Buddhism & Body Practice: Taizan
An interview with Rev. Taizan Alford, with questions by Eisho Felicia Sy
Eisho: You carry a deep presence that speaks to long practice. Can you share a bit about your
path in Zen and how sobriety has shaped that journey?
Taizan: That is very kind of you. I’m grateful that I have been able to sustain a longtime practice. I actually
started meditating shortly after I got sober in 1982 and started on a meditative path in the guru-based,
yogic tradition in 1983. I started on the Zen path in 2011 after a cancer scare.
I felt like, “I know how to meditate and change my state, I’ve been sober almost 30 years, but I still feel like I’m falling short in my ability to life the spiritual principles of compassion in action in my life.” Training as a Zen priest primarily in the community of Clouds in Water Zen Center has helped me have a deeper and more compassionate understanding of myself and those around me.
Eisho: Do you currently teach or practice yoga or other body-based disciplines? If so, how do
they relate to your Zen training?
Taizan: I do teach a little online class with a few students that have been with me since I started teaching
yoga, in Appleton WI, in 1998. We started meeting online in 2020, with COVID, and all my students
wanted to keep taking classes online because of the convenience of having class from their homes.
It’s great for me now because I live in Mexico and most of my students are still in Wisconsin. I do
have one student that lives in California that started taking yoga with me when she was 16 during my
first year teaching. My experience being with my body during zazen (Zen meditation) has helped me be with my body in my own practice of yoga and while I’m teaching yoga. What is interesting about the practice of
zazen, or shikintaza, just sitting, is that there is no immediate goal. Often the way that meditation and yoga is taught in the US is as a way to escape stress or to go into a different “higher” realm. What I’m so grateful to Zen for is the experience that being present with what is actually here is the most important realm. We all want relief from suffering. But, I’ve found if I can be with what is actually present in the moment, I can make better choices in my yoga practice by actually listening to the feedback my body is giving me. By being really present with the feedback my body is giving me in zazen and in daily life, I can make decisions based more on what is actually here rather than
what I was hoping would be here. Zen training is life training.
Eisho: How do you understand embodiment—not just as physical awareness, but as part of
spiritual awakening and transcendence?
Taizan: There is no spiritual awakening as a human being without a body. I’m not sure that transcendence is important unless you are talking about seeing the bigger picture. Sometimes in Buddhist language, that
would be called emptiness. There is a fundamental difference, I think, in the way many yogic meditative paths are applied in that they are trying to transcend the experience of being in a body, because they believe there is a separate self that needs to be purified so that the separate atman or soul can transcend the earthly existence to some higher plane. I’m not sure that is so important in the scheme of things in the Mahayana path where I have taken a vow to free all beings, end all delusions, enter all Dharma gates, and realize the Buddha way.
Eisho: How has your relationship with the body shifted through years of sobriety and spiritual
practice? What feels sacred about that journey?
Taizan: Everything feels sacred about the journey! I feel so fortunate to have had continuous sobriety for
over 43 years and been meditating 42 years. I’m so grateful that it never occurs to me that drinking or using would help solve any problem. Aging is a whole journey of its own. I took for granted that my body could do a lot of poses that I’m not able to do right now. My personal yoga practice has become more robust in the last six months and I am getting stronger. We talked about the fact that I sat zazen for many years, ignoring my body, thinking that I could somehow reach some state of enlightenment by sitting through the pain. I would not recommend anyone do that. However, I do feel that I have learned to be present with myself in a much more compassionate, big sky, mother
earth way.
Eisho: In what ways do you see body-based practice—whether yoga, zazen, or movement—as
supporting emotional healing and spiritual clarity?
Taizan: I have experienced that both yoga and zazen have supported my emotional healing and spiritual
clarity. However, and this is a big however, I think it is really really really important to find a good teacher that had rock solid ethics and a deep, long-time practice. I think is takes an enormous amount of commitment for a person to have the kind of practice both in yoga, and as a Zen Buddhist priest, where they can embody the teachings. Having a healthy community in which to practice is equally important as having a good teacher. The community and the teacher hold each other accountable and grow together.
Eisho: What role does discipline, rhythm, or ritual play in your daily life as a priest and as a
person in long-term recovery?
Taizan: My favorite quote about discipline is that discipline comes from remembering what is important.
Eisho: How might embodied practice support people who are in recovery or navigating
spiritual disconnection?
Taizan: That is such a big question. It depends on where the person is in their recovery. At first, I think that a
person need to just focus on staying sober and creating a stable life. When I got sober, I went to a
meeting everyday for the first three years of my sobriety. Even now, as I’ve moved to a new place,
I’m going to a lot of recovery meetings to get connected. Little by little I added things in. I did
start meditating with a group after about a year. I did start running, and doing little yoga in the
first year. I think it really matters who you do it with. The problem, I think, with the approach a lot of people take to Buddhism is that most of the information comes from books and trying to do things alone. It is just really hard to make any progress alone. There is a Rumi poem that talks about how we will go along faster and further with companions on the path.
Eisho: What do you hope people feel when they encounter your teaching or presence—on or
off the mat/cushion?
Taizan: I hope that they can see that I take my practice seriously by not so much myself.
Eisho: What does transcendence mean to you in a fully human, embodied life?
Taizan:
The Three Refuges:
I take refuge in Buddha, may all beings embody the great way
I take refuge in Dharma, may all beings deeply enter the truth
I take refuge in Sangha, may all being support harmony in the community, free from hindrance
Bodhisattva Vows:
1. Beings are numberless, I vow to free them (be with them)
2. Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them
3. Dharma Gates are boundless, I vow to enter them
4. The Buddha Way is unsurpassable, I vow to realize it
Eisho: Is there anything you'd like to offer the sangha as we explore more collective, body-
centered forms of healing and spiritual growth?
Taizan: I would really love it if we could have specific yoga practices that prepare the body for seated
meditation. I hope that we can have programs where we collectively do equal parts yoga and zazen. I
would love to explore if there are specific Japanese body practices that we have never learned that
might help us prepare for the long hours in sesshin.
