With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
The other day in our Zen Discussion Group someone let slip that they did not think shikantaza was the essential method of practicing Zazen in the Soto School. This person was incorrect. I sense her error is based in the fact that the terms “Zazen” and “shikantaza” seem different, and indeed, are seemingly taught differently, but in the end, this is not so. They are one in the same.
The Soto tradition, founded in Japan by Master Dogen, was founded upon the practice of Zazen and its essence is the practice of what is referred to as “Silent Illumination.” Whenever Dogen refers to Zazen, he is referring to shikantaza.
So, why the confusion? I think it is because of how Zazen is taught. Introductions to the practice often include breath watching and/or breath counting, and while one is sitting quietly while doing this, one is not in the posture of Zazen , properly understood.
As Taigon Leighton points out in his introduction to The Art of Just Sitting, “The specific practice of shikantaza was first articulated in the Soto Zen lineage by the Chinese master, Hongzhi Zhengjue in his “Cultivating the Empty Field” where he wrote, “ A person of the Way fundamentally does not dwell anywhere.” This is to say, we do not place our attention on anything at all, not the breath nor on the wall in front of us. We just sit not thinking. It is in this practice of whole heartedly sitting that we are awake.
Master Nishijima, in his “To Meet the Real Dragon,” quotes Master Dogen saying the following:
“Zazen is not training to attain enlightenment. It is just the pleasant gate to the Dharma. It is the practice and experience of the perfectly realized truth.” And later, “Just sitting in quietness was the realization of the Truth itself. It was enlightenment itself. To sit sincerely in Zazen was the realization of the state beyond body and mind.”
When Dogen wrote his three most famous fascicles, Bendowa, Genjokoan, and Fukanzazenji, her was referring to shikantaza as Zazen. Zazen and shikantaza are one in the same as is Zazen and realization.
This is what the Soto School teaches and what it practices.
Some of us just cannot resist deconstructing our experience and claiming a place along the way to Complete Unexcelled Awakening. We use methods of the Theravaden school to gauge our “progress” Even Daido Loori fell prey to this by utilizing the Ten Ox-Herding pictures as the foundation of a sort of stage theory of Zen. Just because we “need” to “know” where we are, does not mean we should attempt to get a grade for ourselves. This need is the deluded mind seeking an escape. This is not the way of Soto Zen. It is not the way of Clear Mind Zen.
Nishijima writes, “Master Nyojo told him (Student Dogen) not to be concerned about attaining enlightenment. Rather, he should ‘just sit,’ and in sitting find the essence of Buddhism itself…Nyojo did not promote the study of koans, the counting of breaths or other methods of focusing the mind. He stressed the simple activity of just sitting, and he urged his disciples to find the meaning of practice in practice itself.”
Do not deconstruct your seated practice. Such a practice eviscerates the living and thus, examines, the dead. Just sit. Nothing special. Nothing miraculous.
Be well,
Good Morning Everyone,
The other day in our Zen Discussion Group someone let slip that they did not think shikantaza was the essential method of practicing Zazen in the Soto School. This person was incorrect. I sense her error is based in the fact that the terms “Zazen” and “shikantaza” seem different, and indeed, are seemingly taught differently, but in the end, this is not so. They are one in the same.
The Soto tradition, founded in Japan by Master Dogen, was founded upon the practice of Zazen and its essence is the practice of what is referred to as “Silent Illumination.” Whenever Dogen refers to Zazen, he is referring to shikantaza.
So, why the confusion? I think it is because of how Zazen is taught. Introductions to the practice often include breath watching and/or breath counting, and while one is sitting quietly while doing this, one is not in the posture of Zazen , properly understood.
As Taigon Leighton points out in his introduction to The Art of Just Sitting, “The specific practice of shikantaza was first articulated in the Soto Zen lineage by the Chinese master, Hongzhi Zhengjue in his “Cultivating the Empty Field” where he wrote, “ A person of the Way fundamentally does not dwell anywhere.” This is to say, we do not place our attention on anything at all, not the breath nor on the wall in front of us. We just sit not thinking. It is in this practice of whole heartedly sitting that we are awake.
Master Nishijima, in his “To Meet the Real Dragon,” quotes Master Dogen saying the following:
“Zazen is not training to attain enlightenment. It is just the pleasant gate to the Dharma. It is the practice and experience of the perfectly realized truth.” And later, “Just sitting in quietness was the realization of the Truth itself. It was enlightenment itself. To sit sincerely in Zazen was the realization of the state beyond body and mind.”
When Dogen wrote his three most famous fascicles, Bendowa, Genjokoan, and Fukanzazenji, her was referring to shikantaza as Zazen. Zazen and shikantaza are one in the same as is Zazen and realization.
This is what the Soto School teaches and what it practices.
Some of us just cannot resist deconstructing our experience and claiming a place along the way to Complete Unexcelled Awakening. We use methods of the Theravaden school to gauge our “progress” Even Daido Loori fell prey to this by utilizing the Ten Ox-Herding pictures as the foundation of a sort of stage theory of Zen. Just because we “need” to “know” where we are, does not mean we should attempt to get a grade for ourselves. This need is the deluded mind seeking an escape. This is not the way of Soto Zen. It is not the way of Clear Mind Zen.
Nishijima writes, “Master Nyojo told him (Student Dogen) not to be concerned about attaining enlightenment. Rather, he should ‘just sit,’ and in sitting find the essence of Buddhism itself…Nyojo did not promote the study of koans, the counting of breaths or other methods of focusing the mind. He stressed the simple activity of just sitting, and he urged his disciples to find the meaning of practice in practice itself.”
Do not deconstruct your seated practice. Such a practice eviscerates the living and thus, examines, the dead. Just sit. Nothing special. Nothing miraculous.
Be well,
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