Nodding in Zazen

Someone on Rinzai Zen Facebook Group referenced this teaching from the Pali Canon in response to my recent post about sleep practice. The sutta is actually about the opposite - how to wake up when you're trying to meditate, rather than how to sleep when you're waking up. Nevertheless....

The sutta, "Nodding" is quite quirky - so right up my alley - in that it's both more mystical than you might think a sutta from the Pali Canon might be (the Buddha does some telekinetic transportation) and at the same time, very practical - guidance for waking up when you're nodding off in zazen.

In the way-back times of studying with Katagiri Roshi, he had me work through the whole Pali Canon. I tried many of the techniques recommended therein with his encouragement ("Some of them might work," he said). I found "attending to the perception of light" in the list below to be very powerful (although a different phenomena than the light of samadhi that can occur in sleep states as well as when so-called conscious).

The first, though, I've found most powerful - just continually returning and not drifting into sleep with those delicious, subtle thoughts. The cumulative power of "not pursuing" is quite sufficient as an antidote to nodding.

Still...

The last "nodding hack" is also cool and worthy of note, saying essentially, if the previous seven methods don't work, then get some sleep.

I've taken the liberty to bold the key part of each of the hacks below.

From Aṅguttara Nikāya, Book of the Sevens:

7.61. Nodding

Once the Blessed One was living among the Bhaggas in the Deer Park at Bhesakala Grove, near Crocodile Haunt. At that time Ven. Maha Moggallana sat nodding near the village of Kallavalaputta, in Magadha. The Blessed One, with his purified divine eye, surpassing the human, saw Ven. Maha Moggallana as he sat nodding near the village of Kallavalaputta, in Magadha. As soon as he saw this—just as a strong man might extend his flexed arm or flex his extended arm—he disappeared from among the Bhaggas in the Deer Park at Bhesakala Grove, near Crocodile Haunt, and re-appeared near the village of Kallavalaputta, in Magadha, right in front of Ven. Maha Moggallana. There he sat down on a prepared seat. As he was sitting there, the Blessed One said to Ven. Maha Moggallana, “Are you nodding, Moggallana? Are you nodding?”

“Yes, lord.”

“Well then, Moggallana, whatever perception you have in mind when drowsiness descends on you, don’t attend to that perception, don’t pursue it. It’s possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness.

“But if by doing this you don’t shake off your drowsiness, then recall to your awareness the Dhamma as you have heard & memorized it, re-examine it & ponder it over in your mind. It’s possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness.

“But if by doing this you don’t shake off your drowsiness, then repeat aloud in detail the Dhamma as you have heard & memorized it. It’s possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness.

“But if by doing this you don’t shake off your drowsiness, then pull both your earlobes and rub your limbs with your hands. It’s possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness.

“But if by doing this you don’t shake off your drowsiness, then get up from your seat and, after washing your eyes out with water, look around in all directions and upward to the major stars & constellations. It’s possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness.

“But if by doing this you don’t shake off your drowsiness, then attend to the perception of light, resolve on the perception of daytime, [dwelling] by night as by day, and by day as by night. By means of an awareness thus open & unhampered, develop a brightened mind. It’s possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness.

“But if by doing this you don’t shake off your drowsiness, then—percipient of what lies in front & behind—set a distance to meditate walking back & forth, your senses inwardly immersed, your mind not straying outwards. It’s possible that by doing this you will shake off your drowsiness.

“But if by doing this you don’t shake off your drowsiness, then—reclining on your right side—take up the lion’s posture, one foot placed on top of the other, mindful, alert, with your mind set on getting up. As soon as you wake up, get up quickly, with the thought, ‘I won’t stay indulging in the pleasure of lying down, the pleasure of reclining, the pleasure of drowsiness.’ That is how you should train yourself....