Fragrance and Zazen

Playing with Flowers, My Robes Are Filled with Fragrance

When I sit in zazen, I quietly sharpen my senses, feeling, thinking, inquiring, and entrusting myself to reality as it is. At times this is an active effort, at other times a more passive noticing. By simply sitting still, body and mind gradually settle, and often I realize only afterward that I had already entered such a state. In either case, both physically and mentally, I find myself in a calm yet heightened state of concentration.If I were to describe this concentration in sensory terms, it feels as though both body and awareness have become more finely tuned, as if the very resolution of perception has increased.

When observing “the ordinary things of daily life” with this heightened resolution, discoveries appear.The touch of the wind on my skin, unnoticed until now.The sound of insects I had always heard but never truly listened to.The small flower that had entered my vision countless times but had never been seen.I realize these realities were there all along, yet my awareness had overlooked them. At once I am startled by how unconsciously I usually live, and at the same time amazed by the depth of clarity that my body inherently possesses.

At HIGASHI-YAMA Studio in Meguro, Tokyo, I sat one stick of incense under the theme “Fragrance and Zazen.”It was a time to direct the concentrated state of zazen toward fragrance itself.

We experienced YOKA by OGATA, a scent blended to “gently clothe oneself in natural fragrance.”For about twenty minutes we sat, attending only to scent. Many who joined said it was the first time in their lives they had concentrated solely on the sense of smell, and each rediscovered something about their own olfactory sense and the feelings bound to it.

This fragrance, made from natural ingredients used in traditional incense yet blended in a unique way, was not one that “forces open the doors of the senses.”Rather, it was a fragrance whose depth revealed itself only when approached from our side.Guided by this delicate scent, as I observed the shifts in my sense of smell and the feelings tied to it, I began to realize how my entire field of perception was gradually sharpening, with scent at its center.

It was not only the nose that smelled, but the whole body resonating with the fragrance. That, I believe, was the experience we shared.

In truth, the senses are absolute; they cannot be measured against others.For me—someone who wishes to be moved until the end of life—exploring the resolution of my own senses is no different from seeing the world grow richer in color.

What kind of sitting will the next stick of incense bring?I look forward to it.

Tosei Shinabe

HIGASHI-YAMA Studio（https://higashiyama-tokyo.jp/studio/)