Sodo: Zen Meditation Timer

Sodo is a quiet timer for zazen, paced the way a zendo keeps time. Sit down and let the body settle. Three bells begin the sitting. An incense stick burns down as the period passes, and there is no clock to watch. Two bells end it. Stand slowly; wooden clappers begin kinhin, walking meditation by candlelight. The clappers sound again, you return to your seat, and the bells begin the next period. PACED LIKE A ZENDO • New to zazen? Your first sitting starts as it would in a zendo: a minute to settle, then one 25-minute period. Sit it as it is, or change it to suit you • Set your own sitting: how long to settle, how many periods and how long each lasts, and the length of kinhin • Settle, zazen, standing up, kinhin and returning, each with its own signal • Three bells to begin a period, two to end it, wooden clappers for kinhin • A setting to end zazen as in Japan instead: one bell, and two…