Hongzhi vs Dogen - Zazen vs Silent Illumination - a comparison

[Zenkon]

I am beginning to read "Cultivating the Empty Field: The Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi". Hongzhi's "Silent Illumination" seems almost identical to Dogen's "Zazen". How do they compare, are their any significant differences, so that I can be aware of the nuances as I read?

Gassho

Zenkon

sat/lah

[Jundo]

Hi Zenkon,

Here is what I have come to conclude about this ...

Dogen did not invent Shikantaza wholly on his own, and the roots to Hongzhi and the earlier Silent Illumination tradition are pretty clear, as historian John McRae describes regarding the Soto (Caodong) approach in early China (in "How Zen Became Zen", p. 172-174):

The new Caodong tradition, then, seems to have simply adopted the type of meditation already common in Chan and elevated its importance. What made the silent illumination teachings of the Caodong tradition distinctive, therefore, was not the meditation technique or even its doctrinal underpinnings but its sustained, exhuberant celebration of inherent enlightenment and its persistent stress on stillness and de-emphasis on enlightenment as a breakthrough experience. In this way, the Caodong tradition did make meditation an end in itself: as long as meditation was approached correctly, nothing else was really needed. Thus, the silent illumination practice of the new Caodong tradition really did differentiate it from the rest of Chan ... . Even though the new Caodong tradition's teaching style was seen as distinctive, it did not entail, as I have argued above, a radical departure from earlier meditation techniques ...

The roots of this "nothing to attain" approach reach right to very early in the development of Tang Dynastry Chan ("Koan Introspection" Zazen is a much later development, of the Song Dynasty). For example, the Platform Sutra attributed to the Sixth Ancestor describes "how to" Zazen this way, dropping opposites from mind, and sitting in great equanimity, as we do. Here is how Ancestor Huineng advises his disciples in his final words from his death bed:

Be the same as you would if I were here, and sit all together in meditation. If you are only peacefully calm and quiet, without motion, without stillness, without birth, without destruction, without coming, without going, without judgments of right and wrong, without staying and without going-this then is the Great Way. After I have gone just practice according to the Dharma in the same way that you did on the days that I was with you.

Even many of the great early Rinzai teachers (although Rinzai is now primarily associated with Koan Introspection) seem, in their writings handed down, to actually recommend attitudes and methods of practice that smack of Shikantaza's radical allowing, non-seeking etc. For example, the words of Master Rinzai himself, from the 9th century, which are "Shikantaza-ish":

“In my view there is no Buddha, no sentient beings, no past, no present. Anything attained was already attained—no time is needed. There is nothing to practice, nothing to realize, nothing to gain, nothing to lose. Throughout all time there is no other dharma than this. ‘If one claims there’s a dharma surpassing this, I say that it’s like a dream, like a phantasm.’ This is all I have to teach.

“Outside mind there’s no dharma, nor is there anything to be gained within it. What are you seeking? Everywhere you say, ‘There’s something to practice, something to obtain.’ Make no mistake! Even if there were something to be gained by practice, it would be nothing but birth-and-death karma.

There are many more such quotes by him and other early masters showing this "non-gaining" attitude. Taigen Leighton writes this, in an essay related to the book you are reading:

The specific practice experience of shikan taza was first articulated in the Soto Zen lineage (Caodong in Chinese) by the Chinese master Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091-1157; Wanshi Shogaku in Japanese),and further elaborated by the Japanese Soto founder Eihei Dogen (1200-1253). But prior to their expressions of this experience, there are hints of this practice in some of the earlier teachers of the tradition. The founding teachers of this lineage run from Shitou Xiqian (700-790; Sekito Kisen in Japanese), two generations after the Chinese Sixth Ancestor, through three generations to Dongshan Liangjie (807-869; Tozan Ryokai in Japanese), the usually recognized founder of the Caodong, or Soto, lineage in China. ...

Shitou/ Sekito ... wrote another teaching poem, Soanka, "Song of the Grass Hut," which presents more of a practice model for how to develop the space that fosters just sitting. Therein Shitou says, "Just sitting with head covered all things are at rest. Thus this mountain monk does not understand at all." So just sitting does not involve reaching some understanding. It is the subtle activity of allowing all things to be completely at rest just as they are, not poking one's head into the workings of the world.

Shitou also says in Soanka, "Turn around the light to shine within, then just return. . . . Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely. Open your hands and walk, innocent." According to Shitou, the fundamental orientation of turning within, also later described by Hongzhi and Dogen, is simply in order to return to the world, and to our original quality. Letting go of conditioning while steeped in completely relaxed awareness, one is able to act effectively, innocent of grasping and attachments. So the context of this just sitting suggested by Shitou is the possibility of aware and responsive presence that is simple, open-hearted, and straightforward.
https://www.ancientdragon.org/hongzh...of-shikantaza/

So, in a nutshell, Silent Illumination and Shikantaza are the same: goalless, silent and illuminating, spacious, dropping categories and judgments ... That which is tasted thus is that "Same" sweeping in "sameness" and "difference". Any true "difference", in my view, is primarily a matter of Chinese vs. Japanese language and poetic sensibilities. However, Dogen did flavor his Zazen with a bit more emphasis on the perfectly complete sacredness of the act of sitting itself. So, what is unique about Master Dogen's Shikantaza? We also sit with a mind that is centered, in equanimity, allowing thoughts to come and go. We also sometimes attain very profound mental concentration states. However, for us, there is such a radical dropping of all need to attain, that such states are not the point. Sitting is the point, with radically nothing lacking or to be added to sitting itself. If one makes Zazen into a technique to attain these states, it is just one more tool for attainment and achievement which takes us away from the power of being free from all desire and measuring. We believe that the Buddha, under the Bodhi Tree, realized a state free from desire and measures. As Taigen Leighton writes in that essay:

This just sitting is not a meditation technique or practice, or any thing at all. ... Dogen describes this meditation as the samadhi of self-fulfillment (or enjoyment), and elaborates the inner meaning of this practice. Simply just sitting is expressed as concentration on the self in its most delightful wholeness, in total inclusive interconnection with all of phenomena. Dogen makes remarkably radical claims for this simple experience. "When one displays the buddha mudra with one's whole body and mind, sitting upright in this samadhi for even a short time, everything in the entire dharma world becomes buddha mudra, and all space in the universe completely becomes enlightenment." Proclaiming that when one just sits all of space itself becomes enlightenment is an inconceivable statement, deeply challenging our usual sense of the nature of reality, whether we take Dogen's words literally or metaphorically. Dogen places this activity of just sitting far beyond our usual sense of personal self or agency. He goes on to say that, "Even if only one person sits for a short time, because this zazen is one with all existence and completely permeates all times, it performs everlasting buddha guidance" throughout space and time. At least in Dogen's faith in the spiritual or "theological" implications of the activity of just sitting, this is clearly a dynamically liberating practice, not mere blissful serenity.

As a final note, the teacher of Silent Illumination most well-known in the west in recent years is Master Sheng-yen (and his student, Guo Gu) who teach an interpretation of Silent Illumination based very much on attaining deep samadhi stages. There are some reasons to believe that what Dogen taught as Shikantaza may actually be closer to what he encountered as "Silent Illumination" back in the 13th century than what Sheng Yen presents as his modern version which he created.

Sorry for the long response.

Gassho, J

stlah

[aprapti]

the issue keeps coming

thank you, Jundo.

aprapti

sat

[Tairin]

Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Onkai]

Gassho,
Onkai
Sat lah

[Tai Do]

Mateus
Satlah

[Jundo]

If anyone is interested, and wants to dive in much MUCH MUCH too deep, here is the expanded version of my sampling of Masters Rinzai, Huineng (the 6th Ancestor in China) and Bodhidharma on the "Shikantaza-ish" teachings they left us ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Master Rinzai

Most Zen folks do not realize that the actual Master Linji Yixuan (Master Rinzai, 臨濟義玄, died 866) probably practiced a kind of non-seeking meditation seemingly closer in attitude to "Just Sitting" non-seeking, non-gaining "Shikantaza" than to the Koan Introspection Zazen which is now associated with the "Rinzai School" of Zen.

Of course, to say that Linji practiced "Shikantaza" would be incorrect, if we mean the way of sitting honed by Dogen in Japan some 400 years later. Shikantaza as we know did not exist at the time. However, Koan Introspection Zazen also did not exist at the time. Koan Introspection Zazen was developed by a monk in the Rinzai Lineage named Dahui (Dahui Zonggao 大慧宗杲) in the 12th Century, and further developed by others later including in Japan by Master Hakuin in the 18th Century, many many centuries after Rinzai lived. We do not know exactly what form of meditation Master Rinzai practiced, and the evidence is thin. But it is unlikely to have been Koan Introspection as we now know it, which did not exist at the time ... and most of the Koan stories themselves (many about Rinzai himself!) were not created as Koan stories until the Song Dynasty. There is no doubt that Silent Illumination and the like is an older tradition in the Zen/Chan world than Kanna (Koan Introspection) Zazen.

I simply make the point that so many of the Linji quotes below seem like dandy "don't seek, don't stop the thoughts, don't doubt, Just Sitting" instructions!

Anyway, here are the "Shikantaza-ish" quotes from the Record of Linji, and please judge for yourself:

----

QUOTES from THE RECORD of MASTER RINZAI:

“In my view there is no Buddha, no sentient beings, no past, no present. Anything attained was already attained—no time is needed. There is nothing to practice, nothing to realize, nothing to gain, nothing to lose. Throughout all time there is no other dharma than this. ‘If one claims there’s a dharma surpassing this, I say that it’s like a dream, like a phantasm.’ This is all I have to teach.

“Outside mind there’s no dharma, nor is there anything to be gained within it. What are you seeking? Everywhere you say, ‘There’s something to practice, something to obtain.’ Make no mistake! Even if there were something to be gained by practice, it would be nothing but birth-and-death karma."

“Bring to rest the thoughts of the ceaselessly seeking mind, and you will not differ from the patriarch-buddha. Do you want to know the patriarch-buddha? He is none other than you who stand before me listening to my discourse. But because you students lack faith in yourselves, you run around seeking something outside. Even if, through your seeking, you did find something, that something would be nothing more than fancy descriptions in written words; never would you gain the mind of the living patriarch.

“If you wish to differ in no way from the patriarch-buddha, just don’t seek outside. The pure light in a single thought of yours—this is the dharmakāya buddha within your own house. The nondiscriminating light in a single thought of yours—this is the saṃbhogakāya buddha within your own house. The nondifferentiating light in a single thought of yours—this is the nirmāṇakāya buddha within your own house. This threefold body is you, listening to my discourse right now before my very eyes. It is precisely because you don’t run around seeking outside that you have such meritorious activities.

“A true follower of the Way is never like this; conforming with circumstances as they are he exhausts his past karma; accepting things as they are he puts on his clothes; when he wants to walk he walks, when he wants to sit he sits; he never has a single thought of seeking buddhahood.

“Virtuous monks, time is precious. And yet, hurrying hither and thither, you try to learn meditation, to study the Way, to accept names, to accept phrases, to seek buddha, to seek a patriarch, to seek a good teacher, to think and speculate.
“Make no mistake, followers of the Way! After all, you have a father and a mother—what more do you seek? Turn your own light inward upon yourselves!
A man of old said, Yajñadatta [thought he had] lost his head,
But when his seeking mind came to rest, he was at ease.
“Virtuous monks, just be ordinary. Don’t put on airs.

“One thought of doubt, and instantly the demon [māra] enters your mind. Even a bodhisattva, when in doubt, is taken advantage of by the demon of birth-and-death. Just desist from thinking, and never seek outside. If something should come, illumine it. Have faith in your activity revealed now—there isn’t a thing to do. [Jundo Note: An interesting quote for a man often associated with recommending 'Great Balls of Doubt'}

“There are a bunch of blind shavepates who, having stuff ed themselves with food, sit down to meditate and practice contemplation. Arresting the flow of thought they don’t let it rise; they hate noise and seek stillness. This is the method of the heretics. A patriarch said, ‘If you stop the mind to look at stillness, arouse the mind to illumine outside, control the mind to clarify inside, concentrate the mind to enter samādhi—all such [practices] as these are artificial striving.’ [Jundo Note: This and several other quotes on not trying to still the flow of thoughts]

“Blind fools! Wastefully squandering the alms given them by believers everywhere and saying, ‘I am a renouncer of home,’ all the while holding such views as these! I say to you there is no buddha, no dharma, nothing to practice, nothing to enlighten to. Just what are you seeking in the highways and byways? Blind men! You’re putting a head on top of the one you already have. What do you yourselves lack? Followers of the Way, your own present activities do not diff er from those of the patriarch-buddhas. You just don’t believe this and keep on seeking outside. Make no mistake! Outside there is no dharma; inside, there is nothing to be obtained. Better than grasp at the words from my mouth, take it easy and do nothing.

The master said, “It is because you cannot stop your mind which runs on seeking everywhere that a patriarch said, ‘Bah, superior men! Searching for your heads with your heads!’ When at these words you turn your own light in upon yourselves and never seek elsewhere, then you’ll know that your body and mind are not different from those of the patriarch-buddhas and on the instant have nothing to do—this is called ‘obtaining the dharma.’

There are many more ...
https://web.archive.org/web/20160201...nji-sasaki.pdf

Ancestor Huineng:

The Zazen taught in the Platform Sutra is Shikantaza ...

... or something darn close!

That is really no surprise, for as Morten Schlutter has chronicled on the history of Silent Illumination Zazen (in his masterful "How Zen Became Zen", p. 172-174):

The new Caodong tradition, then, seems to have simply adopted the type of meditation already common in Chan and elevated its importance. What made the silent illumination teachings of the Caodong tradition distinctive, therefore, was not the meditation technique or even its doctrinal underpinnings but its sustained, exhuberant celebration of inherent enlightenment and its persistent stress on stillness and de-emphasis on enlightenment as a breakthrough experience. In this way, the Caodong tradition did make meditation an end in itself: as long as meditation was approached correctly, nothing else was really needed. Thus, the silent illumination practice of the new Caodong tradition really did differentiate it from the rest of Chan ... . Even though the new Caodong tradition's teaching style was seen as distinctive, it did not entail, as I have argued above, a radical departure from earlier meditation techniques ...

The kanhua Chan advocated by Dahui was, on the other hand, truly an innovation and represented a new style of Chan. As I argued in Chapter 5, Dahui developed what was essentially a new type of meditation out of existing gongan practices. In spite of Dahui's accusations that the Caodong masters and other Chan teachers with whom he disagreed were teaching a heterodox doctrine, it was Dahui himself who was unorthodox in his unabashed de-emphasis of inherent enlightenment and his new mediation technique strongly focused on working toward a moment of breakthrough enlightenment.

That is not, by the way, meant in any way as a commentary on the superiority of inferiority of any practice method (or even with regard to any other form of Buddhist meditation of other schools, or other Buddhist practice). Everything is new and an innovation sometime in the history of Buddhism (and what comes later can often be an improvement on the earlier!). It simply means that Silent Illumination may have been closer to the earlier, mainstream of Chan practices. A few pages earlier, touching upon Silent Illumination and the 'Platform Sutra', Schlutter comments (p 169):

Yet the Chan tradition had a difficult relationship with the concept of meditation from early on. The traditional understanding of meditation as a way to purify the mind and gain insight that could lead to liberation was directly contradicted by Chan’s own rhetoric. Thus, the earliest extant version of the Platform S?tra from the eighth century states in strong terms that meditation (ding) and wisdom (hui) are identical and that one cannot reach wisdom through the practice of meditation. In several other places, the early Platform S?tra further seems to reduce meditation to a sort of metaphor for the enlightened mind itself. This sentiment was only amplifed in the later versions of the Platform S?tra that would have been known by the Song-dynasty audience. And, of course, every person with any education would have known the story of nanyue huairang demonstrating to his disciple mazu daoyi the futility of trying to become a Buddha through meditation by mockingly pretending to polish a tile in an attempt to make it into a mirror.

While meditation as a path to enlightenment is repudiated in these and many other Chan sources ... even the Platform S?tra exhorts Huineng’s disciples to diligently sit in meditation after his death just as if he were still there.

Yes ... sitting Zazen with nothing possible to attain, and no way to "make a Buddha" ... plus a view of seated Zazen as indispensible but as also -not- limited to the sitting cushion, but found in "walking, staying, sitting and lying down" bringing wisdom all through life ... yet an exhortation by Huineng to sit Zazen nonetheless ... plus the other elements below from the words of the Platform Sutra =

... just about Shikantaza!

The following passage will illustrate a bit more (I will primarily be relying on the older and shorter Dun Huang text translated by Yampolsky, not passages ... though often of the same flavor ... from one of the more elaborate later version which had several editors add great amounts of text and flower it up)

1 - The most specific instruction for "how to" seated Zazen in the text is at the end, as Huineng advises his disciples in his final words from his death bed:

Be the same as you would if I were here, and sit all together in meditation. If you are only peacefully calm and quiet, without motion, without stillness, without birth, without destruction, without coming, without going, without judgments of right and wrong, without staying and without going-this then is the Great Way. After I have gone just practice according to the Dharma in the same way that you did on the days that I was with you.

Sitting while being unattached, and dropping all human judgments such as motion and stillness, coming, going, right and wrong, birth and death is at the heart of Shikantaza.

This mirrors the guidance in many early Chan writings such as the Xin Xin Ming ...

The Great Way is not difficult
for those not attached to preferences.
When neither love nor hate arises,
all is clear and undisguised.

http://www.zenforuminternational.org/vi ... =10&t=7166

2 - Beyond that is the "noninstrumentalist" view of Zazen (both in its seated form and "Zazen" as all life's practice) as enlightenment itself without need to attain (HOWEVER, a view of non-attainment and ever present "Buddha-mind" that must be attained, for attaining this mind of "nothing to attain" is true attainment! :actice is something we "realize", meaning both "realize" as to "grock" and pierce ... and "realize" as "making real in life" through our words, thoughts and acts). We are all Buddha from the outset, with not one thing in need of change ... but we need to realize such truth, live and act like Buddhas (which works a tremendous change!). Practice must be put into practice, realization made real in life ... thus Hui-Neng's great emphasis on seeing clearly with "straightforward mind" and living by the Precepts. This is true both for Zazen on the cushion and Zazen all through life ... for, as Hui-neng says:

The samadhi of oneness is straightforward mind at all times, walking, staying, sitting, and lying down.

3 - And what is this "straightfoward mind"? What is the mind of Zazen? Hui-neng goes on to offer a very specific description again paralleling Shikantaza: Simply, to lets thoughts and the things of the environment rise and fall, come and go, without attachment to them or becoming 'entangled' No mention of anything to hold in mind, such as a Koan, Mantra, image of a Buddhaland or the like. No mindblowing states to experience or other worldly realms. Hui-neng clearly states that it is not to study the working of the mind, nor to try to focus on "purity". It is certainly not to try to silence or stop thoughts. Rather, thoughts and events must simply be allowed to 'circulate freely' without entanglement ... the core way of Shikantaza.

Only practicing straightforward mind, and in all things having no attachments whatsoever, is called the samadhi of oneness. [But] the deluded man clings to the characteristics of things, adheres to the samadhi of oneness, [thinks] that straightforward mind is sitting without moving and casting aside delusions without letting things arise in the mind. This he [falsely] considers to be the samadhi of oneness. This kind of practice is the same as insentiency and the cause of an obstruction to the Way. The Way must be something that circulates freely; why should he impede it? If the mind does not abide in things, the Way circulates freely; if the mind abides in things, it becomes entangled

Hui-neng teaches that Zazen is not about "stilling the mind" to have no thoughts, but about "non-thought, non-form, non-abiding", i.e., freedom from thoughts, form and abiding even amid thoughts form and abiding ... the heart of Shikantaza. Notice in the following that the problem is --not-- that "successive thoughts stop", but only that we do not cling to them:

Successive thoughts do not stop; prior thoughts, present thoughts, and future thoughts follow one after the other without cessation. If one instant of thought is cut off, the Dharma body separates from the physical body, and in the midst of successive thoughts there will be no place for attachment to anything. If one instant of thought clings, then successive thoughts cling; this is known as being fettered. If in all things successive thoughts do not cling, then you are unfettered. Therefore, non-abiding is made the basis.

Good friends, being outwardly separated from all forms, this is non-form. When you are separated from form, the substance of your nature is pure. Therefore, non-form is made the substance. To be unstained in all environments is called no-thought ...

As Dogen often emphasized, what matters is not the absence of words or thoughts, but the quality ... Thinking is not the problem, but how thinking is thought even living among the sense realms. Huineng's meaning that Zazen is not about stopping thoughts, but about seeing through and not being fettered by them (and the nature of what is thought), becomes even clearer in later passages.

True Reality is the substance of thoughts; thoughts are the function of True Reality. If you give rise to thoughts from your self-nature, then, although you see, hear, perceive, and know, you are not stained by the manifold environments, and are always free.

This is the reason we keep our eyes open in Zazen, and do not close them to the environment.

In case there is any doubt, this Zazen is seated Zazen ... but sitting unentangled by the forms seen outside through the open eyes, inwardly clear. It is --not-- to be without thoughts, but not to activate them, to pursue and become entangled. The very act of sitting is pure:

"Now that we know that this is so, what is it in this teaching that we call 'sitting in meditation' (tso-ch'an)? In this teaching 'sitting' means without any obstruction anywhere, outwardly and under all circumstances, not to activate thoughts. 'Meditation' is internally to see the original nature and not become confused.

And what do we call Ch'an meditation (ch'an-ting)? Outwardly to exclude form is 'ch'an'; inwardly to be unconfused is meditation (ting) . Even though there is form on the outside, when internally the nature is not confused, then, from the outset, you are of yourself pure and of yourself in meditation. The very contact with circumstances itself causes confusion . Separation from form on the outside is 'ch'an'; being untouched on the inside is meditation (ting). Being 'ch'an' externally and meditation (ting) internally, it is known as ch'an meditation (ch'an-ting).

Fully in and of the world and its circumstances, yet not trapped by the world inside or out.

We do not throw aside the things of the world, but see through them. Furthermore, do not become lost in 'Emptiness' without seeing the phenomena of this world, good and bad, beautiful and ugly:

Do not sit with a mind fixed on emptiness. If you do you will fall into a neutral kind of emptiness. Emptiness includes the sun, moon, stars, and planets, the great earth, mountains and rivers, all trees and grasses, bad men and good men, bad things and good things, heaven and hell; they are all in the midst of emptiness. The emptiness of human nature is also like this.

... Although you see all men and non-men, evil and good, evil things and good things, you must not throw them aside, nor must you cling to them, nor must you be stained by them, but you must regard them as being just like the empty sky.

Do not throw them aside, neither be stained by them. Just sit with what is, as it is. This is enlightenment, this is awakening!

If, standing upon your own nature and mind, you illuminate with wisdom and make inside and outside clear, you will know your own original mind. If you know your original mind, this then is deliverance. Once you have attained deliverance this then is the prajna samadhi. If you have awakened to the prajna samadhi, this then is no-thought . What is no-thought? The Dharma of no-thought means: even though you see all things, you do not attach to them, but, always keeping your own nature pure, cause the six thieves to exit through the six gates [of the senses]. Even though you are in the midst of the six dusts, you do not stand apart from them, yet are not stained by them, and are free to come and go. This is the prajna samadhi, and being free and having achieved release is known as the practice of no-thought. ... If you awaken to the sudden doctrine of no-thought, you will have reached the status of the Buddha.

In the world of the senses, yet not their prisoner. As well, do not seek enlightenment, yet put enlightenment into Practice ...

Although enlightenment [bodhi] is originally pure,
Creating the mind that seeks it is then delusion.
The pure nature exists in the midst of delusions,
With correct [thoughts] alone remove the three obstacles.
If people in this world practice the Way,
There is nothing whatsoever to hinder them.

Anyway, the Platform Sutra is likely not actually the words of "Hui-Neng, the 6th Chan Patriarch", a largely fictional character (http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/His ... efeldt.htm). Nonethless, it is considered an early statement representative of the heart of our Zen Way. Thus, it is not surprising that the meditation style of the Platform Sutra smacks of Shikantaza, as Shikantaza smacks of Silent Illumination ... and such was pretty much the orthodox style of many of the early Chan masters, such as Sekito Kisen (Shitou Xiqian), just two generations from the 6th Patriarch.

The specific practice experience of shikan taza was first articulated in the Soto Zen lineage (Caodong in Chinese) by the Chinese master Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091-1157; Wanshi Shogaku in Japanese),and further elaborated by the Japanese Soto founder Eihei Dogen (1200-1253). But prior to their expressions of this experience, there are hints of this practice in some of the earlier teachers of the tradition. The founding teachers of this lineage run from Shitou Xiqian (700-790; Sekito Kisen in Japanese), two generations after the Chinese Sixth Ancestor, through three generations to Dongshan Liangjie (807-869; Tozan Ryokai in Japanese), the usually recognized founder of the Caodong, or Soto, lineage in China. ...

Shitou/ Sekito ... wrote another teaching poem, Soanka, "Song of the Grass Hut," which presents more of a practice model for how to develop the space that fosters just sitting. Therein Shitou says, "Just sitting with head covered all things are at rest. Thus this mountain monk does not understand at all." So just sitting does not involve reaching some understanding. It is the subtle activity of allowing all things to be completely at rest just as they are, not poking one's head into the workings of the world.

Shitou also says in Soanka, "Turn around the light to shine within, then just return. . . . Let go of hundreds of years and relax completely. Open your hands and walk, innocent." According to Shitou, the fundamental orientation of turning within, also later described by Hongzhi and Dogen, is simply in order to return to the world, and to our original quality. Letting go of conditioning while steeped in completely relaxed awareness, one is able to act effectively, innocent of grasping and attachments. So the context of this just sitting suggested by Shitou is the possibility of aware and responsive presence that is simple, open-hearted, and straightforward.

http://www.ancientdragon.org/dharma/art ... st_sitting

Ancestor Bodhidharma:

Well, now we go further into the mists of time. Of course, it is questionable whether there even was an historical "Bodhidharma" at all or, at least, anyone resembling the legends about him as 'First Chan Patriarch in China' ...

http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/Phi ... adigm.html

However, there is one old proto-Chan writing that some scholars do think might be by the old geezer. Red Pine, in his recent book "Zen Baggage", comments on his earlier Bodhidharma translations, "How much of it was actually by Bodhidharma is unknown, but even scholars agree that the one called [Two Entrances and] Four Practices was most likely his." In his "The Bodhidharma Anthology", Jeffrey Broughton writes, "For decades discussion [by scholars] both Japanese and Western, has concentrated on the Two Entrances [and Four Practices], and has come to the consensus that only this text can be attributed to Bodhidharma." John McRae agrees ...

http://books.google.com/books?id=BNfuSJ ... 22&f=false

The piece is so short that it can be quoted in full. Doing so reveals that this "proto-Chan" instruction is obviously a guide to ... proto-Shikantaza!

(I quote mostly from the Red Pine translation, but also in [] use portions from McRae and Boughton, e.g., in using their "principle" in place of Red Pine's "reason")

The piece is usually interpreted to speak of the Buddhist perspectives and philosophy that must be learned and understood [principle] and then put into practice in life [practice]. Much of the content is shared by many flavors of Buddhism and Zen, but cumulatively [especially those marked in boldface] they particularly smack of Shikantaza.

It begins with an affirmation of our "original enlightenment", followed by a strong statement calling nonetheless for silent, still "wall like" sitting, or "illuminated" sitting, whereby the divisions of self/other and ordinary/sage drop away ...

MANY roads lead to the Path, but basically there are only two: [principle] and practice. To enter by [principle] means to realize the essence through instruction and to believe that all living things [both ordinary and enlightened] share the same true nature, which isn’t apparent because it’s shrouded by sensation and delusion.

Those who turn from delusion back to reality, who meditate [in "wall contemplation" in which self and other, ordinary person and sage, are one and the same], and who remain unmoved even by scriptures are in complete and unspoken agreement with [principle].

The meaning of "wall contemplation" (?? bìgu?n/pi-kuan) is long debated, but may mean (not literally "facing the wall" as often, and probably "too literally" and incorrectly professed in the Soto school), but rather to sit "as a wall sits", i.e., unperturbed by surrounding circumstances and the dusts of the senses. It may also mean something like to sit "abiding in illumination".

The recently discovered ninth-century Tibetan treatise Dhyâna of the Enlightened Eye (Bsam gtan mig sgron) contains translations of some of [Bodhidharma's] the Two Entrances ...
The summary of Ch'an ends with a series of quotations from Ch'an masters, the first of whom is Bodhidharmatâra, the version of the name that is encountered in Tibetan sources: "From the sayings of the Great Master Bodhidharmatara [Bo-dhe-dar-mo-ta-ra]: 'If one reverts to the real, rejects discrimination, and abides in brightness, then there is neither self nor other. The common man and sage are equal. If without shifting you abide in firmness, after that you will not follow after the written teaching. This is the quiet of the principle of the real. It is nondiscriminative, quiescent, and inactive. It is entrance into principle" (The Bodhidharma Anthology, p. 67). (Italics mine.)

Whatever the case, it is clear that from this silent, still, quiescent "wall like" sitting, or "illuminated" sitting, the divisions of self/other and ordinary/sage drop away ... i.e., Shikantaza.

The text continues

Without moving, without effort, they enter, we say, by principle.

In other words: Unmoving, dropping effort to enter realization ... one thus enters realization ... i.e, Shikantaza.

The central term there is Wu-wei ??: (described here as "Free from forced effort (but not necessarily no-action), free from clinging and attachments, unconditioned, absolute. It also means inner peace obtained by having no desires, with the understanding that we are intrinsically complete and lacking nothing." http://ctzen.org/sunnyvale/enBodhiDh...Annotation.htm ) ... an encapsulation of the core views of Shikantaza

Next, the following sections look at practice [based on the foregoing principle] in daily life. The emphasis is on accepting circumstances (in this case, the hard fortunes and injustices of life) just as they are without resistance. The text goes on to explain that one should just accept the visitudes of life as one's Karmic lot in life. However, whatever the explanation, the basic attitude of "acceptance" and dropping resistance is at the heart of ... Shikantaza.

To enter by practice refers to four all-inclusive practices: Suffering injustice, adapting to conditions, seeking nothing, and practicing the Dharma. First, suffering injustice. When those who search for the Path encounter adversity, they should think to themselves, "In Countless ages gone by, I’ve turned from the essential to the trivial and wandered through all manner of existence, often angry without cause and guilty of numberless transgressions.

Now, though I do no wrong, I’m punished by my past. Neither gods nor men can foresee when an evil deed will bear its fruit. I accept it with an open heart and without complaint of injustice. [The sutra says, “Face hardships without distress.”] With such understanding you’re in harmony with [principle]. And by suffering injustice you enter the Path.

Next, even accepting with equanimity the positive conditions, rewards, successes, achievements encountered ... Shikantaza:

[The second is the practice of the acceptance of circumstances. ] As mortals, we’re ruled by conditions, not by ourselves. All the suffering and joy we experience depend on conditions. If we should be blessed by some great reward, such as fame or fortune, it’s the fruit of a seed planted by us in the past. When conditions change, it ends. Why delight In Its existence? But while success and failure depend on conditions, the mind neither waxes nor wanes. Those who remain unmoved by the wind of joy silently follow the Path.

Third, ... non-seeking, flowing with the changes of time [the seasons], the heart of Shikantaza.

Third, seeking nothing. People of this world are deluded. They’re always longing for something-always, in a word, seeking. But the wise wake up. They choose [principle] over custom. They fix their minds on the sublime and let their bodies change with the seasons. All phenomena are empty. They contain nothing worth desiring. Calamity forever alternates with Prosperity! To dwell in the three realms is to dwell in a burning house. To have a body is to suffer. Does anyone with a body know peace? Those who understand this detach themselves from all that exists and stop Imagining or seeking anything. The sutras say, "To seek is to suffer.

To seek nothing is bliss." When you seek nothing, you’re on the Path.

Not seeking yet walking the Path.

Next, dropping divisive thoughts into emptiness ... thoughts of defilement and attachment, thoughts of this and that, subject and object. ... a key aspect of Shikantaza:

Fourth, practicing the Dharma.’ The Dharma is the truth that all natures are pure. By this truth, all appearances are empty. Defilement and attachment, subject and object don’t exist [ and there is no defilement and no attachment, no "this" and "that." ]. The sutras say, "The Dharma includes no being because it’s free from the impurity of being, and the Dharma includes no self because it’s free from the impurity of self." Those wise enough to believe and understand these truths are bound to practice according to the Dharma.

Next, an emphasis on "good works" in life ... even though there is no giver or recipient, and living by the Precepts ... even though there is nothing to practice (and despite original enlightenment). Shikantaza.

And since that which is real includes nothing worth begrudging, they give their body, life, and property in charity, without regret, without the vanity of giver, gift, or recipient, and without bias or attachment. And to eliminate impurity they teach others, but without becoming attached to form. Thus, through their own practice they’re able to help others and glorify the Way of Enlightenment. And as with charity, they also practice the other virtues. But while practicing the six virtues to eliminate delusion, they practice nothing at all. This is what’s meant by practicing the Dharma.

In other words ... to summarize:

Originally enlightened yet needing to be practiced ... silent, still "wall like" sitting, or "illuminated" sitting, whereby the divisions of self/other and ordinary/sage drop away ... Wu-wei ?? stillness dropping effort to enter, one thus enters ... accepting circumstances, both the positive and negative, with equanimity ... non-seeking while walking the path ... dropping into 'emptiness' divisive thoughts and judgments of defilement and attachment, thoughts of this and that, subject and object ... living in accord with the Precepts and engaging in "good works" in life, even though there is no giver or recipient, and nothing to practice ... an emphasis on method as simply according with and allowing circumstances "as it is" with equanimity and insight ...

... Shikantaza.

My apologies ... much MUCH MUCH too long!

Gassho, Jundo

SatTodayLAH

[Huichan]

As a final note, the teacher of Silent Illumination most well-known in the west in recent years is Master Sheng-yen (and his student, Guo Gu) who teach an interpretation of Silent Illumination based very much on attaining deep samadhi stages. There are some reasons to believe that what Dogen taught as Shikantaza may actually be closer to what he encountered as "Silent Illumination" back in the 13th century than what Sheng Yen presents as his modern version which he created.

Just finished reading Guo Gu's book Silent Illumination, as well as reading/listening to other DDM teacher's teachings and interacting with their community a little. As a practice, DDM seems to include some more techniques before and at the start of their sittings, such as the moving meditation and relaxation methods. They can be useful and understand why they use them. I do find there are some comparisons with DDM and Treeleaf, in the sense that both have tried to modernise the practice whilst still keeping true to their roots.

Gassho
Ross
stlah

[Tai Do]

Thank you for the teachings. It seems Shikantaza - even without having this name - goes back to the ancient Chinese masters, perhaps even to the time of Shakyamuni Buddha (or maybe, even before)…
Gassho,
Mateus
Satlah

[Jundo]

... perhaps even to the time of Shakyamuni Buddha (or maybe, even before)…

Well, yes and no.

Of course, all things change (the Buddha said so! ), and certainly Buddhism evolved when it gave rise to the Mahayana vision, then moved into China and encountered certain Taoist (not all Taoism, just certain aspects), Confucian and other Chinese philosophical and cultural approaches, then on to Japan for Japanese cultural influence, all to become Chan and Zen. Now, it has come to the West for further change (e.g., the greater role of woman, and lay people beyond primarily male monastics as in the past.)

Development and evolution is not a bad thing if in good directions, and I like to say that Wright Brothers glider has now become supersonic jets, although all in the same sky and same air. It seems that the historical Buddha taught means to be free of "Dukkha" and the oppression of the "self" with its constant desires and dissatisfactions, and realization of something more than birth and death, win and lose. That is precisely what Zen offers too, same sky and air, same basic structure of wings and flaps, even if we added some motors, computers and more comfortable seats.

I do sometimes point out that the 4th Jhana, which was considered in early Buddhism to be the highest meditative state that the Buddha attained under the Bodhi Tree, is surprisingly simple and much like Shikantaza when described (until Brahman and other influences in later centuries turned Buddhist meditation toward more intense directions which the historical Buddha seems to have himself rejected). I will post about that below.

However, it does not matter. The air and sky, all Buddhist history, the Buddha and all the ancestors, are alive now in your sitting and Practice.

Gassho, J

stlah

Again, sorry on the length of the following. Only for Buddhist history wonks:

~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is in keeping with my understanding of how the much later Visuddhimagga commentary, now so influential in Theravada Buddhism, changed the original meaning of Jhana into a practice of deep concentration states.

First, I recently read an interesting comment by Dr. Bronkhorst (in his paper "Karma," although I he goes into more detail on this in some of his other writings). He speaks about how the additional Jhana that emphasize rather other-worldly and extreme states, after the first 4, are something that snuck back in to meditation practice in later periods:

Probably the most important among these non-authentic elements are certain meditational states that are sometimes rejected but elsewhere presented as essential elements on the path to enlightenment. Most of the canonical passages (presumably the authentic ones) mention four meditational states, called dhyana in Sanskrit, jhana in Pali. Other texts add a number of further states that are never called dhyana/jhana but carry altogether different names. Among these additional states, often five in number, we find the ‘realm of nothingness’ and the ‘realm of neither ideation nor nonideation’. The series culminates in the ‘cessation of ideation and feeling’. These names reveal that the emphasis in these additional states, unlike the states called dhyana/jhana, is on the suppression of thoughts and other mental activities. This aim — the suppression of all mental activities — has its place in the more general aim to suppress all activities whatsoever, an aim that we have come to associate with the Jainas and perhaps other non-Buddhist ascetic movement of Greater Magadha.

Unlike the dhyanas/jhanas, they do not lead to a higher goal (such as the destruction of the taints), and we may be sure that these meditational states, too, found their way into the Buddhist canon from outside and cannot be looked upon as authentic teachings of the Buddha. With only one exception known to me, they are indeed never mentioned in accounts of the Buddha’s enlightenment. On the other hand, they have found a place in the story of the Buddha’s death: the Buddha is supposed to have passed through the four dhyanas and the five additional states before he finally expired in the fourth dhyana.

I also post from time to time on the difference between Sutta jhanas (as found described in the Suttas themselves, and Visuddhimagga reinterpretations of these, and how Shikantaza happens to echo very closely with the simple equanimity and dropping bliss states of the "4th Jhana" of the Suttas (which, as Bronkhorst states, is actually the highest Jhana of enlightenment in traditional Buddhism). I will report below, pardon the length:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

... you might be interested in the history and examination of Jhana and samadhi by Richard Shankman. He makes the argument that the Fourth Jhana, originally the highest, is actually a putting aside of blissful and highly concentrated states in favor of equanimious sitting with a sense of wholeness, at least as described in the Suttas before the Vishudimagga and other commentaries (that were influenced by Bhraman/Hindu practices which the Buddha originally may have rejected) turned the meaning of Jhana to some kinds of deeply concentrated and blissful, even other worldly states:

"Just Sitting" Shikantaza which we practice at Treeleaf is placed in historical context perhaps closer to the intent of the older Pali Suttas for "open, spacious, aware samadhi which thus brings insight" than other later forms.

Richard Shankman--a teacher in the insight meditation tradition and the author of the recently released book The Experience of Samadhi--joins us to discuss the various teachings and approaches to what in the Theravada tradition is called samadhi or concentration meditation.

During this episode Richard shares some of his personal background with samadhi practice and also explains two different forms of deep samadhi, called jhana in the Theravada tradition--one from the time of the Buddha as captured by the Pali Suttas and another which arouse hundreds of years later and which is captured in the authoritative text, the Visuddhimagga. Listen in to find out about these different forms of deep concentration and absorption, which are a hallmark of the Theravada tradition of Buddhism...

...

Discussion with insight meditation teacher and author, Richard Shankman. In this episode we continue to dissect the different kinds of samadhi and their respective fruits--what in the Theravada tradition are called jhana (or "meditative absorption"). According to Shankman there are two ways of approaching the attainment of jhana, one as was taught in the original canonical texts of the Theravada, the Pali Suttas, and the other from the later commentaries on the Buddha's teachings, the Vishudimagga. As a result we get two different forms of jhana--one called Sutta jhana and the other called Vishudimagga jhana. This two-fold understanding, though geeky, shines light on the different methods of practicing both samadhi and vipassana meditation and offers a unitary model for understanding the two together.

His book:

https://books.google.co.jp/books/abo...on&redir_esc=y

Interview 1

https://art19.com/shows/buddhist-gee...e-dbf132e13cce

Interview 2

https://art19.com/shows/buddhist-gee...d-611262bfad41

[The Visuddhimagga is a highly influential centuries' old commentary in Theravada Buddhism that, Shankman asserts, gave many practices a very different direction from the Suttas]. The Fourth Jhana in the Pali Suttas was considered the 'summit' of Jhana practice (as the higher "otherworldly" Jhanas, No. 5 to 8, were not encouraged as a kind of 'dead end') and appears to manifest (quoting the sutta descriptions in the book) "an abandoning of pleasure, pain, attractions/aversions, a dropping of both joy and grief", a dropping away of both rapture and bliss states, resulting in a "purity of mindfulness" and "equanimity". Combine this with the fact that, more than a "one pointed mind absorbed into a particular object", there is a "unification of mind" (described as a broader awareness around the object of meditation ... whereby the "mind itself becomes collected and unmoving, but not the objects of awareness, as mindfulness becomes lucid, effortless and unbroken" (See, for examples. pages 82-83 here))

http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=l...page&q&f=false

A bit of the discussion of the highest (in Buddhist Practice) "Fourth Jhana", and its emphasis on equanimity while present amid circumstances (and a dropping of bliss states), can be found on page 49 at the above link.

This is very close to a description of Shikantaza, for example, as dropping all aversions and attractions, finding unification of mind, collected and unmoving, effortless and unbroken, in/as/through/not removed from the life, circumstances, complexities which surround us and are us, sitting still with what is just as it is.

[Tai Do]

Thank you, Jundo... I myself am a Buddhist History and Philosophy lover, although I have read few books about the topic then what I would like.
Any book recommendation that covers the entire Buddhist and Zen History with more depth?
Gassho,
Mateus
Satlah

[Jundo]

Thank you, Jundo... I myself am a Buddhist History and Philosophy lover, although I have read few books about the topic then what I would like.
Any book recommendation that covers the entire Buddhist and Zen History with more depth?
Gassho,
Mateus
Satlah

Hi Mateus,

Well, there are many. If you scroll down our "Suggested Book" list ...

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...ed-Books-Media

... you will find a section entitled "HISTORY & MODERN STATE OF ZEN BUDDHISM." In there, Barbara O'Brien's book "Circle of the Way" is probably the best, most readable and comprehensive, respectful and understanding of the tradition, while honest about history vs. legend, Zen history I know. It is a good first introduction to Zen history. The others there are also excellent, and some quite serious and scholarly, covering Zen history. The Heinrich Dumoulin books are also good, but basically a much more romantic telling which tends to accept the "official" legends at mostly face value.

For the best history of early Buddhism and the Mahayana by a scholar, I recommend "Buddhist Thought, A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition" and "Mahayana Buddhism, The Doctrinal Foundations," both by Prof. Paul Williams. However, be warned that both are thick, college level textbooks, not light reading (especially sometimes for some non-native English speakers).

Gassho, Jundo

stlah

[Tai Do]

Thank you, Jundo. I will look for them.
Gassho,
Mateus
Satlah