A vital reminder on zazen

[Jundo]

I wrote this for another place, but it is so important a reminder that I want to shout it from the rooftops here. Please sit Zazen in this way, tasting this. Live all of life this way ...

Master Dogen often spoke about Zazen as "itself body-mind dropped off". I have this little way of explaining "Zazen is in itself body-mind dropped off":

Our small self, the body-mind, is always filled with countless desires ... the desire to be somewhere else, be getting somewhere, achieving some prize, some distant goal. Our body-mind is always judging this or that as somehow inadequate to what the body-mind wants, its likes and dislikes, needs, regrets and dreams.

Thus, when there is sat an instant of Zazen as wholeness in just sitting, the only place to be and act to do in that instant in all of reality that is required to fulfill life as life ... the Buddha and all the Ancestors just sitting in that instant of sitting, no other thing to attain or which ever can be attained ... no other place to go or in need of going ... all holes filled, whether full or empty or in between ... all lack and excess resolved in that one sitting, with not one thing to add or take away ... judgments dropped away, "likes and dislikes" put aside ... nothing missing from Zazen (even when we might feel that "something is missing", for one can be fully content with the feeling of lack!) ... the sitting of Zazen and all life experienced as complete and whole as just the sitting of Zazen ... the entire universe manifesting itself on the Zafu at that moment ... http://www.zenforuminternational.org/images/smilies/yahoo.gif

... in other words, when the "little self" is thereby put out of a job by the experience of "just sitting" as whole and complete with nothing more to be desired or needed ... then the hard borders between the "little self" and the "not the self" (which is usually being judged and "bumped into" and divided into pieces) thus naturally soften, fully fade away ... only the wholeness of the dance remaining ...

... then "Zazen is in itself body-mind dropped off".

Human beings simply do not know how to engage an action pierced as naturally complete just by the engaging of the action itself, how to live life that is whole just by the act of living life.

This is not sitting 'on one's complacent rump like a bump on a log', but is instead whole ... vibrant ... alive ... fulfilled sitting.

Then, rising up from the Zafu to our day to day lives ... we realize that there is no place to go, even as we have so many places to go ... no holes in need of filling, even as we grab a shovel and get to work to filling holes ... nothing to fix in life, even as we try to fix what can be fixed ... no life or death or disease to cure, even as we take our medicine or head to the gym, all on the road to our own funeral ... aversions and attractions dropped away, even as we lightly hold onto those aversions and attractions necessary to ordinary human life ... nothing to attain, even as we follow the Precepts to keep a healthy and balanced life, manifesting the Teachings in each moment and choice ... fully knowing that each step of life's path is a total arriving, sacred in itself, even as we seek to choose the path to a balanced and loving life (and to avoid the paths which lead off the cliff!)

It is then seen as --all-- the wholeness of the dance.

Something like that. It's not rocket science. Please sit and live in such way.

Gassho, Jundo

[Myoku]

_()_

[Jikyo]

Human beings simply do not know how to act an action pierced as naturally complete just by the act of the action itself, how to live life that is whole just by the act of living life.


Thanks, Jundo.

Gassho, Jikyo

[Onshin]

Hiya,
Most apposite and timely, thank you Jundo.

Gassho

Joe

[Myozan Kodo]

Great!
Gassho,
Soen

[Shogen]

I wrote this for another place, but it is so important a reminder that I want to shout it from the rooftops here. Please sit Zazen in this way, tasting this. Live all of life this way ...

Master Dogen often spoke about Zazen as "itself body-mind dropped off". I have this little way of explaining "Zazen is in itself body-mind dropped off":

Our small self, the body-mind, is always filled with countless desires ... the desire to be somewhere else, be getting somewhere, achieving some prize, some distant goal. Our body-mind is always judging this or that as somehow inadequate to what the body-mind wants, its likes and dislikes, needs, regrets and dreams.

Thus, when there is sat an instant of Zazen as wholeness in just sitting, the only place to be and act to do in that instant, in all of reality, to fulfill life as life ... the Buddha and all the Ancestors just sitting in that instant of sitting, no other thing to attain or which ever can be attained ... no other place to go or in need of going ... all holes filled, whether full or empty or in between ... all lack and excess resolved in that one sitting, with not one thing to add or take away ... judgments dropped away, "likes and dislikes" put aside ... nothing missing from Zazen, even when we might feel that "something is missing" ... the sitting of Zazen and all life experienced as complete and whole as just the sitting of Zazen ... the entire universe manifesting itself on the Zafu at that moment ... http://www.zenforuminternational.org/images/smilies/yahoo.gif

... in other words, when the "little self" is thereby put out of a job by the experience of "just sitting" as whole and complete with nothing more to be desired or needed ... then the hard borders between the "little self" and the "not the self" (which is usually being judged and and "bumped into" and divided into pieces) thus naturally soften, fully fade away ... only the wholeness of the dance remaining ...

... then "Zazen is in itself body-mind dropped off".

Human beings simply do not know how to act an action pierced as naturally complete just by the act of the action itself, how to live life that is whole just by the act of living life.

This is not sitting 'on one's complacent rump like a bump on a log', but is instead whole ... vibrant ... alive ... fulfilled sitting.

Then, rising up from the Zafu to our day to day lives ... we realizes that there is no place to go, even as we have so many places to go ... no holes in need of filling, even as we grab a shovel and get to work to filling holes ... nothing to fix in life, even as we try to fix what can be fixed ... no life or death or disease to cure, even as we take our medicine ... aversions and attractions dropped away, even as we lightly hold onto those aversions and attractions necessary to ordinary human life ... nothing to attain, even as we follow the Precepts to keep a healthy and balanced life, manifesting the Teachings in each moment and choice ... fully knowing that each step of life's path is a total arriving, sacred in itself, even as we seek to choose the path to a balanced and loving life (and to avoid the paths which lead off the cliff!)

It is then seen as --all-- the wholeness of the dance.

Something like that. It's not rocket science. Please sit and live in such way.

Gassho, Jundo

I wish I had better words to express but I'm just left with excellent. Gassho zak

[Hogo]

.....
Thank you Jundo.
Gassho.

[sittingzen]

Thank you, Jundo.

Gassho,

Lu

[Dojin]

i have read it and i am at a loss for words... sometimes i feel i forget it and sometimes i remember. but to me it feels like second nature already to just be. i sometimes feel as if i have lost the vigor of zen. the excitement the drive... that i just do it and do nothing more than just sit zazen, i dont study much or follow enough in the forum. but than again i am sitting, its a part of me. everything i do and think is eventually touched by this practice and i can no longer tell where zen is something i do instead of just my life.
i feel like i have reached a plateau and i am just there nothing more nothing less. just living.... which is what i finally understand. living and zen is the same thing. its all life.

Gassho, Dojin.

[Engyo]

Yes, Jundo.
Thank you.
Gassho.

[Heisoku]

One (perfect) day
Thanks Jundo
Gassho Nigel

[Jinyu]

Hi Jundo! :D
Thank you so much for this post! Exactly what I need to hear now! So deeply simple and poetically pragmatic!

deep gassho,
Luis/Jinyu

[nadia_estm]

grateful gassho :D

[Silva]

Human beings simply do not know how to act an action pierced as naturally complete just by the act of the action itself, how to live life that is whole just by the act of living life.

This is not sitting 'on one's complacent rump like a bump on a log', but is instead whole ... vibrant ... alive ... fulfilled sitting.



As with the pie, I'm still digesting, do I understand properly, fulfilling the experience of sitting ?
And extending this to fufilling the experience of all actions ?
It's the "experiencing" that counts, that should be focused upon ?
gassho,

Sylvie

[Jundo]

Human beings simply do not know how to act an action pierced as naturally complete just by the act of the action itself, how to live life that is whole just by the act of living life.

This is not sitting 'on one's complacent rump like a bump on a log', but is instead whole ... vibrant ... alive ... fulfilled sitting.



As with the pie, I'm still digesting, do I understand properly, fulfilling the experience of sitting ?
And extending this to fufilling the experience of all actions ?
It's the "experiencing" that counts, that should be focused upon ?
gassho,

Sylvie

Oh, I would not make it so complicated.

Just sit, and that is whole and complete ... Buddha sitting.

Gassho, Jundo

[Silva]

oh ! ok, thanks!
_/_

sylvie

[Rimon]

Great reminder to keep our sittings alive and whole. Some days I catch myself in formal zazen only, my mind planning to be somewhere else, distracted. It is good to use that energy of realising that one *was*out to be back in and make zazen alive and vibrant again.

Thanks for the reminder Jundo. I'll try to keep it always present.

Gassho

[Risho]

Thank you Jundo sensei.

I sit, and fall off the zafu (meaning I lose myself in fantasies or feelings, desires, etc.) and get back on, bring the mind back. It's the same in life when I don't get my way, feel fear, pain, etc... I want to go somewhere else, anywhere else but this feeling... but then I focus on now and come back, feeling what I'm feeling without resentment or trying to get away.

I find that I'm always going away (trying to be somewhere else, when I don't like this or I'm bored, etc) but I will keep coming back.

Gassho,

Cyril

[Adam]

Thank you, Jundo.

Gassho,

Adam

[Saijun]

Thank you Jundo sensei.

I sit, and fall off the zafu (meaning I lose myself in fantasies or feelings, desires, etc.) and get back on, bring the mind back. It's the same in life when I don't get my way, feel fear, pain, etc... I want to go somewhere else, anywhere else but this feeling... but then I focus on now and come back, feeling what I'm feeling without resentment or trying to get away.

I find that I'm always going away (trying to be somewhere else, when I don't like this or I'm bored, etc) but I will keep coming back.

Gassho,

Cyril

Hello, friend Cyril!

It seems to me that you are correct; for being an immobile cushion, the zafu is a bumpy ride indeed; but as long as you are aware of the bumps, that is being "right here;" having the awareness to notice the drifting is a big step, no?

Just my thoughts. Discard them if they are useless.

Much metta,

Perry

[bayamo]

Great read.
Gassho..
now if i can just remember all of it ....

[Ronchan]

Nice read, thank you Jundo,

in gassho,
Ronchan

[kidbuda]

FUF!!! I´m just arriving, is my first reading here and I´m happily surprised!! Thanks! Great reading! My heart echoes it deeply! YEa!

[charst46]

Gassho, Jundo.

Balance is hard

Charlie

[Jundo]

Gassho, Jundo.

Balance is hard

Charlie

Charles, the short post by me at the start of this thread is as clear as I can ever make the "non-reason reason" for Shikantaza. Unfortunately, most folks still seem to have a hard time to get the point.

That's one reason I feel we have some difficulty getting folks to stick with Shikantaza ... because the selfish self wins out, and they end up resuming the rat race of chasing after the next shiny thing, unable to be the Treasure here all along.

Gassho, J

[Jakudo]

Thank you for this reminder Jundo.
Gassho, Shawn. gassho1

[Vicente]

Thank you very much :)

[Marcelo de Valnisio]

Thank you very much for this!

Gassho. gassho1

[Byokan]

Something like that. Yes!
Thank you, Jundo.
_/\_

[John Cloud]

Very great topic !

Gassho _/|\_

[Troy]

Thank you... I needed that reminder. Time to get on the cushion :)

[Jamie]

This is not sitting 'on one's complacent rump like a bump on a log', but is instead whole ... vibrant ... alive ... fulfilled sitting.

Gassho Jundo

[Aelric]

Thank you.

[Theophan]

Thank you.

Theophan
sat today

[Joryu]

gassho2

Nandi - sat today.

[Ed]

Thank you Jundo.
Uchiyama roshi's comments on Genjokoan speak of dropping off 'the dichotomy' of body and mind of self and other at zazen and off the cushion. He tirelessly mentions living life from the 'ground of being before mind splits reality into this and that.' We live there in that Ground of Being, whether we know it or not, but finding it out, experiencing it, is the marvelous gift of this thing we do, zazen and the Buddha Way.
To be reminded of this, is a gift I never tire of and receive with energy.

Gassho.

[Kimberly]

Thank-you Jundo.

To fully be present doing one thing at a time is the simplicist but sometimes the most dificult thing to do in this world which ask of us to multi-task in our lives so much. But, I believe to live, "whole ... vibrant ... alive ... fulfilled sitting.," that we must be fully present and to do that we must practice Zazen.


_()_ Gassho


Sat today

[Jundo]

Thank-you Jundo.

To fully be present doing one thing at a time is the simplicist but sometimes the most dificult thing to do in this world which ask of us to multi-task in our lives so much. But, I believe to live, "whole ... vibrant ... alive ... fulfilled sitting.," that we must be fully present and to do that we must practice Zazen.


_()_ Gassho


Sat today

Hi Kimberly,

Yes, when sitting, just do that one thing. There is not one other thing to do in that one moment.

However, don't think you have to be so one thing mindful every second of the day. Multi-tasking is fine when one needs to multi-task, and is too the "one thing" in that moment. We had a talk about that this week here

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?7696-Sit-a-Long-with-Jundo-Zazen-for-Beginners-%28Part-X%29&p=146184&viewfull=1#post146184

By the way, please do me the one favor of introducing yourself to the folks when you get a chance. :)

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?13067-Greetings-by-new-folks-%28January%29

Gassho, Jundo

[Theophan]

Thank You Jundo

Gassho
Theophan
Sat Today

[Ongen]

YES! Thank you :D

Gassho
Ongen

Sat Today

[Ed]

"Zazen is zazen" or you are doing shikantaza when there is no one present; no little self, no big Self, no self at all, just this.

Sattdy

[Jundo]

"Zazen is zazen" or you are doing shikantaza when there is no one present; no little self, no big Self, no self at all, just this.

Sattdy

Lovely. gassho1

[jtlewis]

Spent two hours at the dentist today. Nowhere to go and nowhere to be. Just sitting while drilling and scrapping and pulling and cleaning.

All good practice ☺.

Thank you Jundk for this lesson.

Gassho,

Josh

[Timchenko_Oleg]

gassho2

[Rob Parisien]

🙏