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Jundo
02-09-2017, 04:55 AM
Dear All.

I am writing a longer chapter for a book that points up some aspects of sitting Shikantaza that seem to be often missing, misunderstood or understated in many explanations I've read and heard regarding "how to" Shikanataza.

In my belief, neglecting these points robs Shikantaza of its power, like fire without its fuel.

A few excerpts ...

----------------------


WHAT’S MISSING FROM SHIKANTAZA by Jundo Cohen

There are subtle differences in how Zen teachers explain Shikantaza, so-called “Just Sitting” Zazen. After listening to hundreds of talks and reading so many essays, I am left very surprised that one key aspect is not emphasized more. This crucial point often seems to be missing, misunderstood or understated. In my belief, not placing one fact front and center (or leaving it out altogether) robs Zazen of its power, like a fire without fuel, a tiger without its claws.

What is this missing piece of the puzzle?

Shikantaza Zazen must be sat, for the time it is sat, with the student profoundly trusting deep in her bones that sitting itself is a complete and sacred act, the one and only action that need be done in the whole universe in that instant of sitting. This truth should not be thought about or voiced in so many words, but must be silently and subtly felt deep down. The student must taste vibrantly that the mere act of sitting Zazen, in that moment, is whole and thoroughly complete, the total fruition of life’s goals, with nothing lacking and nothing to be added to the bare fact of sitting here and now. There must be a sense that the single performance of crossing the legs (or sitting in some other balanced posture) is the realization of all that was ever sought, that there is simply no other place to go in the world nor thing left to do besides sitting in such posture. No matter how busy one’s life or how strongly one’s heart may tempt one to be elsewhere, for the time of sitting all other concerns are put aside. Zazen is the one task and experience that brings meaning and fruition to that time, with nothing else to do. This fulfillment in “Just Sitting” must be felt with a tangible vibrancy and energy, trusting that one is sitting at the very pinnacle of life.

Unfortunately, this unique and powerful aspect of Shikantaza is too often neglected or merely paid lip service.

I do not mean to say that other teachers explain the general outlines of Shikantaza in a wrong way. Almost all experienced teachers agree on the basics: One should sit in the Lotus Posture (or, these days, some other balanced way such as Burmese or Seiza or in a chair), focus on the breath or the body or just be openly aware, letting one’s thoughts go without grabbing onto them. If finding oneself caught in trains of thought, return to the breath or posture or spaciousness. Sit daily for a certain length of time, but without objective or demanded pay-off. Do not seek anything from your Zazen, whether “enlightenment” or to become “Buddha” or anything at all. Just Sit!

That’s all correct. But by leaving out the vital ingredient, such explanations can miss the mark too. The description can leave students thinking of Zazen as just some relaxation technique or place to sit quietly without purpose. One may assume that “Just Sitting” is to sit like a bump on a log, the joined fingers but thumb twiddling. Talk of “nothing to attain” or that “Zazen is useless” may falsely lead hearers to the conclusion that there is no great value and treasure in sitting, that it is a silly waste of time rather than a state beyond all time and measure. Or, the student may fail to distinguish Shikantaza sufficiently from other meditation forms, which seek some gold ring as their prize. Failing to understand how and why Shikantaza is a taste of the end of all searching, the student eventually gives up, running hungrily to the next method or guru or self-help book. The point is missed that, in not seeking to obtain “enlightenment” nor grabbing after “peace” or “joy”, a certain Peace, Joy and, yes, Enlightenment is obtained which can only come in the freedom of not seeking.

In fact, there's a somewhat counter-intuitive trick to Zazen: I sometimes compare Shikantaza to the children’s puzzle of “Chinese finger-cuffs” which are escaped, not by forceful effort and pulling harder, but by non-resistance and letting go; by dropping the hunt for “enlightenment”, by giving up the chase, by allowing all to rest in the complete wholeness and acceptance of Just Sitting, by quenching all thirsts in the sheer satisfaction of sitting alone, one realizes a freedom and way of being which otherwise alludes us in this world of endless chasing and constant dissatisfactions.

I am not sure why many teachers, even when purporting to teach “Shikantaza,” do not more strongly emphasize this sacred, complete, “Hallelujah to-the-marrow” fulfillment of Just Sitting. My guess is that, somewhere along the line, the message of Shikantaza was softened in its presentation to laypeople. I have sometimes witnessed Zazen explained to newcomers as “just sit there in upright posture, let thoughts go, just breathe,” with little other explanation. I have heard so many teachers advise to “just follow the breath” or “straighten the back” or “don’t grab the thoughts” or “drop all goals”, but few who doubly-triply underline guidance such as “sit Zazen with a conviction that sitting is all that is needed in life” or “sit feeling that this sitting is the total fulfillment of all the universe” or “sit with a subtle sense that, were you to die right now on the cushion, sitting alone would have made a complete life” or “sit with faith that your sitting is all Buddhas sitting.”

Maybe the reason that the message was lost is that many practitioners (and even some teachers) cannot get beyond the belief that “Shikantaza” is just a way to get untangled from thoughts, or to feel some balance, or develop some concentration, or realize some peace and clarity. (It is all those things, but so much more.) Some may take too literally the admonition that “just sitting is all there is” without sufficient understanding of the fact that the body must resonate with energy and an awareness that “JUST SITTING HERE IS ALL THAT EVER COULD BE!” Some teachers may judge it too hard or overwhelming for new students to receive Dogen’s message about the sacredness of full blown Zazen. I tell my new students to trust in the method until it proves itself. If need be, “fake it ‘till you make it” in nurturing these feelings. “Just Sitting is Buddha” is not a mantra that should be voiced in words during Zazen, nor something that must be unfailingly felt at each and every moment of sitting. Rather, there only needs to be a subtle, yet vital sense and faith, felt deep down in the gut while sitting, that “THIS IS IT! THERE IS NO OTHER IT!”.

One does not have to look far in Dogen’s writings to find his exaltations of Zazen as the Alpha and Omega. Nor was he one for understatement. His writings and words speak of the mechanics of sitting, crossing the legs and letting thoughts go, finding balance in body and mind. But beyond that, Dogen also never failed to lyrically highlight the marvel and mystery of sitting itself. Just a few of examples will suffice:

From Shobogenzo-Bendowa:

Zazen, even if it is only one human being sitting for one moment,
thus enters into mystical cooperation with all dharmas, and completely penetrates
all times; and it therefore performs, within the limitless universe, the
eternal work of the Buddha’s guiding influence in the past, future, and present.
… The practice is not confined to the sitting itself; it strikes space and resonates,
Like ringing that continues before and after a bell. … Remember, even
if the countless buddhas in ten directions, as numerous as the sands of the
Ganges, tried with all their power and all their buddha-wisdom to calculate
or comprehend the merit of one person’s zazen, they could not even get close


From Zanmai-o-Zanmai (SZTP Translation)

Abruptly transcending all realms, to be greatly honored within the quarters of the buddhas and ancestors—this is sitting with legs crossed. Trampling the heads of the followers of alien ways and the legions of Māra, to be the one here within the halls of the buddhas and ancestors—this is sitting with legs crossed. Transcending the extreme of the extremes of the buddhas and ancestors is just this one dharma. Therefore, the buddhas and ancestors engage in it, without any further task.



The Buddha Śākyamuni, sitting with legs crossed under the bodhi tree, passed fifty small kalpas, passed sixty kalpas, passed countless kalpas. Sitting with legs crossed for twenty-one days, sitting cross-legged for one time — this is turning the wheel of the wondrous dharma; this is the buddha’s proselytizing of a lifetime. There is nothing lacking. This is the yellow roll and vermillion roller [of all the Sutras and Commentaries]. The buddha seeing the buddha is this time. This is precisely the time when beings attain buddhahood.


From Zazen-shin (SZTP Translation)

Be it known that, for studying the way, the established [means of] investigation is pursuing the way in seated meditation. The essential point of its standard is [the understanding] that there is a practice of a buddha that does not seek to make a buddha. Since the practice of a buddha is not to make a buddha, it is the realization of the kôan.


Master Dogen often spoke specifically of “sitting with the legs crossed” or the “Lotus Posture” and the like. Some teachers will take this very literally, asserting that there is a special power to the physical form of the Lotus Posture alone. Certainly, that is the posture most common to monks in training in Dogen’s day and today. However, I feel that Master Dogen used such expressions in a less restrictive sense. Body and mind are not two, and thus an upright and balanced posture of the body facilitates an upright and balanced mind. Nonetheless, many postures such as sitting Burmese style, in a chair or in “Seiza”, can also offer great upright balance to those who cannot manage Lotus. Looking closely at Master Dogen’s words, his use of “Lotus Posture” seems less about the posture itself, and truly about the sacredness of the act of Zazen in a balanced state of body and mind. His use of “Lotus Posture” stands for all Zazen, and in fact, extends to mean both seated Zazen and all other activities of life off the cushion too. The wholeness and sacredness is not just in the position of the body alone, but is the entire endeavor, and all actions, as Buddha actions.

================


We should sit each day. Sitting is indispensable and brings lessons to the heart not easily touched in the hustle & bustle of life. Zazen is only sitting and nothing else when sitting. Yet Zazen is not sitting alone. Master Dogen also taught us that, in rising from the cushion, all of our daily actions, no matter how superficially mundane, are “Zazen” in a wider way, when perceived with wisdom. It is easy to misunderstand the true meaning of phrases such as “Zazen is the only Practice.” People very often think that “Zazen as the only Practice” means that all one needs to do is sit Zazen, and there is nothing else to Practice. Dogen never meant so. Rather, the daily schedule he commanded for his monks at Eiheiji created a routine by which ordinary daily tasks were treated as sacred rituals. Dogen taught his monks that all their daily actions are rituals, from cooking to cleaning to bowing to bathing to defecating to sleeping. Each is the one action bringing life into life in that moment, a holy doing. Rising from the cushion, the householding working person or parent can likewise learn that Zazen is not limited to sitting alone. Cooking and cleaning one’s own home is a holy ritual when the heart opens. Our jobs in the office or factory are what need to be done in that moment, our “Work Practice.” Changing a baby’s diaper or a simple flat tire is a wondrous and miraculous event, and all time and space have led to right there.

To learn this lesson that all the world is “Zazen,” we must sit Zazen each day. When it is the time for seated Zazen, it becomes “the only practice” in that moment. When sitting, there must be nothing more, nothing to compare to sitting, and the simple act of sitting fills the cosmos with completeness. In fact, during the time of sitting, there is not even a “before” or “after” to sitting, and a moment of sitting is all time. We must sit with such attitude.

===============

The ability to be at rest completely, to realize the preciousness and wholeness of life in this moment is a skill we have lost in this busy world. We chase after achievements, are overwhelmed with jobs that feel undone, and feel that there are endless places to go and people to see. The world can seem a broken and hopeless place. Thus, it is vital that we learn to sit each day with no other place in need of going, no feeling of brokenness nor judgment of lack, nothing more in need of achieving in that time but sitting itself. We sit with the sense that there is nothing to fix or place in need of getting, because this “not needing” is a wisdom that we so rarely taste. How tragic if we instead turn our Zazen or other meditation into just one more battle for achievement, a race to get some peaceful place, attain some craved prize or spiritual reward. Or, on the other hand, how equally tragic if we use Zazen just as a break from life, a little escape, never tasting the wholeness and completeness of life. By doing so, Zazen becomes just one more symptom of the rat race, and the prize is out of reach. True peace comes not by chasing, but by resting now in peace.

In fact, when we truly taste to the marrow the real meaning of “nothing to achieve”, we have finally reached a great spiritual achievement! As strange as it sounds, resting in stillness without need to run is, in fact, truly getting somewhere!

Then, rising from the cushion, we may experience the world in a new way. The wisdom of sitting is portable. We bring the stillness of the cushion into the motion and calamity of life. Getting on with our busy day of places to go and goals to fulfill, a part of us is now beyond going and goals (nonetheless, we go and try to do what needs to be done). Working hard in the office or doing housework at home, we equally experience that there is no job yet undone (nonetheless, we roll up our sleeves and get to work). Seeing this world with all its problems and suffering, we experience that there is nothing to fix (yet we get busy to fix what we can and make this world better). It is as if we now encounter the world two different ways that are truly one: working for goals on the one hand, yet on the other, all goals dropped away; busy and pressed for time, yet tasting something beyond all measure of time; cleaning a dirty house or dusty temple, yet knowing a Buddha’s Eye of equanimity free of judgment; doing what one can to solve problems, yet ultimately what problem? In doing so, whether as monk or someone’s mommy, one develops the sense that everything in one’s day is equally sacred, not lacking, thoroughly complete. Nonetheless, one does what needs doing.

I do not mean to say that sitting alone will make your family perfect, your life without hardships, or your job like heaven on earth. Wisdom will not free you of the need to rush around to get the chores done and kids fed. It won't prevent the doctor from someday presenting you with that diagnosis you feared. It will not fix this crazy world with all its problems. However, what it will do is wondrously teach us that, for all our dissatisfactions, busy-ness, losses, sorrows, disappointments, ills and fears in life, there is simultaneously another way to experience and live beyond all that. It is hard to express, but, while experiencing this world with all its problems and faults, one simultaneously knows some ‘ever OK' without fault to fix. When the doctor hands us the frightful news, when our loved one dies or leaves us, one may also experience a Wisdom free of coming and going, all life or death. Even as tears of grief pour down our cheeks, we may simultaneously bask in the warm embrace whereby there can be no separation, grateful for it all.

All this comes from the power of daily Shikantaza Zazen, Just Sitting with nothing lacking, grateful and whole in the simple act of sitting.

Such Wisdom can only be known if Zen Teachers burn the message into the bones of their students: True Shikantaza Zazen is radical and thorough sitting free of all need for goals beyond sitting, in total fulfillment, flooded with the thunder and power of nothing more to seek. Then, the little self with its hungers and its needs to run and fear and get and become “more more more” is put to rest. The Goal is achieved in radical goallessness. With no other place in need of going, the Pure Land is present all along. The Gold Ring is ever in hand.

What is sometimes missing from explanations of Zazen is the lesson that nothing can ever be missing from true Zazen.

Gassho, J

STLah

Mp
02-09-2017, 05:23 AM
Again Jundo, a clear and supportive example of this beautiful practice, thank you. =)

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

MyoHo
02-09-2017, 09:56 AM
yes, well done. The phrase " portable wisdom of sitti g", I like very mutch. It clarifies how our practice touches all aspects of life. Our life but the life of others too. I think it is a good piece because it does not sound Zenny or artificial. What you say rings true because it is clear you speak from practice and experiance and not theoretical book knowlege. Very good.

Gasho

Myoho

std

Taiyo
02-09-2017, 10:15 AM
Thank you Jundo gassho2

Gassho,
Taiyō

SatToday.

Kokuu
02-09-2017, 10:15 AM
Thank you, Jundo. I am saving this to read often. Please do give a link to the article when it is published.

In this way that we sit as already Buddhas it has something in common with Tibetan vajrayana practice. Everything is whole and complete already, there are no stages of the path to complete or jhanas to attain.

Gassho
Kokuu
#sattoday

Jyukatsu
02-09-2017, 11:21 AM
Thank you Jundo.....wonderful description of a wonderful practice
Gassho,
Jyukatsu
sitting just now at the airport

Troy
02-09-2017, 12:00 PM
Beautiful. Thank you Jundo


•sat2day...合掌

Troy

Jiken
02-09-2017, 12:18 PM
Very clear. It hits home.

Gassho,

Jiken

Jishin
02-09-2017, 12:54 PM
Thank you. I would like to add that the lotus posture fetish is a huge detractor to just sitting.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

Kaisho
02-09-2017, 12:58 PM
Thank you for this teaching.
Gassho
Chelsea
Sat2day

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adrianbkelly
02-09-2017, 01:21 PM
_/\_

Ade

Sat today

Entai
02-09-2017, 01:32 PM
Thank you for this. It's clear and accessible. I'll be re-reading it from time to time as a reminder.

Gassho,
Entai
#SatToday

Hoko
02-09-2017, 02:08 PM
Beautifully said. 🙏
I re-read this before sitting this morning; a wonderful reminder neatly articulated.
Thank you for writing this.

Gassho,
Hōkō
#SatToday

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Jakuden
02-09-2017, 02:29 PM
gassho1 Thank you Jundo.

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday

Konsetsu
02-09-2017, 02:38 PM
Thank you for this!

Gassho,
Konsetsu
SatToday

Ryumon
02-09-2017, 05:07 PM
Yes. Thank you

Gassho,

Kirk
&sat

Myosha
02-09-2017, 05:10 PM
Thank you. I would like to add that the lotus posture fetish is a huge detractor to just sitting.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

Hello,

And this detractor is evidence of . . . ?


Gassho
Myosha
sat today

Jishin
02-09-2017, 05:28 PM
Hello,

And this detractor is evidence of . . . ?


Gassho
Myosha
sat today

This detractor is evidence of that the lotus posture fetish is a detractor to just sitting.

Res ipsa loquitur.

Gassho, Jishin, ST

Kyonin
02-09-2017, 05:30 PM
Thank you Jundo.

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

Seishin
02-09-2017, 06:39 PM
----------------------

Shikantaza Zazen must be sat, for the time it is sat, with the student profoundly trusting deep in her bones that sitting itself is a complete and sacred act, the one and only action that need be done in the whole universe in that instant of sitting. This truth should not be thought about or voiced in so many words, but must be silently and subtly felt deep down.


I tell my new students to trust in the method until it proves itself. If need be, “fake it ‘till you make it” in nurturing these feelings. “Just Sitting is Buddha” is not a mantra that should be voiced in words during Zazen, nor something that must be unfailingly felt at each and every moment of sitting. Rather, there only needs to be a subtle, yet vital sense and faith, felt deep down in the gut while sitting, that “THIS IS IT! THERE IS NO OTHER IT!”





Jundo many thanks for sharing this article, its good to see these observations collectively, as I am sure I have read much of what you say in a number of different threads.

Although I have now been sitting daily since joining the sangha last year, a mere 5 months or so I still feel I'm in the Fake It "class", as I'm yet to realize how to feel this deep trust you speak of "in my bones". I sit with no expectations, struggling to let go and relax but like escaping from that Chinese finger tube, that's what I need to do. I understand the portability, as I sit without judgement, desire or anger and know that I can carry this with me throughout the day. Yes some days are harder than others and someone or something may just push the wrong button too far but generally I feel I am more accepting of what's going with me and inside and around me.

But how do I find that core deep trust and finally sit without think of sitting, without thinking of not attaining or chasing thoughts of am I doing this right, knowing there is no right or wrong good or bad. So despite committing to sit daily and having only missed one day since Sept 1 last year, this is something I still struggle with understanding. Perhaps I just need to sit some more................

Hoko
02-09-2017, 10:15 PM
Faking it, making it.
Just this is it.
Faking faking, making making.
Just this is it.

Gassho,
Hōkō
#SatToday


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Enjaku
02-10-2017, 08:21 AM
Thanks Jundo, great article.
Gassho,
Enjaku
Sat

Hoseki
02-10-2017, 06:51 PM
Gassho,

Hoseki
Sattoday

Seido
02-10-2017, 09:34 PM
Thank you.

Gassho,
Seido
SatToday

Banto
02-11-2017, 03:19 AM
Love it, thanks for sharing it. Very clear.
Zazen is zazen
I should very much like to share that when it comes out with people that ask me about it.
Though it's good for nothing ;)

Gassho Jundo
Banto/Rodney SatToday

Onkai
02-11-2017, 07:50 PM
Thank you, Jundo. It's a wonderful article.

Gassho,
Onkai
SatToday

Joyo
02-12-2017, 11:57 PM
Thank you, Jundo. This is something I need to remind myself of often.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

lorax
02-13-2017, 03:04 AM
Sat today - gassho

Matt
02-13-2017, 06:18 PM
True peace comes not by chasing peace, but by resting now in peace.

Thank you for this teaching, Jundo.

Gassho
Matt
#SatToday

Meitou
02-15-2017, 03:37 PM
Great teaching, worth reading every day. Thank you Jundo
Gassho

I sat with you all today

Jakudo
02-23-2017, 01:09 PM
Great stuff Jundo, thanks for this.
Sat today


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Ryudo
02-23-2017, 09:41 PM
It is as if we now encounter the world two different ways that are truly one: working for goals on the one hand, yet on the other, all goals dropped away; busy and pressed for time, yet tasting something beyond all measure of time. ...
This reminds me so much of the yin/yang priciple as I use it in my Tai Chi practice, everything is about ballance...

Gossho,
Marcus

Byokan
11-27-2017, 02:38 AM
Golden. [gassholook] Thank you Jundo.

Gassho
Byōkan
sat + lah

Eishuu
11-27-2017, 10:28 AM
Missed this the first time. Thank you. Will need to keep rereading this. I often struggle with faking a sense of completeness. gassho2

Gassho
Lucy
ST/LAH

Tai Shi
11-28-2017, 04:52 AM
For thirty years I have thought of sobriety as like children's Chinese finger cuffs sold at carnivals, the acceptance and release. So, you see I was surprised to hear, see written this little metaphor that guided me 30 years and 6 months as I emerged the drunken sot that I was, am, and could be again what for the 12 steps that saved my life as I found the insanity of drink, reaching out for that Higher Power which I did then, and do now call God, the essence of the Universe, sand under feet, I am but sand, or nothing in the Universe so wide I cannot see, so isn't that what the Buddha did find, as did Jesus who called out on his suffering, My Father, why hast Thou forsaken me. You see, pain is the touchstone of life, bringing more life which I love in my beautiful silver-haired wife who fills my pill keeper each week. You see, I am 66, and there are some promises I must keep, some soundness of mind which does not embrace death, which asks for the life and birth of Enlightenment and Salvation the Buddha called Compassion for others, and Jesus called love thy neighbor as thyself, and that Providence has brought to each of that responsibility not just looking into the infinite, which is good true and beautiful, to quote John Keats who found this at age 22, but to give back Love, and this is what I believe.

Tai Shi
sat today'lah
Gassho

Jishin
11-28-2017, 07:16 PM
For thirty years I have thought of sobriety as like children's Chinese finger cuffs sold at carnivals, the acceptance and release. So, you see I was surprised to hear, see written this little metaphor that guided me 30 years and 6 months as I emerged the drunken sot that I was, am, and could be again what for the 12 steps that saved my life as I found the insanity of drink, reaching out for that Higher Power which I did then, and do now call God, the essence of the Universe, sand under feet, I am but sand, or nothing in the Universe so wide I cannot see, so isn't that what the Buddha did find, as did Jesus who called out on his suffering, My Father, why hast Thou forsaken me. You see, pain is the touchstone of life, bringing more life which I love in my beautiful silver-haired wife who fills my pill keeper each week. You see, I am 66, and there are some promises I must keep, some soundness of mind which does not embrace death, which asks for the life and birth of Enlightenment and Salvation the Buddha called Compassion for others, and Jesus called love thy neighbor as thyself, and that Providence has brought to each of that responsibility not just looking into the infinite, which is good true and beautiful, to quote John Keats who found this at age 22, but to give back Love, and this is what I believe.

Tai Shi
sat today'lah
Gassho

4810

Hi Tai Chi,

If you think about it god may not exist and this could be a terrible thing.

If you think about it Buddha also may not exist and this would be wonderful!

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

Jundo
11-29-2017, 12:55 AM
I am cool with anyone who wishes to be cool with God, and I feel that I am cool with God if there is a God or what ever she is.

I am also cool with anyone who chooses not to believe in God, and I am cool if there is not god.

Let us all just be cool. There is a long tradition in Buddhism and Zen too of people needing to sometimes call on "Other Power" when they need a little extra hand. The great Zen Buddhist, D.T.Suzuki, was actually also a long time follower of Amida Buddha who is "Other Power" in our Buddhist sense. Suzuki found Amida belief (Shin Buddhism) as unlike Christianity on various grounds, but I don't think that they are that far apart really.

https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/Shin_Buddhism_by_DT_Suzuki.pdf

Gassho, Jundo

SatTodayLAH

Jishin
11-29-2017, 01:52 AM
Well, I believe in what’s for dinner? Had a tough day at work and am ready to chow down somethin’ right tasty.

Later gator! [emoji41]

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

Risho
11-30-2017, 07:01 PM
I gotta riff on the cool man. lol

You know what's really cool is this zen mindset - for lack of a better term. It's not indifference/not caring; instead it is a "cool" sort of relaxation with not knowing; it's freeing. it's being ok with allowing everyone to believe what they feel and also cool to let people discuss their opinions on topics even if you disagree with them. It's pretty damned cool indeed.

It's the cool beyond hot and cold man. :P

Very good stuff - I hadn't visited this topic in quite a while.

Gassho,

Rish
-st/lah

Heisoku
12-29-2017, 11:27 AM
You gotta feel it and not 'feel it' in your bones.
Nothing is easy, no thing is hard.
Hara, heart and head just 'one bright pearl'.
Everyday sitting.

Gassho Jundo. I look forward to reading such a book when the time comes.

Gassho
Heisoku
S2D/LAH.

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HAN SEN
01-05-2018, 11:10 PM
Still good; great even.

Sat today/Lent a hand

moshezhang88
01-10-2018, 06:10 AM
Thank you Jundo Roshi for this summary and the other information on Shikantaza.
There truly are so many things about this practice which seem to run counter to logic. What we are taught in the West adds to the problems.
I remember a few of the lessons I have had to learn.
Relaxing into quiet concentration.... when I thought I needed to push through...... Upon getting off my cushions, I had massive rushes of energy that I didn't know what to do with.... often used them wrong.... (but I got alot of stuff done!! hehe)
it was very counter productive in lots of ways.....
Then falling into quietist way of thinking, and always falling asleep because i hadn't "connected".
That, added to the beliefs which were pounded into me when I was young, that anyone who "emptied their mind" would have the bad red guy with the pitchfork grab them....... oh the pitfalls of being a PK. :
Went round and round for a long time......
Finding a home here in Treeleaf and "homing in" on Shikantaza is like a lifeline thrown to me.
Gratefulness
Gassho
Gerry
Sat Today

........The continuous looping motion of the rakusu thread running through every moment.......
(At first, I really didn't understand the point of sewing the rakusu, other than patience.... but it has become a metaphor for breathing and kinhin and so much more)

Hyōhaku-sha
01-10-2018, 06:43 AM
I am cool with anyone who wishes to be cool with God, and I feel that I am cool with God if there is a God or what ever she is.

I am also cool with anyone who chooses not to believe in God, and I am cool if there is not god.

Let us all just be cool. There is a long tradition in Buddhism and Zen too of people needing to sometimes call on "Other Power" when they need a little extra hand. The great Zen Buddhist, D.T.Suzuki, was actually also a long time follower of Amida Buddha who is "Other Power" in our Buddhist sense. Suzuki found Amida belief (Shin Buddhism) as unlike Christianity on various grounds, but I don't think that they are that far apart really.

https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/Shin_Buddhism_by_DT_Suzuki.pdf

Gassho, Jundo

SatTodayLAH

Reminds me of a Zenlike quote by Henry David Thoreau via Joseph Goldstein ( and I'm paraphrasing):

Thoreau's aunt asked Thoreau if he made his peace with god yet.
Thoreau replied "Why? I didn't know we ever quarreled."

Gassho
Tom
Sat/LAH


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sosen
11-28-2018, 03:38 AM
Thank you for this teaching Jundo _()_
it's so easy to lose this vital thread when we practice alone for a long time; when 'just sitting' can drift back to just sitting; a wonderful reminder of the essence of the practice.

_()_
sosen

st/lah

Teiro
12-15-2018, 04:10 PM
Thank you for this teaching, Jundo.

Sit and the whole unsiverse sits through you. And even when you don’t sit you still sit.

Gassho
Christian

Sattoday

RobS
12-16-2018, 02:08 PM
Thank you for this teaching.
Sat today.
Rob

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Natahl
12-19-2018, 06:52 AM
Thank you for this teaching, it has sharpened my understanding of zazen as opposed to the way I used to sit before joining Treeleaf recently. Extremely useful.

SatToday
Natahl


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Nengei
01-18-2019, 11:22 PM
gassho2 Thank you for your teaching. This has advanced my practice. It answers some questions, and set my big, boulder-y gears grinding away on others.

Gassho,
然芸 Nengei
Sat/LAH

You deserve to be happy.
You deserve to be loved.

Elijah
05-25-2020, 03:26 PM
Thank you for such a beautiful explanation, Jundo.

Gassho,
Elijah
Sat

StoBird
05-25-2020, 03:57 PM
Yes, thank you very much. This deep, sacred feeling you speak of Jundo reminds me of a quote by Nietzsche on (I think) the concept of “amor fati (Latin for ‘the love of fate’)”:

“For nothing is self-sufficient, neither in us ourselves nor in things; and if our soul has trembled with happiness and sounded like a harp string just once, all eternity was needed to produce this one event—and in this single moment of affirmation all eternity was called good, redeemed, justified, and affirmed.”

“...in this single moment of affirmation all eternity was called good, redeemed, justified, and affirmed.”

Does that come close to the sacred feeling you speak of?

Gassho,
Tom

Sat




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Tai Shi
05-25-2020, 09:19 PM
Well Jishin, I believe both God does not exist, god does exist. Or, is it God is both or just where does the Buddha fit into all
Of this? Answer. Who knows? The Power of the Infinite question. Do you exist?
Tai Shi
sat / lah
I help
The men I sponsor every day.
Gassho


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Kotei
05-26-2020, 08:11 AM
Thank you for pushing this up.

Tom, I like the Nietzsche quote in this context and enjoy finding pointers to Shikantaza in philosophers' works.

To me, it feels like the ultimate truth, they are searching for, resides beyond words and thoughts, beyond concepts of "happiness, good, redeemed, justified, and affirmed" and their counterparts, in a 'simple' practice to be directly experienced.
Recently, I thought that the answer to Goethe's Faust, pondering about the symbol of the Macrocosm in his book, would be Shikantaza, replacing the search with total arrival, too:

How each to the Whole its selfhood gives,
One in another works and lives!
How Heavenly forces fall and rise,
Golden vessels pass each other by!
Blessings from their wings disperse:
They penetrate from Heaven to Earth,
Sounding a harmony through the Universe!
Such a picture! Ah, alas! Merely a picture!
How then can I grasp you endless Nature?
Where are your breasts that pour out Life entire,
To which the Earth and Heavens cling so,
Where withered hearts would drink? You flow
You nourish, yet I languish so, in vain desire.

Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

sanjay
07-07-2020, 03:18 PM
This is amazingly clear writing. Thank you so much for this. This needs a wider audience.

Inshin
08-15-2020, 09:58 PM
Thank you Jundo. That was beautiful. I finally get it (a bit more than before I hope) I was also thought zazen as just sit and breathe but somehow felt that it can't be so, it is not enough. So I looked in Rinzai tradition. Their explanation of tanden, much longer out breaths, etc seemed more practical. And the dedication of Rinzai masters made the Soto way appear lazy to me. I read about one elderly master who after having an accident wasn't able to sit in full lotus any more, so he broke his leg and died in lotus position. All I ever did was some yoga hip openings :) and still can only sit in Seiza position. From tomorrow I'll sit with a whole different attitude.
Gassho
Sat today

Jundo
08-15-2020, 10:24 PM
... Their explanation of tanden, much longer out breaths, etc seemed more practical. And the dedication of Rinzai masters made the Soto way appear lazy to me. I read about one elderly master who after having an accident wasn't able to sit in full lotus any more, so he broke his leg and died in lotus position. ...

Hi Ania,

That kind of breath strategy go the other way, and turn Shikantaza into a tool, a method to attain some goal such as a certain highly concentrated energy. Master Dogen's instructions were to just breathe naturally ... deep from the diaphragm and not high up in the chest, as is just healthful to do ... but otherwise just at its own pace, letting short breaths be short, and long breaths be long.

And there is no need to break one's leg usually, for one can be in the "Lotus Posture" in the mind, when the mind is accepting and in equanimity, even if in a sick bed lying down.

Gassho, J

STLah

Getchi
09-04-2020, 06:09 AM
To simply "be",
with no sense of becoming,
erases the idea of "being".

Happily, I "just Sit".



Gassho,
Geoff.
LaH
SatToday.

Nickatnight
12-18-2020, 03:58 PM
I don't know where or when I heard this but,
"No need to Zazen. Must do Zazen!"

Max
01-06-2021, 05:59 AM
Thank you for the clarity of this lesson. As a relative newcomer to Zen practice I have been somewhat confused by the various and numerous explanations of Zazen.
I feel I now have An answer, maybe not The answer but a clear direction
Gassho
Max
Aust.

Suuko
01-07-2021, 06:00 PM
Thank you Jundo. That was beautiful. I finally get it (a bit more than before I hope) I was also thought zazen as just sit and breathe but somehow felt that it can't be so, it is not enough. So I looked in Rinzai tradition. Their explanation of tanden, much longer out breaths, etc seemed more practical. And the dedication of Rinzai masters made the Soto way appear lazy to me. I read about one elderly master who after having an accident wasn't able to sit in full lotus any more, so he broke his leg and died in lotus position. All I ever did was some yoga hip openings :) and still can only sit in Seiza position. From tomorrow I'll sit with a whole different attitude.
Gassho
Sat todayLonger out breaths have a scientific explanation. When you breathe out more than you breathe in, it triggers the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for calming down the body. I teach it to people who suffer from anxiety and depression.

However, in Shikantaza, I just breathe like Jundo said.

Gassho,
Sat today,
Guish.

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Meian
01-07-2021, 07:50 PM
Longer out breaths have a scientific explanation. When you breathe out more than you breathe in, it triggers the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for calming down the body. I teach it to people who suffer from anxiety and depression.

However, in Shikantaza, I just breathe like Jundo said.

Gassho,
Sat today,
Guish.

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Guish,

Thank you for this information.

Gassho2, meian st lh

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Jundo
01-08-2021, 12:56 AM
Longer out breaths have a scientific explanation. When you breathe out more than you breathe in, it triggers the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for calming down the body. I teach it to people who suffer from anxiety and depression.

However, in Shikantaza, I just breathe like Jundo said.

Gassho,
Sat today,
Guish.



There do seem to be some serious medical studies that support this, and a few Zen teachers recommend it. So, I would not say not to do so. It is fine if it is helpful.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201905/longer-exhalations-are-easy-way-hack-your-vagus-nerve

HOWEVER, whether doing so or not, it is vital to drop idea of engaging in some technique or trick to attain something. It is vital to drop all need for goals.

Gassho, J

STLah

Suuko
01-08-2021, 02:37 AM
There do seem to be some serious medical studies that support this, and a few Zen teachers recommend it. So, I would not say not to do so. It is fine if it is helpful.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201905/longer-exhalations-are-easy-way-hack-your-vagus-nerve

HOWEVER, whether doing so or not, it is vital to drop idea of engaging in some technique or trick to attain something. It is vital to drop all need for goals.

Gassho, J

STLahHi Jundo,

Indeed, it changes the brain waves when you consciously breathe out more than you breathe in. Hence, after 10 minutes, one reaches a state of no thought which some may call bliss.

However, this is not the point of Shikantaza. Coming back to the link you posted on the 10th precept, we are not trying to attain anything when we sit.

Gassho,
Sat today,
Guish.



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Jundo
01-08-2021, 03:12 AM
gassho1

Tobiishi
11-13-2021, 12:56 AM
I love how insightful writing on Zen tends (for me) to be like standing between two mirrors, gradually and minutely aligning them to bring the line of one's faces into a straight line, knowing that one can never reach that magical point... writing, thinking, talking about zazen is a worthy effort toward describing something that cannot be described down to the finest final point. This read was well worth the time, and enlightening in just the right measure, thank you gassho1

Kodo Tobiishi sat today
Gassho

rqrusseth
01-09-2022, 08:26 PM
Thank you for this teaching. This is really something I found very helpful to me. Especially "...sitting itself is a complete and sacred act, the one and only action that need be done in the whole universe in that instant of sitting." It helps me very much with my zazen. Thank you. SatToday.

Chikyou
05-08-2022, 05:15 PM
Thank you for this teaching, Jundo.

There are so many jewels to be discovered in these forums, this is the precious one I have discovered today.

Ghassho
SatToday
-Kelly

Daiman
05-11-2022, 06:58 PM
Hi Jundo,

Indeed, it changes the brain waves when you consciously breathe out more than you breathe in. Hence, after 10 minutes, one reaches a state of no thought which some may call bliss.

However, this is not the point of Shikantaza. Coming back to the link you posted on the 10th precept, we are not trying to attain anything when we sit.

Gassho,
Sat today,
Guish.



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This is very interesting indeed. The fact that science is really starting to understand this now is exciting. This effect you mention about relaxation is true if you are breathing naturally. Thus breathing in pushes the belly out and breathing out pushes the belly toward the spine. The exhalation then is pushing against the spine and stimulating the vagal pathway which then stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system and thus relaxes you. Taoists practices and some yogic practices also do reverse breathing and thus the inhalation is what pushes against the spine, but this is typically done for a specific purpose. This can lead to an abundance of yang energy which you want for internal practices, martial arts, and some types of yoga, but not preferable in sitting meditation. Taoists and Traditional Chinese Medicine says that it is best to have the inhalation (yin) and exhalation (yang) be equal. This is the natural balance of things. This is natural breath which the Chinese call shun huxi.

I only share this to state that using the breath in a certain way is designed to achieve something and can be good if you are using it for that purpose. In Shikantaza, as Jundo points out, we just breathe naturally without trying to achieve anything. Kind of like the wisdom of doing nothing in particular is the natural expression of the Buddha. It may be great to use the breath in a particular way for a particular outcome. But, with Shikantaza not having any gaining ideal at its essence, we are just let things be as they naturally are.

Gassho,

Wondo

Sat Today

Myosho
02-19-2024, 02:03 AM
Gassho Jundo
ReReading this.

gassho2

Myosho
SaTLah

Stephen E. Kauffman
03-03-2024, 09:26 PM
Jundo,

Please excuse my "lateness to the party" on this wonderful piece. It is beautiful.
Gassho,
Stephen

sat/lah

Antonio
03-28-2024, 03:22 PM
No place to go. Thank you for this amazing post teacher!

TimothyCDavis
04-08-2024, 09:08 PM
Shikantaza Zazen must be sat, for the time it is sat, with the student profoundly trusting deep in her bones that sitting itself is a complete and sacred act, the one and only action that need be done in the whole universe in that instant of sitting. This truth should not be thought about or voiced in so many words, but must be silently and subtly felt deep down. The student must taste vibrantly that the mere act of sitting Zazen, in that moment, is whole and thoroughly complete, the total fruition of life’s goals, with nothing lacking and nothing to be added to the bare fact of sitting here and now. There must be a sense that the single performance of crossing the legs (or sitting in some other balanced posture) is the realization of all that was ever sought, that there is simply no other place to go in the world nor thing left to do besides sitting in such posture. No matter how busy one’s life or how strongly one’s heart may tempt one to be elsewhere, for the time of sitting all other concerns are put aside. Zazen is the one task and experience that brings meaning and fruition to that time, with nothing else to do. This fulfillment in “Just Sitting” must be felt with a tangible vibrancy and energy, trusting that one is sitting at the very pinnacle of life.

THIS is the context which would have helped younger me terrifically! That it's not a means to an end, but a means unto itself; it alone is not only enough, it is everything (and nothing!).