In the Sodo or Zendo, the monks' hall or meditation hall of a Zen community, there is, of course, nothing particularly distracting in the external surroundings.
 There is a long room with wide platforms down either side where the monks both sleep and meditate.
 The platforms are covered with tatami, thick floor mats of straw, and the monks sit in two rows facing one another across the room.
 The silence which prevails is deepened rather than broken by occasional sounds that float up from a nearby village,
 by the intermittent ringing of soft-toned bells from other parts of the monastery, and by the chatter of birds in the trees.
 Other than this, there is only the feel of the cold, clear mountain air and the woody smell of a special kind of incense.
 Much importance is attached to the physical posture of Zazen.
 The monks sit on firmly padded cushions with legs crossed and feet, soles upward, upon the thighs.
 The hands rest upon the lap, the left over the right, with palms upward and thumbs touching one another.
 The body is held erect, though not stiffly erect, and the eyes are left open so that their gaze falls upon the floor a few feet ahead.
 The breathing is regulated so as to be slow without strain, with the stress upon the out-breath, and its impulse from the belly rather than the chest.
 This has the effect of shifting the body's center of gravity to the abdomen,
 so that the whole posture has a sense of firmness, of being part of the ground upon which one is sitting.
 The slow, easy breathing from the belly works upon the consciousness like bellows and gives it a still, bright clarity.
 The beginner is advised to accustom himself to the stillness by doing nothing more than counting his breaths, from one to ten, over and over again,
 until the sensation of sitting without comment becomes effortless and natural.
 While the monks are thus seated, two attendants walk slowly back and forth along the floor between the platforms,
 each carrying a kheysaku, or warning-stick, round at one end and flattened at the other,
 a symbol of the bodhisattva Manjusri's sword of prajna.
 As soon as they see a monk going to sleep, or sitting in an incorrect posture, they stop before him, bow ceremoniously, and beat him on the shoulders.
 It is said that this is not punishment, but an invigorating massage, to take the stiffness out of the shoulder muscles and bring the mind back to a state of alertness.
 However, monks with whom I have discussed this practice seem to have the same wryly humorous attitude about it,
 which one associates with the usual corporal disciplines of boys' boarding schools.
 Furthermore, the Sōdo regulations say, "At the time of morning service, the dozing ones are to be severely dealt with the kheysaku."
 At intervals, the sitting posture is interrupted, and the monks fall into ranks for a swift march around the floor between the platforms to keep themselves from sluggishness.
 The periods of zazen are also interrupted for work in the monastery grounds,
 cleaning the premises, services in the main shrine or Buddha Hall, and other duties, as well as for meals and short hours of sleep.
 At certain times of year, zazen is kept up almost continuously from 3.30 a.m. until 10 p.m., and these long periods are called "sesshin," or "collecting the mind."
 Every aspect of the monks' lives is conducted according to a precise, though not ostentatious ritual, which gives the atmosphere of the Sōdo a slightly military air.
 The rituals are signaled and accompanied by about a dozen different kinds of bells, clappers, and wooden gongs,
 struck in various rhythms to announce the times for zazen, meals, services, lectures, or sanzen interviews with the master.
 Mature Western students who discover an interest in zen as a philosophy will find that zen is a discipline enforced with a big stick.
 They will find that, although it is still an effective way of liberation at its upper end,
 its main preoccupation is with a disciplinary regimen which trains character in the same way as the old-fashioned British public school or the Jesuit novitiate trained character.


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