Its fullest development necessitates its cultivation under the watchful eye of a teacher who can correct posture and offer advice in problems of failure. In Quiet Sitting one sits straight but relaxed. One may sit either in the formal Japanese posture or in a chair, but the special sitting techniques of many Buddhist methods of meditation are not used. No counting of the breath is done, nor is any attention given to its inhalation or exhalation. One merely sits for thirty minutes or an hour, with the eyes closed gently and the hands folded in the lap.
Thoughts flow freely through the mind.
As one sits quietly, and successfully, this center shifts to the abdomen, which becomes solid, immovable. At the same time, the mind, no longer a center of movement, becomes pacified, quiet, calm. Meditation is something like dusting one's mind. Once can send all the dust of a room flying out with a feather duster, or, with no less activity, once can just stir up the dust and let it settle down again in the same room. It is not the purpose of meditation to eradicate the passions and frustrations of existence.