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A Keisaku stick with Calligraphy.
In Zen Buddhism, the keisaku (Japanese: 警策; kyôsaku in the Soto school) is a flat wooden stick or slat used during periods of meditation to remedy sleepiness or lapses of concentration. This is accomplished through a strike or series of strikes, usually administered on the meditator's back and shoulders in the muscular area between the shoulder blades and the spine. The keisaku itself is thin and somewhat flexible; strikes with it, though they may cause momentary sting if performed vigorously, are not injurious.
[edit] Purpose
The word "Keisaku" may be translated as "warning stick", and is wielded by the jikijitsu. "Encouragement stick" is a common translation for "kyosaku". In Soto Zen, the Kyosaku is always administered at the request of the meditator, by way of bowing one's head and putting the palms together in gassho, and then exposing each shoulder to be struck in turn. In Rinzai Zen, the stick is requested in the same manner, but may also be used at the discretion of the Ino, the one in charge of the meditation hall. Even in such cases, it is not considered a punishment, but a compassionate means to reinvigorate and awaken the meditator who may be tired from many sessions of zazen.
[edit] Sesshin use
Unlike being requested during formal Zen Center sittings. During sesshin the stick is used every round. No gassho is required after each strike. Practitioners may request not to be hit. Some may have deep feelings about being struck, and this is not encouraged so requests are honored.
[edit] External links
- Photo of a keisaku being administered in the zendo
- Article describing how one Zen teacher introduced the keisaku to his following, and the reactions of the Westerners present.
[edit] References
- Prebish, Charles; Kenneth Tanaka (1998). Faces of Buddhism in America. University of California Press, 60. ISBN 978-0520213012.
[edit] See also
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