I wish I was better at communicating this point (I fail miserably time and again):
There is no reason whatsoever to sit Zazen ... nothing to attain from Zazen ... nothing to fill with Zazen ... nothing to do in Zazen ... no best time for Zazen, no way to measure Zazen ... nothing to fix or upgrade with Zazen ... no prize from Zazen ... no ideal posture or clothing for Zazen ... no desires to satisfy in Zazen ... no way to get free by Zazen, no place to go with Zazen ... no improvement from Zazen ... no grand realization to expect from Zazen ...
Thus, we sit Zazen each day. Zazen is indispensable.
We sit Zazen each day, for it is the very best medicine for our human hunger to attain, to judge, to fill a void, to measure, to upgrade, to fix, to do, to do right, to win, to conquer, to get free, to go, to arrive, to improve, and all the rest ...
... and such release from the hunger to attain, fill, do, win, be right and all the rest is, thereby, the greatest freedom, conquest, attainment, filling, arriving, rightness and realization. One truly attains and gets somewhere most right, flowing with release from all need to get somewhere, attain and make things right, and the prize beyond measure opens everywhere. Such a Grand Realization! The little "self" which seeks, judges, feels lack, measures gain, wishes to fix and "do" is thus put to rest, and drops away ... whereupon Zazen just sits Zazen.
Yes, there are some things we should do in Zazen to do it right, such as sit in a balanced posture, breathe naturally, not grab thoughts, let thoughts go. But if folks are trying "to do" in Zazen, and do it "right," rather than sit in freedom from all need to "do" while dropping all measures of "wrong vs. right" ... they are doing Zazen wrong by any measure!The more one seeks to be free, the further one is from freedom. The more one reaches for the brass ring, the further the ring drifts away.
Then, rising from the sitting cushion, perhaps we can return to our daily life of things to attain, problems to fix in this life, and places to go ... all while knowing, deep in the bones, that there is also nothing to attain (and never was), no wrong to fix or elsewhere to go in life. With such awareness, we set to work fixing, going, doing what needs to be done in our busy day and troubled world. Nothing is lacking, yet there are hungry children to feed.
It is so hard to explain to the many folks who sit to attain, improve, get, arrive, upgrade and be better and best that the best way to attain-what-cannot-be-attained, improve-what-cannot-be-improved, reach-what-cannot-be-reached and "upgrade" what has no up or down ...
... is to thoroughly drop all aim to attain, improve, get, fix, grab and measure in Zazen and, thereupon, in all of life with its endless things to do, measure and fix.
I wish I was better at saying it.
Gassho, J
STLah
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