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So why don’t more people do it? The scholars, the armchair masters, the people who love the idea of meditation, but who just can’t commit to actually doing it—why don’t they sit zazen? In Zig Zag Zen, psychologist Charles Tart says, “It’s clear that many of us Westerners have such hyperactive minds and complex psychological dynamics that it is very difficult to quiet and discipline our minds enough to make any real progress along the meditative path.”

“Westerners can’t meditate” is a favorite excuse for not doing zazen—but man, I hate racism especially when it pretends to be rational and philosophical. In Japan, where they obviously can’t use this excuse, folks like to believe that only priests can do zazen, that other folks are somehow unqualified.

Another excuse I hear is that modern people just “don’t have the time” for it. Why would you want to waste time sitting on a cushion staring at a wall when there are so many “important” things you could be doing, like watching a rerun of The Simpsons, logging on to the internet to see if anything crucial has been added since this morning, or hanging out getting into a condition you’ll regret the next day?

You may be busy with work and family and responsibilities and all that, I sure am, but I’ll bet you also waste a hell of a lot of time every day. You devote hours and hours each week to “relaxing” in ways that aren’t relaxing in the least. You kill time. You steal a nap. You screw off.

If you were bound and gagged inside a wooden barrel just about to head over Niagara Falls, you’d pray for just one minute more to live. And yet, while you’re alive, what do you do? You get bored. You wish to be elsewhere. You wish to get whatever you’re doing now over with. You want to speed by those boring minutes like your life is a video where you can fast-forward through the commercials. When the end comes you’ll be wishing you could have back all those boring moments you zipped through. But you killed them. Dead and gone. Try putting some of that time to good use and see what happens.

The fact is, the great Eastern masters of times gone-by are no different from you. Their minds were just as hyperactive as yours and their psychological dynamics every bit as complex. The heights of enlightenment they reached are absolutely accessible to you. This stuff is tough work for anybody, regardless of where they were born or when. Cut out just a bit of those empty distractions and see how much time you create.

TIM ONCE TOLD ME A STORY about Kobun Chino leading a zazen practice. Kobun showed up late and everyone else in the room was already doing zazen. Kobun came in, sat down, looked around at everyone diligently practicing, chuckled and said, “What a stupid thing to do.” Then he rang the bell signaling the start of the zazen period.

No doubt about it, though, zazen is a stupid thing to do. Zazen is also boring. You couldn’t possibly find a duller practice.

And you don’t have to do it at all, but if you decide you want to try it, here’s how.

It couldn’t be simpler, actually. Go to a quiet place. It doesn’t need to be completely silent, but quieter is often better, at least in the beginning. A fairly bright room is good, because it tends to prevent dozing off. Find yourself a cushion to sit on. Take one off your couch or use your bed pillow. Rolled up blankets do nicely, too. Fold or fluff or do whatever you need to make your cushion a few inches high, just enough to lift your butt off the ground and tilt your pelvis downward a little. Sit on it facing a blank undecorated wall. Cross your legs in front of you. If you know how to do the full-lotus or half-lotus positions, and you really feel like it, you can twist your legs up like that.

Modified Cross-Legged Position

If you can manage the full-lotus, this is the most “stable” position. If these positions don’t feel comfortable, don’t do them. Just sit in a modified version of what we used to call Indian-style with your legs loosely crossed and your ankles flat on the