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HOW-TO · SHELF V

Hakuin’s Melting Meditation

  • Tradition
  • Experiential

Hakuin Ekaku, the eighteenth-century Zen master, wore himself out as a young monk through overzealous practice. Among the remedies he later recorded in Yasen Kanna (1757) is this one, the nanso no hō. Nanso is a soft, fragrant salve, something like fresh butter. You need nothing but somewhere to sit or lie down.

In brief

  • A visualisation of melting from the crown down, recorded by Hakuin in Yasen Kanna.
  • It takes about ten minutes, before sleep or when you are worn out.
  • It is presented as a tradition, not as a substitute for treatment.

This manual is general information based on published research and the sources available to us. It is not medical advice and has not yet been reviewed by a clinician. For questions about your own body, health, medicines, pregnancy or contraception, talk to a doctor or pharmacist.

Hakuin and Idle Talk on a Night Boat

Hakuin Ekaku (1686–1769) was the Zen monk who revived the Rinzai school. He wrote that intense practice in his youth left him with "Zen sickness": a burning head, cold feet, sleeplessness and a restless mind. By his account, he visited a hermit called Hakuyū in the mountains of Shirakawa, north of Kyoto, who taught him the practice of naikan (inner contemplation) and nanso no hō, and he recovered. He told the story in Yasen Kanna, published in 1757. How much of Hakuyū is fact is unknown; the practice is presented here as the book tells it.

The practice

  1. Close your eyes and let your breath slow.
  2. Imagine a soft, fragrant lump of nanso, the size of a duck's egg, resting on the crown of your head.
  3. Your warmth begins to melt it. It seeps into the scalp and slides slowly down over the forehead, eyes, cheeks and neck.
  4. Into the shoulders, arms and chest, along the spine and into the belly. Wherever it touches, stiffness dissolves.
  5. Down through the hips, the pelvic floor, the thighs and knees, to the soles of the feet.
  6. Finally, feel the melted salve pooling in the lower body like warm bathwater, up to about the navel. Stay there a while.

Hakuin offered it as a way of restoring body and mind. In today's terms it is close to a body scan or progressive relaxation: moving attention through the body and letting each part soften in turn. Try it before sleep, or before touching each other.

The inner contemplation

Alongside the melting meditation, Hakuin taught inner contemplation. You lie on your back with your legs stretched out together, gather breath and attention into the lower belly and the soles of the feet, and repeat to yourself that this lower belly is your true home. It is easier to keep up when combined with Tanden Breathing.

When, and for how long

Ten to fifteen minutes lying down before sleep; or five minutes sitting up in the middle of an exhausting day. A little every day settles in better than a long session now and then. Research shows that body-focused imagery practices increase a sense of relaxation, but the melting meditation itself has barely been studied.

Cautions

Turning attention to the body can sometimes bring painful memories or sensations back. If that happens, open your eyes, name three things around you, and return to ordinary breathing. The melting meditation is a tradition of self-care, not a substitute for treatment.

Sources, and what kind of guide this is

  • Tradition Taught within a lineage and documented in its own texts; presented as that tradition describes it.
  • Experiential Works for some people and not others; offered to try, never as a promise.
  1. 白隠慧鶴『夜船閑話』1757年。English: Hakuin, Idle Talk on a Night Boat.
  2. Waddell, N. (trans.) (2009). Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin. Shambhala.
  3. Toussaint, L., Nguyen, Q. A., Roettger, C. et al. (2021). Effectiveness of progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, and guided imagery in promoting psychological and physiological states of relaxation. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2021, 5924040.

This manual is general information based on the sources available to us. It is not medical advice and has not been reviewed by a clinician. For your own body, health or medicines, talk to a doctor.

Concepts in this manual

DiaphragmKiTandenNanso no hōInner contemplation (naikan)

How these guides are madeGlossary of concepts

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