Originally Posted by
Risho
... I feel inspired by Dogen. lol
The Buddha, Patriarchs, Matriarchs, Bodhisattva's, Mahasattva's all knew what it was to lie down.
True lying down is not dependent on standing, sitting, or lying. There is standing-lying down, sitting-lying down, lying down while active, lying down while inactive.
Zazen is a vigorous act of inactivity. In zazen, we drop all thoughts of here and there, right and wrong, sitting or standing. This is true lying down. This beyond good and evil is true good. This lying down beyond sitting or standing is true lying down. That does not mean that good and evil are meaningless; we should always strive to be good, but it's that the good may more readily spring forth if we learn how to walk while lying down.
When you are fully engaged with this, not worried about past or present, all energy here and now, this is lying down as Isan did. That's why zazen is so awesome. It allows us to focus all of our energy here and now and learn how to lie down without any distraction. We can extend this same attitude into all that we do. We can also apply what we learn in whatever field we have experience in and apply it to zazen, lying down.
But know that lying down is not lying down. Sitting zazen by trying to empty your head of thoughts or stop thoughts is not true zazen. That is zombie zen. Similarly, lying down to give up or avoid things is not true lying down. This would be the exact opposite of what Isan did.
True lying down is the vigorous activity of all the ancestors and can only be realized by not trying to sit properly; however, this does not mean that we can do whatever we like. So while there is no proper way to sit, we should endeavor to practice zazen wholeheartedly so that we do not sit improperly.
It's like when you practice a profession. After years and years of honing your craft, maybe after 10 years, you start to see it, you learn that to be fully engaged in what you are doing, cutting through to the problem and solving things is lying down. It is only through facing failures and getting back on the cushion, not giving up, that we learn how to lie down.
We earn a place among the ancestors with this lying down, and only then can we offer our unique gift to the world. So although, externally, lying down may seem like it's some non-chalant, lackadaisical response to the world. There is no outside and inside, and it is only through effort that we learn how to lie down as Isan did.