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Thread: How to do Shikantaza

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  1. #1

    How to do Shikantaza

    what is shikantaza?

    how to do shikantaza?

    why do i have to figure it out?

    shikantaza is what happens when you sit
    just sit
    sit anyway
    just get out of the way

    jundo might say it is sitting as buddha
    taigu might say it is being aware of what is happening
    uchiyama might say it is coming back again and again to just sitting
    someone else might say not getting lost in thought is shikantaza
    but it doesn't matter

    you may do these when you sit but not doing any of this doesn't make it not-shikantaza
    all these methods are just pointers
    the moment you take a "method" and call it shikantaza then regret arises when you notice you are not following the method
    you don't accept what is happening when it doesnt fit into the method, whether it is getting lost in thought or feeling drowsy or something else
    the method puts boundaries around what needs to happen during sitting and what should not
    the method might also tell you to accept whatever else is happening, but as long as the mind has a method, i don't think we can do away with the boundaries it creates

    so just sit without defining it, sit with the confusion and lack of direction, sit with your concerns on how ineffective it could be, letting go/letting be of the meditator or the one that is trying to get it right
    a method might give you the feeling that you are going somewhere, when you take out the method you directly face that idea of going somewhere and the fear of going nowhere

    all of this is crap too
    just throw it away and sit
    sit, it doesn't matter how you do it as long as you don't fight it
    Last edited by shikantazen; 07-24-2013 at 03:35 AM.

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