Being Clear on Just Sitting

[Jundo]

Hi,

Often around here, I try to explain Shikantaza in a very clear way ... Just Sit, No Other Place to Be, No Other Action in that Moment, Nothing to Add or Take Away, Let thoughts come and go without grabbing, drop all likes and dislikes in the completeness of Just Sitting ...

... but Master Dogen spoke of the Clarity of Turning Worlds, such that the straightest is not always Straight, and the Clearest not just clear ...

So, a little riffing on Shikantaza, lest we forget just how radical a "method-non-method" of seeking-not-seeking such is ...

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

One Universal Virtue is to drop (by non-dropping-dropping) all waves of karma, impendiments and thoughts of "true or false" into and as this Ocean, Repent/Atonement as At-One-ment, sitting upright as True Aspect. All thoughts as waves just constantly non-arise and flow.

No object of thought and what thought to object to, not two. What "Buddha" can be thought or not thought and is not all thoughts? Sitting as Buddha is precisely Buddhasticly Buddhasting.

Sitting as Buddha is thinking no object. Apart from sitting, there is no mind and no Buddha at all. Apart from Buddha, there is no mind of sitting. Sitting as Buddha is identical to the sitting Buddha. To seek the mind or to seek for sitting is to seek for Buddha. The trick is to seek by not seeking, finding what cannot be found. The Form of Sitting is without form, the appearance of sitting lacks any appearance or in and out. What mind is there to calm? Never mind! In simply sitting, no internal or external to grasp or arise, all is without form or discrimination right in and as all form and discrimination ... nirvana is samsara, no nirvana no samsara from the startless start. The sitting mind disappears and re-emerges, what is there to indicate when all the world is free of directions in the pivot point of sitting? Sitting this, body-mind are none other than the real and true Tathagata.

How does one lay down without laying down? Open the Hand of Thought. There was never a thing to pick up from the start, nor a thing in need of letting go.

Dropping all thought of good and evil, attraction and aversion, we do not observe where thoughts arise or go, but simply do not grasp them as they come and go non-coming-non-going. False thoughts have no self-nature, and the same for true thoughts. There is no thought. Thought-no-thought. As human beings, we do our best (we have no choice so long as we are living beings in a complex world) to live in a world of thoughts, both true and false, doing our best to be free of the latter and to nurture the former (doing our best to be free of greed, anger and divisive thinking, seeking to nurture generosity, peace and unity). Nevertheless, all through all thoughts are no thought from the start. There is stillness to be heard at the heart of the greatest noise. A light shines, illuminating both false and true thoughts.

Think about it! Or you don't. Yet Thinking-Non-Thinking It-No-It You-No-You. Just Sitting.

Gassho, J

SatNonSatToday

[Byokan]

Ah! There it is again, the sword of Manjushri.
Thank you Teacher.
This rings so clear, as a hammer striking emptiness.

Deepest bows,
Lisa
sat today

[Mp]

Ahhh, yes, wonderful. Than you Jundo. =)

Gassho
Shingen

#sattoday

[Ryan379]

Thank you Jundo roshi



Gassho

Ryan

Sat Today

[Byrne]

So wonderful to wake up and read this. Thank you Jundo.

Gassho

Sat Today

[lorax]

Good morning Jundo,

Thank you SAT TODAY

[Doshin]

Jundo,

Thank you. I am going to read this before the next couple of Zazens. Something I would like to share with sangha. My adult grandson who I have not seen in four years flew out for a week visit. He is staying in the room I use for meditation and seeing my books, altar and such, concluded I meditated. So he came to me with a small Buddha he had with him and gave it to me. I realized I had never shared that part of my life with him though his sister once asked about it so long ago. Turns out he has been at a zen retreat (Shasta Abbey) so I will share this with him and invite him to sit with Dosho and others this coming week. A connection between generations

Gassho

Randy
sattoday

[Myosha]

Hello,

Thank you for the lesson.


Gassho
Myosha sat today

[Shugen]

Jundo,

Thank you. I am going to read this before the next couple of Zazens. Something I would like to share with sangha. My adult grandson who I have not seen in four years flew out for a week visit. He is staying in the room I use for meditation and seeing my books, altar and such, concluded I meditated. So he came to me with a small Buddha he had with him and gave it to me. I realized I had never shared that part of my life with him though his sister once asked about it so long ago. Turns out he has been at a zen retreat (Shasta Abbey) so I will share this with him and invite him to sit with Dosho and others this coming week. A connection between generations

Gassho

Randy
sattoday

Randy your story made me smile. Thank you for sharing it

And, Jundo, thank you for your words.

Gassho,

Shugen

#sattoday


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[Washin]

Thank you very much for the teaching

Gassho
Sergey
sat-today

[Ongen]

Thank you, Jundo and Randy

Bows

Ongen
Sat today

[Juki]

Yes, that is very clear. Thank you, Jundo.

Gassho,
Juki
sattoday

[Jakuden]

I'll get back to you after I read this about 100 more times

Gassho,
Sierra
SatToday

[Joyo]

Thank you Jundo. I try to sit with this teaching in mind, yet my monkey-mind goes into super-hyper mode so I keep returning back to focusing on my breath. As I focus on my breath, the thoughts are still there, but I no longer am clinging to them so tightly.

I know you recommend people should not be focusing on their breath, but as a beginner, I just find it so much easier. Is there anything else you think I should be doing differently?

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

[Jundo]

Thank you Jundo. I try to sit with this teaching in mind, yet my monkey-mind goes into super-hyper mode so I keep returning back to focusing on my breath. As I focus on my breath, the thoughts are still there, but I no longer am clinging to them so tightly.

I know you recommend people should not be focusing on their breath, but as a beginner, I just find it so much easier. Is there anything else you think I should be doing differently?

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

Hi Joyo,

There is nothing wrong with focusing on the breath, and it is a beautiful and traditional way to sit for those who wish. Just be willing to let go sometimes during the sitting, and sit with all and everything. It is a bit like focusing on being on the boat while sailing, but good to let go of the boat sometimes when diving into the waters and let the ocean carry one. This is especially so as we bring Zazen off the cushion and out into the world, where we must encounter all of life as Zazen beyond crossing the legs and centering on the breath.

I also always encourage everyone to sit knowing in the bones that this is the one place to be, the one action necessary with nothing to add or take away, for the time while sitting. No other place to be or thing to do in that instant. It is Wholly Holy Whole.

WHOLLY HOLY WHOLE
http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...LLY-HOLY-WHOLE

Gassho, J

SatToday Wholly Holy Whole

[Joyo]

Hi Joyo,

There is nothing wrong with focusing on the breath, and it is a beautiful and traditional way to sit for those who wish. Just be willing to let go sometimes during the sitting, and sit with all and everything. It is a bit like focusing on being on the boat while sailing, but good to let go of the boat sometimes when diving into the waters and let the ocean carry one. This is especially so as we bring Zazen off the cushion and out into the world, where we must encounter all of life as Zazen beyond crossing the legs and centering on the breath.

I also always encourage everyone to sit knowing in the bones that this is the one place to be, the one action necessary with nothing to add or take away, for the time while sitting. No other place to be or thing to do in that instant. It is Wholly Holy Whole.

WHOLLY HOLY WHOLE
http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...LLY-HOLY-WHOLE

Gassho, J

SatToday Wholly Holy Whole

Thank you, Jundo. This helps me a lot.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

[TimF]

Many thanks, Jundo.

Gassho,
Tim

Sat today

[Kyonin]

Thank you Jundo.

And thank you Randy. Please say hi to your grandson

Gassho,

Kyonin
#SatToday

[Heisoku]

Ah ha love it!
Gassho Heisoku
Sat today

[Risho]

Thank you!

Gassho,

Risho
-sattoday

[Jundo]

I published this on another forum today (Dharma Wheel) in response to a comment by someone on why Zen Teachers, and me in particular in this case, need to talk in such a hard to understand way sometimes. The topic of the thread was whether and why teachers might be necessary or helpful in Zen Practice. Here is what I said, which may just muddle the middle more ...

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For folks who find my sometimes tangled-untangled way of describing Shikantaza maybe a bit tricky to get their brain around ...

... let there be added-non-added the pointless point that expressions of Mahayana teachings sometimes must be so. Zen folks must speak out of both sides of the no-sided mouth. Otherwise, to quote Dogen, "when one side is illuminated, the other side is dark." A good example of this mode of expression is a work I have been slowing reading lately, the "Vajrasamadhi-sutra." Although it is highly likely to be an apocryphal text (aren't all our Mahayana sutras in some way, yet True when True as can be) composed in Korea in the 7th Century CE, it is highly valued in corners of the Ch'an world.

https://web.archive.org/web/20110622...L/ew033129.htm

However, the point is not the writer of the text (like ways of expression are found throughout Ch'an/Zen and Mahayana teachings), but the writing style which is so typical of Ch'an discourse. For example, in this section, the writer is pointing to Buddha Nature which holds yet fully transcends all categories, even "sameness" and "difference." The only way to "reach non-reach" such a "place non-place" is by the path of "non-practice practice" and "attaining by non-attaining" which is, of course, right at the heart of Shikantaza beyond and right thru all gain and loss, aversion and attraction, clinging or not clinging, both movement and stillness, etc etc. Again, the point of the manner of expression is what is so tricky to grab onto, explicating that which is-yet-is-not-right-thru-is-or-is-not all difference and sameness and transcendence and the question too.

It is a little hard for folks to fathom who are used to the "common sense" human idea that something can only be found by looking for it (rather than by transcending looking vs. not looking), attained by striving (rather than striving and non-striving at once), either yes or no, etc etc.

Because it is a thicket to free the mind of all its usual ways of thinking, teachers as "friends on the way" have been useful through the centuries. As is seen in this thread, sometimes people will resist what they cannot understand as a challenge to common understanding, and need a bucket of water over the head as the bottom drops out.

As the Buddha is quoted here, "[If one tries to] create a calm, extinct and non-creating mind, it would be a practice that creates something; not the practice of non-creation ... One does not cherish the realization of any characteristic of calm-extinction; nor does one dwell in non-realization. In non-abidance everywhere, lies the non-formation of all defilements. ... This is noncreation and non-practice."

"This Absolute nature is neither one nor different; neither transient nor permanent. It has neither access nor egress and it can neither be created nor destroyed. It abandons all the four perimeters (fullness, void, both-fullness-and-void, and neither-fullness-nor-void). [In this way] the path-ways of words and speech are being abandoned. The unborn nature of the mind is the same. How can it be said that something is being created or extinguished; or that there is abidance or non-abidance?

"If [a person] says that the mind is capable of attainment, abidance, or perception, that means he has not attained anuttarasamyaksambodhi (complete, perfect enlightenment). [This] prajna (wisdom) is for those who are willing to abandon the 'long night' of the mind and its characteristics. Know that the mind is thus and its characteristics are also thus. This is non-creation and non-practice."

Cittaraja Bodhisattva noted, "Lord! If the mind is basically thus, nothing will be produced out of any practice. All practices, [therefore,] lead to nothing [Accordingly,] when one practises, it [ultimately] produces nothing. This non-production does not need to be practised. This is the practice of non-creation."

The Buddha asked, "Good man, you are employing [the practice of] non-creation [with the intention of] realizing the practice of non-creation."

Cittaraja Bodhisattva replied, "Not so. Why? Thusness (suchness) is beyond mind and practice. Both the nature and characteristics [of the mind] are void and calm, there is no [self-identification with] seeing or hearing, gain or loss, word or speech, perception, images, acceptance or rejection. How can there be any clinging or realization? If one clings to this realization, it amounts to disputation and contention [within the mind]. Only in the absence of disputation or contention lies the practice of non-creation.

The Buddha said, "Have you attained anuttarasamyaksambodhi?" [which cannot be attained or not attained]

Cittaraja Bodhisattva responded, "Lord! I am free from any attainment of anuttarasamyaksambodhi. Why is this? The nature of bodhi (awakening) has neither gain nor loss, enlightenment nor [ordinary] consciousness, for it is free from all characteristics of differentiation. Within this non-differentiation is the pure nature [of bodhi]. This nature is free from any extraneous admixture [such as the dualities of creation/extinction, subject/object]. It is free from words and speeches. It neither exists nor does not exist. It is neither aware nor unaware.

"This is also the same for all the dharmas (techniques) that can be practised. Why? Because all dharmas and practices have neither abidance nor abode. This is their Absolute nature. Basically, they are free from any attainment or non-attainment. So how can one attain anuttarasamyaksambodhi?"

The Buddha replied, "So it is, so it is. As you have said, all the activities of the mind are without form and its body (nature of the mind) is calm and non-creating. It is the same with all consciousnesses. Why is this? Know that the eyes and sight are both void and calm [by nature]. [Eye] consciousness [itself] is also void and calm - free from any characteristic of movement or stillness. Internally it is free of the three feelings (pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral). [Thus,] the three feelings are [already from the outset] calm and extinct. So are the hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, mental (sixth consciousness), discriminating (seventh consciousness), and alaya (eighth consciousness). All of them are also unborn.

[Therefore,] the mind is calm and extinct and non-creating. [If one tries to] create a calm, extinct and non-creating mind, it would be a practice that creates something; not the practice of non-creation. ... One does not cherish the realization of any characteristic of calm-extinction; nor does one dwell in non-realization. In non-abidance everywhere, lies the non-formation of all defilements. Thus, the three feelings, the three formations, and the three moral precepts will not arise. All [these] will be calm and extinct, pure and non-abiding. One does not [need to] access samadhi (mental absorption) or persist in dhyana (static mind-directed meditation). This is noncreation and non-practice."

http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/res...0Sutra.doc.pdf

An amazing maze to right here where one has been all along even as we keep walking forward. Buddha good in the beginning, good in the middle and good at the end, Buddha in each step by step, even as we keep on Practicing the Path inch by inch. Thus, sometimes a teacher with an aerial view of the Amazing Maze-Non-Maze Mandala can be helpful.

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Myosha]

Ohhh . . .

Grokked,

Not grokked,

Both grokked and not grokked,

Neither grokked nor not grokked.

Thank you.


Gassho
Myosha sat today

[Jishin]

Zen folks must speak out of both sides of the no-sided mouth. Otherwise, to quote Dogen, "when one side is illuminated, the other side is dark."

I always wondered what this statement means by Dogen. Thanks for the explanation!

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Jakuden]

Ohhh . . .

Grokked,

Not grokked,

Both grokked and not grokked,

Neither grokked nor not grokked.

Thank you.


Gassho
Myosha sat today

This word always pops to my mind also when I feel like I "get" a Zen concept... but in this statement, you have used it in a way that is as close to describing the answer to a Koan in words as I have ever seen. (Thanks, Heinlein :-) )

Gassho,
Sierra
SatToday

[alan.r]

Thank you, Jundo. This feels like an evolution of your style to me. There's something new about the expression, a precision maybe. I really don't know but can feel it, and am grateful for it.

Gassho,
Alan
sattoday

[Heisoku]

Yes Alan, agree completely.
Thank you Jundo.
Gassho
Heisoku
Sat today.

[Joyo]

Thank you, Jundo. This feels like an evolution of your style to me. There's something new about the expression, a precision maybe. I really don't know but can feel it, and am grateful for it.

Gassho,
Alan
sattoday

Yes, I agree. =) It's made my sitting feel, clearer. Many thanks, Jundo.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

[Risho]

Gassho

Risho
-sattoday

[Getchi]

How could a cup hold the oean?

Thankyou Jundo, this was most timely for me

Geoff.
A student.

SatToday.

[CK732]

I've read it again and have come this the conclusion that Master Dogen must have been a Rapper in his day. Just saying not saying 🏼️

Thank you Jundo

Clarisse Sat2Day




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[Jyukatsu]

NOT TWO
Gassho
Marina sat today

[Bjmmtc]

Thank you!

sat today
bjmmtc
Brian