dharma Drum likewise teaches practice in working and eating [source: Dharma Drum].
  • Steps (in summary): volunteer for tasks after meals; work in silence and attention; tell the person in charge if unable to take part [source: IZAUK].
  • Example language (illustrative): "When sitting gets too much, washing up with full attention is still your practice. Could you use that as a way back?"
  • Watch for: samu can ground arousal; it can also be exploited as unpaid labour in high-control settings [synthesis].

A12. Oryoki and formal meals: public outline

  • Purpose and when to use: oryoki is the formal monastic eating practice with nested bowls, set forms and chanting [uncertain: not verified]. IZAUK sesshins ask participants to bring their own bowls, to keep pace with others and to chant before meals [source: IZAUK].
  • Steps: learned from the centre; not given here.
  • Example language (illustrative): "How are the meals for you, given what we have been working on around food?"
  • Watch for: clients with eating disorders or food-related trauma may find the pace, fixed portions and public eating difficult; raise dietary needs with the organiser well beforehand, as IZAUK requests [source: IZAUK; synthesis].

A13. Suizen ("blowing Zen", Fuke shakuhachi): public outline

  • Purpose and when to use: shakuhachi playing as spiritual practice, especially the honkyoku ("original pieces") repertoire, associated with the komuso monks of the Fuke sect in the Edo period; the ideal is described as enlightenment through a single note [source: Japan House, secondary].
  • Steps: taught by shakuhachi teachers; breath and blowing technique are not given here [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "What does playing give you that sitting doesn't?"
  • Watch for: breath-intensive playing can produce light-headedness; refer technique questions to the client's teacher [synthesis].

A14. Teacher interviews and group question sessions

  • Purpose and when to use: personal interviews (dokusan, sanzen, or "personal interviews" in Dharma Drum retreats) and group mondo give individual guidance [source: Dharma Drum; IZAUK]. Sheng Yen describes the teacher varying explanations for each student and using sudden actions or turning words when a student is stuck [source: Sheng Yen Q&A].
  • Steps: none for the therapist; support the client to use them.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Would you be willing to tell your teacher about the panic in the last sit? What would make that easier?"
  • Watch for: reluctance to disclose distress for fear of seeming a poor student; sudden or confrontational teaching styles landing as humiliation for some clients [synthesis].

B1. Exploring the practice's meaning (client-led integration)

  • Purpose and when to use: at intake, or whenever the client mentions zazen, a sangha, a teacher or a retreat; establishes whether and how the client wants the practice included [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) ask whether the client wants their practice to be part of therapy; record consent; (2) learn the lineage, centre, teacher, forms and current amount of practice; (3) ask what the practice means: religious commitment, identity, community, coping; (4) adopt the client's vocabulary; (5) agree what stays between client and teacher (koans, huatou, interviews) and what therapy can explore (effects on mood, sleep, relationships) [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "You mentioned you sit with a Zen group. Is that something you'd like us to make room for here, or would you rather keep it separate?"
  • Watch for: the therapist's enthusiasm or scepticism steering the client; clients using practice to avoid difficult feelings (spiritual bypassing) or, conversely, finding in it real support. Working: the client speaks freely about practice in their own terms [synthesis].

B2. Religious and cultural assessment

  • Purpose and when to use: early assessment, and before any change in practice intensity [synthesis].
  • Steps: use the DSM-5-TR Cultural Formulation Interview and its supplementary module on spirituality, religion and moral traditions to explore identity, meaning, community and how the client explains distress [uncertain: not verified]; add a practice history: years practising, longest sit and retreat, past difficult experiences in practice, current teacher contact; screen for psychosis, bipolar disorder, dissociation, PTSD, suicidality and substance use [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Has anything ever happened in meditation that frightened you or that you couldn't easily come back from?"
  • Watch for: clients who have not told anyone about difficult experiences because they read them as progress or as failure [synthesis; source: Cheetah House].

B3. Collaborative practice plan: dose, form and grounding

  • Purpose and when to use: when practice is helping but sometimes destabilising, or when a client wants to start sitting [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) map practice amount and the client's warning signs; (2) list options already permitted by the tradition: chair, half lotus, eyes half open, kinhin, samu [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014; IZAUK]; (3) agree reductions (shorter or fewer sits, more walking, practice in daily activity) when warning signs appear; (4) agree grounding steps for use during practice: open the eyes fully, feel the feet, name sounds and objects in the room, stand and walk [synthesis]; (5) suggest the client check changes with their teacher if they wish.
  • Example language (illustrative): "If the sit starts to pull you into old memories, what would be your first step back: eyes wide open, feet on the floor, or standing up to walk?"
  • Watch for: belief that reducing practice is failure or betrayal of the teacher; framing reduction as part of the tradition's own emphasis on avoiding strain helps. Working: fewer and shorter episodes of distress, client adjusts without shame [synthesis].

B4. Trauma-sensitive adaptation

  • Purpose and when to use: any client with trauma history who sits, especially with objectless practice, breath focus or retreat [source: Treleaven 2018].
  • Steps: apply Treleaven's five principles as headings: attention (offer anchors other than breath, such as sound or touch points; eyes open); arousal (help the client stay within tolerable arousal, pausing or switching to movement); relationship (choice, invitation and the right to stop; awareness of the teacher's authority); dissociation (notice numbness or absence and reorient to the room); social context (power, identity and safety in the group) [source: Treleaven 2018, publisher description; the specific modifications here are synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "You can keep your eyes open, choose where to rest attention, and stop whenever you need. That's still practice."
  • Watch for: flashbacks, dissociation and retraumatisation, which Treleaven's book names as risks of practice without trauma awareness [source: Treleaven 2018]; physical contact (kyosaku, posture correction) from behind [synthesis].

B5. Screening before sesshin

  • Purpose and when to use: before a first or long retreat [synthesis; source: IZAUK].
  • Steps: review: recent or current significant distress (IZAUK's own caution); history of psychosis, mania, severe depression, dissociation or recent trauma; sleep; medication continuity (to be discussed with the prescriber, not adjusted by the therapist); physical limits for long sitting; previous retreat reactions; a named contact on site (ino, shuso, newcomer support) and permission to step out; a plan for after the retreat. Where risk is high, discuss postponing, attending a day sitting first, or a shorter or less silent format [source: IZAUK; synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "The centre's own guide says that if you've been through a lot recently, a retreat may not be the right time. How does that fit with where you are now?"
  • Watch for: pressure from group or teacher to attend; the client minimising history to be accepted [synthesis].

B6. Responding to meditation-related challenges

  • Purpose and when to use: when the client reports distressing or unusual experiences linked to practice [source: Lindahl et al. 2017; Farias et al. 2020].
  • Steps: (1) normalise that such experiences are documented: the Varieties of Contemplative Experience study, which included Zen practitioners, identified 59 kinds of meditation-related experience across seven domains (cognitive, perceptual, affective, somatic, conative, sense of self, social) and 26 influencing factors (practitioner, practice, relationships, health behaviours) [source: Lindahl et al. 2017]; a systematic review of 83 studies found adverse events in about 8.3% of participants overall, most often anxiety, depression and cognitive anomalies, including in people without prior mental-health history [source: Farias et al. 2020]; (2) assess severity, duration and impact on function; (3) reduce dose and ground (B3); (4) treat co-occurring conditions; (5) involve the teacher if the client wishes; (6) consider specialist support such as Cheetah House, which offers consultations, support groups and training for clinicians and teachers [source: Cheetah House].
  • Example language (illustrative): "What you're describing has been reported by many meditators. It doesn't mean you did something wrong or that you're losing your mind. Let's look at how it's affecting your days and what would help settle it."
  • Watch for: distress that persists after practice stops; impairment at work or home; suicidal thoughts (assess using current standard risk assessment) [synthesis].

B7. Telling spiritual experience apart from illness

  • Purpose and when to use: when the client reports awakening-type experiences, loss of self, intense energy, unreality or visions [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) take the client's religious frame seriously (kensho and awakening are described as the tradition holds them); (2) assess sleep, function, insight, risk, mood elevation, psychotic features and course over time; (3) ask whether the experience is understood and recognised by the client's teacher and community; (4) where the main focus is a religious or spiritual problem without disorder, the DSM-5-TR provides a category for religious or spiritual problems among conditions that may be a focus of clinical attention (Z65.8); (5) refer urgently to psychiatry if signs of psychosis, mania or high risk [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "I'm not here to judge what this experience was. I do want to make sure you're sleeping, eating and safe while you make sense of it."
  • Watch for: two errors: calling a meaningful experience pathology, or missing emerging psychosis or mania because it is framed spiritually [synthesis].

B8. Secular adaptations and cross-referral

  • Purpose and when to use: when the client wants contemplative practice without religious commitment, or when a clinical protocol suits the problem better [synthesis].
  • Steps: discuss the options covered elsewhere in this guide set: MBSR, MBCT, MSC and CFT (Domain II); contemplative and Buddhist psychotherapy and spiritually integrated psychotherapy (Domain VII); trauma-sensitive yoga (Domain IV). Be clear that these are not Zen practice and that Zen teachers are the authority on Zen [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "There's a structured mindfulness course for recurrent depression. It borrows from meditation traditions but isn't Zen training. Would that suit what you want right now?"
  • Watch for: the client feeling their tradition is being replaced or diluted [synthesis].

B9. Referral and collaboration with the teacher

  • Purpose and when to use: questions about method, koan or huatou, or retreat suitability belong with an authorised teacher; collaboration helps when practice and symptoms interact [synthesis; source: Sheng Yen Q&A on the teacher's role].
  • Steps: (1) the client chooses whether to involve the teacher; (2) obtain written consent and agree what is shared; (3) share functional information (warning signs, need for shorter sits, permission to step out), not therapy content; (4) respect the teacher's authority on practice, and keep clinical decisions with the clinical team [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Would it help if, with your permission, I spoke with your teacher about how to make the retreat safer, without going into what we discuss here?"
  • Watch for: teachers who dismiss mental-health concerns, or clients who defer to the teacher on clinical matters [synthesis].

B10. Teacher power, misconduct and coercive control

  • Purpose and when to use: when a client describes a teacher who demands secrecy, obedience, money, sex or isolation, or when abuse within a sangha is disclosed [synthesis].
  • Steps: (1) know the documented history: reporting in the New York Times, summarised by Tricycle, described decades of groping and harassment of female students by the Rinzai teacher Joshu Sasaki; an independent council of Zen teachers reported incidents in which sexual demands were presented as part of answering a koan, and noted that reports by women were met unsympathetically [source: Tricycle 2014]; the senior teachers of Rinzai-ji acknowledged long-term sexual misconduct in an open letter and announced an ethics policy and a council to receive accounts [source: Lion's Roar 2013]; (2) ask about secrecy, isolation from family, financial or sexual demands, punishment for questioning, and claims that the teacher is beyond ordinary ethics [synthesis]; (3) support safety, reporting options (to the centre's ethics body, police where crimes are alleged) and the client's own decisions; (4) never name or contact other victims [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Spiritual teachers hold a lot of power. Has anything in that relationship ever felt confusing, secret or hard to say no to?"
  • Watch for: self-blame framed in practice language ("my ego resisted the teaching"); loyalty conflicts; shame [synthesis].

B11. Leaving a sangha and religious trauma

  • Purpose and when to use: when a client leaves a community after conflict, misconduct or loss of faith [synthesis].
  • Steps: grieve losses (community, identity, routine); separate the practice from the institution if the client wishes to keep sitting; validate harm; rebuild support; consider another lineage or teacher only if the client wants it [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "You can decide later what, if anything, you keep from the practice. Right now we can focus on what you've lost and what you need."
  • Watch for: depression, isolation, and triggering when sitting alone [synthesis].

B12. Perfectionism and scrupulosity about form

  • Purpose and when to use: when a client with obsessional traits fixates on correct posture, bows, meal forms or "right" mental states [synthesis].
  • Steps: assess for OCD; where present, use ERP adapted to the practice (for example, deliberately accepting an imperfect bow or lost count without re-doing it), with the client's consent and, if the client wishes, consultation with the teacher about what the tradition actually requires [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "Your tradition says protocols vary between temples. What would it be like to let one bow be imperfect and not fix it?"
  • Watch for: practice becoming a ritual of reassurance; worsening anxiety around retreats [synthesis].

B13. The therapist's role, own practice and boundaries

  • Purpose and when to use: throughout, especially if the therapist also practises Zen [synthesis].
  • Steps: do not act as the client's Zen teacher or give koans; avoid dual relationships such as sitting in the client's sangha or retreat; disclose one's own practice only when it serves the client; draw on published spiritual and religious competencies for psychologists (Vieten et al. 2013) [uncertain: not verified]; follow the professional ethics code [synthesis]; seek supervision when one's own commitments may bias judgement.
  • Example language (illustrative): "I'm not a Zen teacher, and I don't want to step into that role. My job is to help with how things are going for you overall."
  • Watch for: enjoying the role of spiritual guide; collusion with or hostility to the client's tradition [synthesis].

5. Handling problems

The Zen and Chan sources give little guidance for clinical problems beyond IZAUK's advice to tell the dojo leaders early and stay connected, Sheng Yen's advice to relax and return when a huatou fades, and the adverse-effects research. Everything else below is [synthesis] unless tagged.

  • Overwhelm during a sit (panic, flashback, dissociation). Response: open the eyes fully, shift attention to sound or the feet, stand and walk as in kinhin, or leave the hall; afterwards, plan anchors and shorter sits (B3, B4) [synthesis; source: Treleaven 2018 on attention, arousal and dissociation]. Agree beforehand that stopping is allowed and is still practice.
  • Struggling during sesshin. Response: follow the centre's own route: tell the ino or shuso or group leader early, keep connected through samu and breaks, do not withdraw [source: IZAUK]; pre-agree with the client when to leave the retreat (for example, several nights of poor sleep, frightening unreality, thoughts of self-harm) and who to call [synthesis]. Remind the client that centre staff are not therapists [source: IZAUK].
  • After-retreat crash or lingering effects. Response: assess as in B6 and B7; reduce practice; restore sleep and routine; refer to psychiatry if mood elevation, psychosis or suicidality; consider Cheetah House resources [source: Lindahl et al. 2017; Farias et al. 2020; Cheetah House; synthesis].
  • Huatou or koan effort producing tension, headaches or insomnia. Response: invite the client to ask the teacher about lightening effort or pausing the method; Sheng Yen's own advice when the huatou disappears is to relax for a while before returning [source: Sheng Yen Q&A]; meanwhile use daily-activity practice and grounding [synthesis].
  • "Stuck": the client feels nothing happens or that they are failing at Zen. Response: explore expectations of awakening, comparison with others and self-criticism; the published Soto instruction is not to control thought, which can reframe "failure" [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014; synthesis]. Questions of practice progress belong with the teacher.
  • Resistance to adapting practice ("real practitioners don't use chairs"). Response: point to the tradition's own permissions (chair sitting, half lotus, no strain) and ask the client to check with the teacher [source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014; Myoshin-ji].
  • Non-adherence to agreed limits (secretly sitting much longer, booking a retreat anyway). Response: explore the meaning (devotion, avoidance, group pressure) without moralising; renegotiate a plan the client can keep; keep safety elements non-negotiable where risk is high [synthesis].
  • Rupture: the client feels the therapist is dismissing or pathologising their practice. Response: name the rupture, acknowledge the practice's value to the client, explain that the concern is function and safety, not belief, and return to client-led goals [synthesis].
  • Rupture: the client feels the therapist is pushing meditation. Response: drop it; meditation is optional in therapy and the practice is the client's to bring or leave [synthesis].
  • The client asks the therapist to interpret a koan or confirm an awakening. Response: decline warmly and refer to the teacher; explore what the question means for the client (B13) [synthesis].
  • Pain from long sitting. Response: encourage medical review of persistent pain; posture choices as the tradition permits; no practice is offered as treatment for physical disease [synthesis].
  • Physical contact or the stick triggers trauma. Response: help the client ask the centre in advance about posture correction and kyosaku and about opting out [synthesis; source: Sotoshu Shumucho 2014 describes kyosaku].
  • Teacher conflict or suspected misconduct. Response: B10 and B11; do not demand the client leave; support safety, informed choice and reporting options [synthesis; source: Tricycle 2014; Lion's Roar 2013].
  • Spiritual crisis that may be illness. Response: B7; involve psychiatry promptly when psychosis, mania or high risk is present, while respecting the client's spiritual frame [synthesis].
  • Family conflict about the client's Zen involvement. Response: explore values on both sides; family work if wanted; check for high-control features without assuming them [synthesis].
  • Clients under 18. Response: practice and retreats for minors require parental consent, the young person's assent and the centre's safeguarding arrangements [synthesis].

Sources

Web sources:

Publications cited:

  • Lindahl, J. R., et al. (2017). The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists. PLOS ONE, 12(5), e0176239. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0176239
  • Farias, M., et al. (2020). Adverse events in meditation practices and meditation-based therapies: a systematic review. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 142(5), 374–393. doi:10.1111/acps.13225
  • Treleaven, D. A. (2018). Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness: Practices for Safe and Transformative Healing. W. W. Norton.

Also named: Dogen, Fukanzazengi; Hongzhi Zhengjue, Inscription on Silent Illumination (named on the Dharma Drum page); Dahui Zonggao and the origin of huatou practice; Rinzai koan curricula; oryoki forms; DSM-5-TR Cultural Formulation Interview and the religious or spiritual problem category; Vieten et al. (2013) spiritual and religious competencies [all uncertain: not verified]; APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (https://www.apa.org/ethics/code).

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