Originally Posted by
Jundo
Hi Brad,
If I understand your question, I believe that "inclusive awareness" is about the same as what is often called "open awareness" ... sitting beyond judgments, in equanimity, letting thoughts go, with the the "object of attention" being no one thing in particular. We sit in such way. However, sometimes folks may follow the breath or bring attention to the posture, the hara (the area below the belly), the palm of the hands or the like. That is helpful for folks, especially newer folks, who need a bit of an anchor because their mind really wanders in thoughts, and they need to build a modicum of attention and settling. When the mind settles a bit, I do advice folks to try moving into "open awareness" when they can, just letting thoughts go without grabbing on, focused on "everything, and nothing in particular" as the object of attention. Even when folks sit following the breath or the like in Shikantaza, we do not overly obsess, do so in a relaxed way, and are not seeking deep concentration states (although they sometimes happen) or special exotic mental states (they do sometimes happen too, but many things happen).
The reason I say that Shikantaza is -not- "meditation is not that, but rather that the sitting itself is the point, the pinnacle, the reason, the goal realized, the Buddha doin' Buddha.
Neither are we just "sittin' there like a bump on a log", just twiddling our thumbs and passing our time.
No, Shikantaza is sincere and alert sitting in which we sit upright in radical equanimity, letting thoughts go, but with the conviction in the bones that this mere act of sitting is a sacred and complete act, the one act to do and one place to be in the whole of time and space in that moment. Just sitting is the cat's meow, the cream in the coffee, with nothing lacking.
Thus, to be technical (and to answer Shinshi), Shikantaza obviously has aspect of meditation (we are sitting in a nice posture, letting thoughts go etc). But it is not meditation too. Meditation-not-meditation perhaps. Obviously we have a goal in sitting, but that goal is to radically drop all goals and needs and feelings of lack, whereby merely sitting with legs crossed (or other nice posture) is the only goal and is fully attained just by doing so, nothing more needed and not one thing lacking. So, non-goal-goals.
Does that make sense ... in a Zenny way? :-)
Gassho, J
STLah