Hmmmm.
Here is a "
on the one hand (clapping), but then again on the other hand" response ...
First, the thoughts do not "come from" anywhere do not "return to" anywhere. There is no "there" or "here" for return. One must sit as such realization. The simplest image for this in Mahayana Buddhism is the "mirror mind". The mirror shines as all without judgement, in wholeness. The mirror does not come from anywhere to be the mirror, does not go someplace to be the mirror. The light and images in the mirror do not come or go anywhere, for all are in the mirror ... are the mirror's very shining. So, please stop thinking that one is leaving or getting to somewhere. Thus, in Shikantaza, one sits as Total Manifesting, Whole and Complete. PLEASE STOP THINKING THAT YOU ARE TRYING TO GET SOMEWHERE,BECAUSE YOUR THOUGHTS OF "OVER THERE" ARE PRECISELY WHAT MAKES THINGS EVER MORE DISTANT! Do not be a mirror looking for the mirror. Do not be the dog chasing its own tail. The mirror is present when there are thoughts, the mirror is present when there are no thoughts. Mirror does not depend on thoughts or no thoughts. Mirrors are smart ... people and tail chasing dogs are stupid.
But on the other hand ...
In Zazen, we do not get tangled in thoughts, and return again and again to the quiet between thoughts. Eventually, when getting good at this, one finds that the quiet is between thoughts AND right at the heart of thoughts too (this is the same as finding that the mirror, the light, shines both as the absence of thoughts and their presence). Why? Because being all tied up in runaway thoughts, judging and emotions and makes it so hard to reallize the mirror that is always present!
So, we untangle from thoughts, judgments and runaway emotions in order to realize that, ultimately, it is not a matter of thoughts or no thoughts, etc. However, until we get a bit untangled and clear seeing, one has a hard to to realize so! So, the place to "come from" is the place with lots of thoughts and emotions, and where to "come back to" is where one is not tangled and grabbing at thoughts, and the light of clarity begins to shine.
See?
I do not quite agree with Daitetsu on this, and think it wrong ...
Well, in order to untangle from thoughts, in Shikantaza one may come back to the breath, the posture, the Hara. Even the "open, spacious awareness" I emphasize for various reasons is a kind of focus away from tangled thoughts ... That is the "object" which we as a "subject" look toward to get untangled.
http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...l=1#post139055
However, I completely agree with Daitetsu when he writes, so rightly beyond and right through right and wrong ...
Shikantaza is completely lacking an object of focus. The mirror does not need a focus to find the mirror. One must sit beyond and right through a "subject" and "object". There is no one to focus, no separate target to look toward.
Gee, folks, in this Mahayana Way, ya gotta stop seeing things just one way.
I posted something on another thread tonight about gift giving. It is about how we give a gift to a recipient but, at the same time, there is no gift, giver or givee. Moreover, nothing is lacking. If you get the logic of this, perhaps what I write above will make sense too (p 55 here).
https://books.google.com.br/books?id...0empty&f=false
Gassho, J