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36 I YASUTANI ' s INTRODUCTORY LE CTURESNext let us discuss the best time for zazen. For the eager anddetermined any time of day and all seasons of the year are equallygood. But for those who have jobs or professions the best time iseither morning or evening, or better still, both. Try to sit everymorning, preferably before breakfast, and just before going to bedat night. But if you can sit only once-and you should sit at leastonce a day-you will have to consider the relative merits of morningand evening. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. If you findthat either morning or evening is equally good and you ask which Irecommend (because you can sit only once a day) , I would say themorning, fo r the following reasons. No visitors come early in themorning, whereas in the evening you are likely to be interrupted.Also, morning-at any rate, in the city-is much quieter than eveningsince fewer cars are on the streets. Furthermore, because in the morningyou are rested and somewhat hungry, you are in good conditionfo r zazen, whereas in the evening, when you are tired and have hadyour meal, you are likely to be duller. Since it is difficult to do zazenon a full stomach, it is better not to sit immediately after a meal whenyou are a beginner. Before a meal, however, zazen can be practiced togood advantage. As your zeal grows it won't matter when you sit,before, after, or during a meal.How long should you do zazen at one sitting? There is no generalrule, for it varies according to the degree of one's eagerness as well asthe maturity of one's practice. For novices a shorter time is better. Ifyou sit devotedly five minutes a day for a month or two, you willwant to increase your sitting to ten or more minutes as your ardorgrows. When you are able to sit with your mind taut fo r, say, thirtyminutes without pain or discomfort, you will come to appreciate thefeeling of tranquility and well-being induced by zazen and will wantto practice regularly. For these reasons I recommend that beginnerssit for shorter periods of time. On the other hand, should you forceyourself from the beginning to sit fo r longer periods, the pain in yourlegs may well become unbearable before you acquire a calm mind.Thus you will quickly tire of zazen, feeling it to be a waste of time,or you will always be watching the clock. In the end you will cometo dislike zazen and stop sitting altogether. This is what frequentlyhappens. Now, even though you sit for only ten minutes or so eachday, you can compensate for this briefness by concentrating intensely