ABSTRACT
Sesshins do not occur only in Zen temples. Zen students in Japan who's other occupations keep them away from the temples at times of sesshin conduct their own sesshin, minus sanzen, whenever they can at someone's home. The idea is somehow to get in a week of intensive zazen every so often. If this has to be accomplished without the help of sanzen, it is still one of the important aids to zazen. The steps forward that characterize Zen study are more likely to occur during a sesshin than at other times. The lay student is apt to get to the halfway mark in sesshin and quit. The Zen monk cannot do this because of his vows to the sect. The resistances to zazen are subtle and varied. Zen is not a matter of goals. The goal of Zen study is tranquillity. The so-called paradoxes of Zen Buddhism are resolved by taking such steps as those discussed in this chapter.
