Call, Breathe

Interesting Fact

Buddhist meditation traditions that reached Japan placed considerable importance on observing the breath. In practices such as zazen, practitioners may pay attention to the natural rhythm of inhaling and exhaling rather than trying to control every breath. The Japanese word 呼吸 (kokyū) is therefore especially useful when learning about Japanese meditation: 呼 represents the outward breath, while 吸 represents drawing breath inward. It is a neat reminder that Japanese vocabulary sometimes preserves very old ways of thinking about the human body.