Today's sit was a little different than most in that I was able to sit on a zabuton for the first time. When the zendo first opened for practice in January of this year, we were given a generous donation of zafus; however, as the cost of zabutons-- the cushions placed under zafus to support the knees and legs during practice-- was a bit prohibitive, we settled for sitting on folded-up Mexican-style blankets. While comfortable, they added a "festive" color to the zendo that is not quite traditional:
So I engaged myself in the crafting of home-made zabutons, to mellow-out the color explosion here at the Healing Center! It was a very simple process, and quite inexpensive. You may want to try it for yourself! Here is a step-by-step guide.
While window-shopping for zabutons online, I found an array of zabutons, cotton and hemp, in many colors and sizes ranging from 25" x 30" and even 30" x 30". I chose a cushion-y black fleece material from my local fabric store that came on a bolt 58" wide.
In my online search, I saw some zabutons were filled with cotton, and some with buckwheat. In my old practice temple, a few of our mis-matched zabutons were filled with a thin foam. For the Open Palm zabuton, I chose a 1-inch thick foam for filling. This came on a 24" wide roll.

1 comment:
Great idea to make zabutons ! Thanks for the easy directions.
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