Sit-a-Long with Jundo: Zazen for Beginners (Part X)

[Jundo]

Last time, in our series on Zazen for Beginners (we are all always beginners), I used the analogy of clouds of thoughts and emotions drifting through an open, clear, boundless blue sky.

I said, in Shikantaza “Just Sitting” Zazen, we do not resist the clouds, do not attempt to silence the thoughts and emotions forcefully. Instead, we just return our attention again and again to the clear sky, and allow the clouds to drift out of mind. Be focused on “everything and nothing at all,” just as the sky covers all the world without thought or discrimination.

What is more, I said, we do not think of the clouds as “bad” while the clear sky is “good” … We never say “this cloudy day is not good because there is no blue sky today.” When the sky is blue and empty, let it be so. When the sky is cloudy, our mind filled with thoughts and distractions, let it be so. Drop all judgment of Zazen, and of all of life, as “good vs. bad.” Nonetheless, though we reject nothing as “good” or “bad” Zazen, we do not stay in the clouds. Not at all! We allow the clouds to drift from mind and return our attention again and again to the blue.

In doing so, a surprising thing happens …

Though we do not reject our thoughts and emotions, do not try to change them, suppress them, judge them or push them away… “bad” thoughts will change, will be experienced quite differently, and sometimes fully drop away. To illustrate this process, I will talk about sitting with three common thoughts and emotions that may fill our heads during Zazen or at any moment of life: anger at someone, greed for something, and fear about the future.

CLICK HERE for today’s Sit-A-Long video.



Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 15 to 35 minutes is recommended.

[Ray]

Hi,

Thanks so very much. You have explained this so well.

[kalesi]

I really needed to hear this today. My mind keeps grasping at objects I think I need in order to be happy. The acquisition of more 'things' or 'stuff' is not going to bring contentment...yet it's something I need to reflect on again and again or else that grasping, needy mind resurfaces. This teaching is a big help. Thanks!

[Dave Schauweker]

Jundo:
Something bothers me slightly about this talk and the prior one. The thing that bothers me is that, although you advise no resistance to the clouds that come up into consciousness while meditating, you talk about turning from the clouds (negative thoughts and emotions) to the blue sky. Also, in an earlier talk, the video shows you metaphorically blowing intruding thoughts away. Perhaps these metaphors give the impression of more resistance and active doing than is intended?

I admit I am a big nit-picker. And this is a very subtle and difficult point to convey exactly. In reading the books of the great twentieth-century sage Krishnamurti, for example, I feel it is easy to get the impression that his approach to dealing with negative emotions is a more active process than he is really suggesting ( believe he is suggesting an attitude very much like that of Shikantaza).

Perhaps you mean just not giving these negative thoughts and emotions energy; or, if they are very strong, just sitting with them as an undivided activity (I see Pierre Turlur mentions this phrase as one of Dogen's in one of the Youtube videos) until their energy subsides?

Pleas comment on this subtle point.

Thanks,
Dave

[Jundo]

Hi Dave,

It is a very good question.

Shikantaza is not really active or passive. I would say that, yes, at those moments in the middle of a sitting in which we find ourselves tangled in thoughts, thinking about the guy who cut us off in traffic yesterday or the electric bill due to be paid tomorrow, we do gently let them go ... open the hand of thought ... lightly blow them away ... and return to sitting in the quiet, vibrant clarity between thoughts.

At the same time, we do not actively wrestle our thoughts and emotions, fight, try to stamp them down by force. We drop all resistance to the thoughts, all tension, even as we turn away from thinking them.

Our sitting should not be numb, energyless, bump on a log, completely passive, dead headed ... but should have a certain spark of life, vibrancy, energy to it. We settle into a quiet, still center that is nonetheless vibrant yet not too vibrant, not numb yet not over stimulated, manifesting a spark of life but not burning the house down.

It is a middle way. I sometimes compare this to Ai-ki-do, the martial art which emphasizes ... not wrestling with the opponent ... but using the opponents energy to simply drop our own resistance, step out of the way, and allow the opponent to go past by his own force and weight. Another description is Wu-wei-wu ... non-action action.

I hope that helps.

Gassho, Jundo

[Dave Schauweker]

Jundo,

Thanks for your answer. "Opening the hand of thought" is a deft phrase to describe this process of letting go of our thoughts. It brings to mind the fact that thought is literally a grasping or apprehending accompanied by bodily tension. "Opening the hand of thought" and letting go of it is then a process of relaxing, not pushing.

Dave

[Jundo]

Jundo,

Thanks for your answer. "Opening the hand of thought" is a deft phrase to describe this process of letting go of our thoughts. It brings to mind the fact that thought is literally a grasping or apprehending accompanied by bodily tension. "Opening the hand of thought" and letting go of it is then a process of relaxing, not pushing.

Dave

Opening the hand of thought is a saying by Uchiyama Roshi, and my top book recommendation for folks new to Shikantaza ...

http://books.google.com/books/about/...d=fOU_1vlGN9UC

Gassho, J