Hmmm. I am actually a bit surprised by the comments from some of our long time Zazen folks that they have never, or rarely, experienced rapture or deep bliss states (I am not speaking about "rapture" to the extent that one feels as if one has just mainlined heroin or even the laughing gas from the dentist, but a simple and powerful feeling of bliss while sitting). It is actually very easy for me to summon up waves of bliss during sitting, putting aside thoughts, centering on breath or the moment or open awareness, then accessing within as if "pushing a button" a feeling of warm bliss. Do so all together, and it is a powerful experience (even that warm feeling between the eyes will often manifest, although I put that down just to my relaxing and becoming aware of that "third eye" spot, and not some mysterious chakra or the like. Focus on the left elbow in such a time, and one experiences "third elbow"
).
The reason that we don't do so in Shikantaza is because it is like the chocolate cake in the refrigerator: It is there, luscious and delicious, but I don't chase after it or make it the "be all end all" of my meal just because it is so sweet and delicious and pleasant. It is part of a well balanced meal, but I accept whatever is healthy and put on my plate, including the bitter but nutritious greens. If I only run to the fridge seeking cake cake cake, sweet sweet sweet, then it is but another drug, and I miss that the rest ... soup and nuts, water and greens, bitter and sweet, welcome and unwelcome ... is the whole meal of life. In Zen, we also see through all the separate dishes and tastes to the Buddha that is serving the meal! That is why we do not emphasize the bliss of chocolate cake, but neither do we run from it if it sometimes manifests for dessert.
I would like to ask folks to try a
little experiment during Shikantaza, breaking our usual protocol: After you have been sitting for a few minutes, settled a bit, recall a memory of what it feels like to be blissful. Summon up that memory and the actual sensation of bliss, waves of peace and contentment washing through your heart. Can you do so, and actually summon up feelings of bliss? Be like a "method actor" for awhile, staying with that feeling of bliss as if you are acting out what it feels like to be blissful, a goddess floating on Cloud 9, enveloped in powerful feeling as if you just breathed in some peace gas. Bath in the feeling. Can you do so? Please report back to us.
However, after a minute or two, please put the chocolate cake down, return to just sitting in equanimity with whatever comes.
Gassho, Jundo
STLah
PS - Even raptures to rival heroin are possible with some meditations forms, but we consider that a trap almost as bad as actually shooting up.