Hi,

I’ve been practising shikantaza for the past few months now and from my reading and watching Jundo’s videos I understand it in terms of non-judgmental attention to the direct experience of what arises in each moment: sounds, sensations, taste, thoughts, etc., focusing on everything and nothing in particular.

The issue for me arises on those occasions when everything seems to be happening at once, i.e., the birds are singing whilst at the same time an itch arises, my stomach rumbles, a radio starts playing, and so on. At such times I become almost slightly overwhelmed as I attempt to incorporate it all into my awareness. What’s the way around this?

On a related note, I also see a tendency to act like some kind of neurotic systems manager checking to make sure that I’m not missing anything, e.g., I’ll find myself checking that there aren’t any sensations, sounds, etc., that have escaped my attention. I guess in some ways it’s just beginner’s anxiety - wanting to make sure I’m doing it ‘right’, whatever ‘it’ and ‘right’
might mean.

It’s not always like this, obviously, but, again, I’d be grateful for any advice.

Gassho

James

SatToday


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk