Practice on your own
Begin with ten minutes in a stable chair or cushion posture. Keep the eyes softly open, let breath remain natural, and do not turn distraction into a crime.
Enter the zazen teachingPractice in the Temple
Sit, stand, walk, listen. The Unborn is already here.
Bankei did not prohibit zazen, but he did not encourage it as the necessary road to realization. Sit when sitting is true. Stand, walk, work, grieve, laugh, and listen on the same ground.
One gate
Stop trying to manufacture what hears you trying.
A form can steady the body. A bell can gather attention. A teacher can point. But no method gives the Unborn to you. The steps below are a way of returning to what is already functioning before the next self-improvement project begins.
01
Days 1–7
Hear what arrives
Three times a day, stop for one minute. Do not concentrate. Notice that sound is already arriving, already distinguished, before you intervene.
02
Days 8–14
Catch the trade
Notice the instant a passing thought becomes a position you must defend. Name the movement quietly: “trading.” Do not punish it or solve it.
03
Days 15–21
Leave spent thoughts spent
When a conversation or mistake begins replaying, ask whether the event is happening now. Let memory be memory rather than a room you have to re-enter.
04
Days 22–30
Carry no special state
Drop the idea that quiet is more spiritual than noise. Practice while emailing, washing a cup, disagreeing, walking, and waiting. Nothing is outside the Unborn.
A twenty-second experiment00:20
Let the world arrive.
Press start, then notice what is already being heard before you decide to listen.
Formal sitting
Zazen is welcome. Do not make a throne out of it.
Sit upright in a stable posture on a cushion, bench, or chair. Let the hands rest. Keep the eyes softly open. Do not force the breath and do not try to eliminate thought.
Ten or twenty minutes is enough to begin. When sounds arrive, notice they are heard without effort. When thoughts arise, do not chase or suppress them. When the period ends, stand up without imagining that practice has ended.
This is a form for stillness, not a badge, gate, achievement system, or claim that seated meditation has privileged access to the Unborn.
Temple caretaker
Sam helps keep this Temple open.
Sam is the founder and caretaker of the Temple of the Unborn Mind, an independent online temple devoted to Bankei Yotaku’s direct Zen teaching of the Unborn. He does not claim ownership of Bankei’s teaching, exclusive lineage authority, or institutional succession. The Unborn belongs to no person, school, or temple.
Practice can include direct conversation, Bankei’s record, zazen, the wider Zen teachings, and the exact condition of ordinary life. Come with what is actually happening.
Read about the Temple- Approach
- Direct, fierce, conversational, grounded in the Unborn
- Setting
- Individual conversation and small-group inquiry, generally available Saturdays by arrangement
- Ground
- The Unborn within the wider Zen tradition
Contact the Temple
Ask about teaching or practice.
Messages go directly to Sam. Mention Saturday if you want to sit, speak about Bankei, or ask for a direct conversation.
Direct email
templeofallmankind@gmail.com
A short note is enough. Speak plainly.