A ''zafu'' (, ) or ''putuan'' (, pronounced ) is a round

cushion A cushion is a soft bag of some ornamental material, usually stuffed with wool, hair, feathers, polyester staple fiber, non-woven material, cotton, or even paper torn into fragments. It may be used for sitting or kneeling upon, or to soften ...

. Although also a utilitarian accessory, it is best known for its use in

zazen ''Zazen'' is a meditative discipline that is typically the primary practice of the Zen Buddhist tradition. The generalized Japanese term for meditation is 瞑想 (''meisō''); however, ''zazen'' has been used informally to include all forms ...

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...

Name

Although ''zafu'' is often translated as "sewn seat" in American English, the meaning of the Japanese

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

, 座蒲, is different. ''Za'' (座) means "seat", and ''fu'' (蒲) means reedmace (cattail, ''

Typha ''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrushStreeter D, Hart-Davies C, Hardcastle A, Cole F, Harper L. 2009. ' ...

'' spp.). A ''zafu'' is a seat stuffed with the fluffy, soft, downy fibres of the disintegrating reedmace seed heads. The Japanese zafu originates in China, where these meditation seats were originally filled with reedmace down. The words ''

zabuton A zabuton (kanji: , ) is a cushion for sitting that is commonly used in traditional Japanese settings. Zabuton is a Japanese loanword that is also sometimes used in Western culture to describe the ''zaniku'', a flat mat that a ''zafu'' is placed ...

'', ''zafuton'' and ''

futon A is a traditional Japanese style of bedding. A complete futon set consists of a and a . Both elements of a futon bedding set are pliable enough to be folded and stored away in a large during the day. This allows a room to serve as a bedro ...

'' are closely linked. The word ''

'' meaning "seated meditation" or "sitting meditation" is also closely linked. In western usage, ''zafu'' refers to a meditation cushion, and ''zabuton'' refers to the cushioned mat upon which a zafu is placed.

Construction

Typical zafus are about in diameter,
Introduction to Buddhism and the Practice of Zazen
', page 14 and often about high when fluffed. Contemporary zafus are sewn from three pieces of heavy cloth, usually colored black: two round swatches of equal size for the top and the bottom of the cushion, and a long rectangle that is sewn into gathers in between. They are typically filled with either

kapok Kapok fibre is a cotton-like plant fibre obtained from the seed pods of a number of trees in the Malvaceae family, which is used for stuffing mattresses and pillows, for padding and cushioning, and as insulation. Kapok may also refer to: Plants ...

(a fluffy plant fibre, similar to Typha) or

buckwheat Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum'') or common buckwheat is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. Buckwheat originated around the 6th millennium BCE in the region of what ...

hulls.

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

practitioners traditionally sit on a zafu when engaged in

sitting meditation ''Zazen'' is a meditative discipline that is typically the primary practice of the Zen Buddhist tradition. The generalized Japanese term for meditation is 瞑想 (''meisō''); however, ''zazen'' has been used informally to include all forms ...

. The cushion raises the hips, making the entire range of cross-legged sitting positions more stable for the meditator.

Use in zazen

Before and after practicing

, Zen practitioners perform a gassho bow to the zafu, to fellow practitioners, and to the teacher. In many practice places, there is a prescribed form for respectfully handling zafu while walking in the meditation hall, or zendo. A

(, ) is a rectangular cushion, about by , that is often used under a zafu cushion to provide comfort and support when engaged in zazen. The outer cover is typically made of a heavy duty fabric and has a zipper along one side so that it can be easily removed and washed. Inside the cover, the batting is enclosed in a natural cotton casing.

References

Zazen Zen {{zen-stub