I wanted to rekindle the discussion on this topic after the video I posted yesterday, if that is okay. As most of you will know, Dogen asked himself this question too (paraphrasing): Why the need to practice if we are already Buddhas?

The Buddha spent years going after different sorts of practices before he "just sat" under the Bodhi tree and "attained/recognized" awakening. Dogen travelled to China and spent years facing a wall before "dropping off body-mind". And yet, the instruction for Shikantaza is to just sit, with no goals other than just sitting.

But here is where I would like the discussion to kick in, or at least to receive some feedback. The fact that one sits down and drops every single intention, with an attitude of full trust in the practice, doesn't necessarily contradict the overall goal of "attaining something". And by attaining, I do not mean to gain or lose something that we are not already. I point towards the recognition of a freedom that is already there, but that we do not "see", Buddha-nature.

- If there is no intrinsic freedom that still needs to be "recognized", why sit?
- Why did the Buddha and Dogen sit for long periods of time for many years?
- Is it enough to sit 20-40 minutes a day in Zazen to discover who we truly are?
- Should we not spend the time that we dedicate to other "less important activities", such as binge-watching Netflix, reading hundreds of books, etc. to full-hearted zazen?

Practice-enlightenment is freedom itself, yet the major figures within this tradition seem to have realized/recognized this "in their being" after a lot of sitting.

Gassho, Tomás
Sat