A few views around shikantaza.

Zazen is fundamentally a useless and pointless activity.

Zoketsu Norman Fischer

One way to categorize the meditation practice of shikantaza, or just sitting, is as an objectless
meditation. This is a definition in terms of what it is not. One just sits, not concentrating on any
particular object of awareness, unlike most traditional meditation practices, Buddhist and non-Buddhist,
that involve intent focus on a particular object. Such objects traditionally have included colored disks,
candle flames, various aspects of breath, incantations, ambient sound, physical sensations or postures,
spiritual figures, mandalas, teaching stories, or key phrases from such stories. Some of these
concentration practices are in the background of the shikantaza practice tradition, or have been included
with shikantaza in its actual lived experience by practitioners.
But objectless meditation focuses on clear, nonjudgmental, panoramic attention to all of the
myriad arising phenomena in the present experience. Such objectless meditation is a potential universally
available to conscious beings, and has been expressed at various times in history. This just sitting is not a
meditation technique or practice, or any thing at all. Just sitting is a verb rather than a noun, the
dynamic activity of being fully present.
it is objectless not only in terms of letting go of concentration objects, but also in the sense of
avoiding any specific, limited goals or objectives just sitting is not a technique or a means to some
resulting higher state of consciousness, or any particular state of being
[for Dogen] simply just sitting is expressed as concentration on the self in its most delightful
wholeness, in total inclusive interconnection with all of phenomena
Taigen Dan Leighton

Jap. Lit. nothing but (shikan) precisely (ta) sitting (za); a form of the practice of zazen in which
there are no more supportive techniques of the type beginners use, such as counting the breath or a koan.
According to Dogen-Zenji, shikantazai.e., resting in a state of brightly alert attention that is free of
thoughts, directed to no object, and attached to no particular contentis the highest or purest form of
zazen, zazen as it was practiced by all buddhas of the past.
Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen

The prototype for the unity of practice and enlightenment, as all Dogen students know, is zazen-
only (shikan taza). In a nutshell, it consists of four aspects: (1) It is that seated meditation which is
objectless, imageless, themeless, with no internal or external devices or supports, and is nonconcentrative,
decentered, and open-ended. Yet it is a heightened, sustained, and total awareness of the self and the
world. (2) It seeks no attainment whatsoever, be it enlightenment, an extraordinary religious experience,
supernormal powers, or buddhahood, and accordingly, is non-teleological [lacks purposeful development
towards a final end] and simply ordinary. (3) It is the body and mind cast off (shinjin datsuraku) as
the state of ultimate freedom, also called the samadhi of self-fulfilling activity (jijuyu zammai). And (4)
it requires single-minded earnestness, resolve, and urgency on the part of the meditator.
Hee-Jin Kim

For Dogen, seated meditation, or zazen, was the very essence of the Buddhist religion the
practice of this zazen was not simply an important aid to, nor even a necessary condition for,
enlightenment and liberation; it was in itself sufficient: it was enough, he said, just to sit (shikan taza),
without resort to the myriad subsidiary exercises of Buddhist spiritual life. Indeed (at least when rightly
practiced) zazen was itself enlightenment and liberation: it was the ultimate cognition, the state he called
nonthinking (hi shiryo) that revealed the final reality of things; it was the mystic apotheosis [exalted or
glorified example], the sloughing off of body and mind (shinjin datsuraku), as he said, that released
man into this reality. Such practice, then (at least when rightly understood) was its own end, as much the
expression as it was the cause of transcendence: it was practice based on enlightenment (shojo no shu);
it was the activity of buddhahood itself (butsugyo). As such, this was, ultimately speaking, no mere
human exercise: it was participation in the primordial ascesis (gyoji, continuous practice) of being itself,
that which brought forth matter and mind, heaven and earth, the sun, moon, stars, and constellations.
For Menzan [1683-1769, the chief architect of modern Soto dogmatics] and his church,
Dogens zazen is like no other: it is the practice of nonthinking, a subtle state beyond either thinking or
not thinking and distinct from traditional Buddhist psychological exercises of concentration and
contemplation; it is just sitting, a practice in which all striving for religious experience, all
expectations of satori, is left behind. This zazen is nothing but the mystic practice of original
verification (honsho myoshu), through which from the very start one directly experiences the ultimate
nature of mind.
Carl Bielefeldt

Shikantazais the mind of somebody facing death. Let us imagine that you are engaged in a duel
of swordsmanship of the kind that used to take place in ancient Japan. As you face your opponent you are
unceasingly watchful, set, ready. Were you to relax your vigilance even momentarily, you would be cut
down instantly. A crowd gathers to see the fight. Since you are not blind you see them from the corner of
your eye, and since you are not deaf you hear them. But not for an instant is your mind captured by these
impressions.

When you thoroughly practice shikantaza you will sweateven in the winter Sit with such
intensely heightened concentration, patience, and alertness that is someone were to touch you while you
are sitting, there would be an electric spark! Sitting thus, you return naturally to the original Buddha, the
very nature of your being.
Hakuun Ryoko Yasutani

Shikan is translated as wholeheartedness, which seems to be sort of a psychological state or pattern.

But shikan is not a psychological pattern. Shikan is exactly becoming one with the process itself.
Literally, za of taza is zazen, and ta means to hit; so, from moment to moment, we have to hit the bulls-
eye of zazen itself. This is not a technique Shikan is exactly tazafull devotion to zazen itself, that is,
to the process itself and not to a concept.
Dainin Katagiri

The style of meditation called silent illumination [Ch. mozhao, Jap. mokusho; the early
Caodong/Soto meditation practice that Rujing and Dogen came to call shikantaza] is one of the great
practices of the Chan tradition This practice originated in India, where it was called shamtatha-
vipashyana, or serenity-insight. The aim of this practice is a mind unburdened with thoughts. This leads
the mind to profound awareness about its own state
Silent illumination is a very peaceful style of meditation in which there is not one thought, yet
your mind is extremely clear. I use three phases to describe this state: first, bright and open; second,
no scattered thoughts; and third, not one thought.
When the mind drops all use of words, it becomes bright and open; this is the first characteristic.
Next, no scattered thoughts refers to single-mindednesstotal concentration on the method. But when
you finally forget the method itself, and no one thought remains, that is genuine serenity. Ultimately,
Silent Illumination is the method of no method Silent illumination is just dropping all thoughts and
words and going directly to the state of Chan.

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 I do not recommend this method to people too often You can be just idling, having very subtle
thought, and believe you are practicing Silent Illumination. You can be silent without illuminating
anything.
Sheng Yen

[Shikantazajust sitting] is zazen based fundamentally on faithfaith in the Buddhas

enlightenment, faith in ones own buddha nature, faith in the process of practice itself
Unfortunately shikantaza became identified exclusively with the Soto School, while koans
were thought to be used only by those in the Rinzai School of Zen. This simplistic view, however, can be
easily refuted by the fact that Hongzhi was also the compiler of the Book of Equanimity while Dogen
himself collected three hundred koans in his Chinese Shobogenzo Furthermore, after students finish
koan study, they then take up the practice of shikantaza. So it is obvious that practitioners in either one of
these schools make use of both sitting techniques during the course of their training.
On the one hand, koans harness doubts so we can smash through our conditioned way of
thinking. On the other hand, shikantaza is based on our own faith that practice and enlightenment are one.
Koans can be seen and passed through, but shikantaza cannot be gauged by any standard. Students who
do shikantaza and ask, Where am I? How far am I from realization? miss the vital point of
shikantaza For students working on koans I need to speak about kensho but when I mention
breakthrough, all the shikantaza people say, When am I going to see it? Shikantaza cant be measured
the same way, but this doesnt mean that one technique is better than the other.
John Daido Loori

Suzuki Roshi always talked about shikantaza as ones day-to-day, moment-to-moment life of
selflessness
Suzuki Roshis simple day-to-day activitiesthe way he would sit down and stand up, eat his
dinner, walk, put on his sandalsthis was his expression of shikantaza. Everyday activity with no
selfishnessjust doing the thing for the thingthis was his shikantaza. We usually say that shikantaza
means just sitting. And thats true. Just putting on your shoes, too. But this just has a special
meaning. It means without going any further or without adding anything extra.
But the shikantaza, or the just doing, is the selfless activity of just doing within the dream
I think about shikantaza as a state in which our thought and our activity have no gap
Sojun Mel Weitsman

The teaching of thusness has been intimately communicated by buddhas and ancestors. The
meaning of this practice of suchness is not in words, and yet it responds to our energy, it responds to our
effort. It comes forth and meets us. We sit here and the blue jays sing it to us, the stream sings it to us,
because we come and listen. This is our practice of sitting, just sitting. It is a themeless meditation, a
seamless meditation. It has no form, no beginning, and no end, and it pervades everything completely. It
leaves no traces, and if I try to trace it, its not that I trace it, but that it generously and compassionately
responds to my tracing, to my speaking, and to your listening
When youre just sitting, you cant get a hold of anything, because youre just sitting. Youre not
sitting and getting a hold of something
In the term shikantaza, the word shikan is sometimes translated as just, or only. Ta means
hit, and za means sit. It literally means hit sitting, but the ta really intensifies sitting. So it means
sitting. Shikan means just, but it also means by all means do it, or get on with it.
Tenshin Reb Anderson

Neuroscientists use these words to describe what we call shikantaza: panoramic receptive non-
judgmental attention. This is different than focused attention, which includes such practices as breath

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meditation, where the attentional field is narrowed and "pointed" toward an object. Different parts of the
brain are activated during these two types of meditation.
Roshi Joan Halifax

Some folks who say shikantaza is nothing in particular & can't be identified with any state that
can be done right or wrong, and is not to be identified with concentration or samadhi turn around and
use wholeheartedness to mean a particular state of absorption or non-separation with the activity at hand.
So instead of emphasizing a particular state of mind on the cushion, they kick it upstairs to a particular
state of mind during activity.... You don't do that do you? How do you prevent your students from falling
into this mistaken assumption?
Me, I just quote Woody Allen about showing up. If anxious, bow anxiously, if tired bow tired.
Don't try to be mindful or anything else. Be what you are; stay aware of what/who you are moment to
moment; just do it with the mind/body you already have....
Barry Magid

Katagiri used to say shikantaza isn't anything in particular and that also fits for the Soto school's
lack of single view on the issue. Katagiri also called following the breath shikantaza but once I could
follow the breath, told me to not attach to anything. At least several of his successors, though, just teach
following the breath as shikantaza.
Dogen's brilliant reframe on this practice and reconstruction of the tradition was based on adding
wholeheartedness which changed silent illumination into earnest vivid sitting (literal trans. of
shikantaza).
RE: wholeheartedness, what I encourage is full devotion to no particular thing. That's a little
different from seeing wholeheartedness as a state. For one thing, I emphasize the whole and heart
parts of wholehearted nothing left out, including the flowing emotions. Nothing left out includes
samadhi states, dhyanic states, and insight/realization as well. But like a falling maple leaf, showing front,
showing back.
Dosho Port

In Barry Magid's e-mail he suggests that [wholehearted shikantaza] is nothing special, not doing
anything extra on and off the cushion, no need to add the extra wholehearted involvement in what ever
you're doing. Just do as you do. I wholeheartedly (or maybe halfheartedly) agree. But I think we have
to be careful not to make not doing anything special into something special, or trying not to do
anything extra into a new spiritual endeavor.
Do we see this slipping through inadvertently in Barry's not trying? If anxious, bow anxiously,
if tired bow tired. Don't try to be mindful or anything else. Be what you are; stay aware of what/who you
are moment to moment.
Notice the stay aware that sneaks in. Is that different from being mindful? Is that an
invitation to do something different than just being anxious without awareness? Do we even need to be
aware? If we do need to be aware, what part of the anxiety should we be aware of, just a little, out of the
corner of ones attention (halfheartedly) or with wholeheartedness? If we arent aware, is there Zen? If
we try to be aware is there Zen?
It also seems that dont try is to invite some sort of trying even though the trying is to not try. It
is just as problematic to not try as to try and doing something.
The modern koan may go something like: If you try to do something in shikantaza you loose
your life as it is right now. If you don't make some effort at awareness you continue in your samsara, not
doing shikantaza. How do you do shikantaza?
Larry Christensen

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 I would say shikantaza is natural awareness as is (so that the just sitting is indeed just sitting).
Awareness is being human, so there is not a need to stay aware (or a particular state that we need to
add). Likewise, it is not a matter of making effort at awareness.
Elihu Genmyo Smith

When we sit facing the wall, there is nothing in front of us as object. There is only the wall. We
have no object in our mind because we dont visualize anything, dont concentrate on a mantra, and dont
pay any special attention to the breath. We just sit. Still many different kinds of thought come and go
naturally. It is very clear that thoughts, emotions, and daydreams are illusions like bubbles rising in water.
We let go of them. No clinging to them, chasing after them, or pushing them away. We really do nothing
but sit.
This is what Dogen Zenji meant when he says, thinking of not-thinking. We cannot say that
there is no thinking. And we cannot say that we are thinking. Thinking of not-thinking is the precise
expression of the reality of mind in zazen. It is like a car engine idling. When the transmission is in
neutral, even though the engine is moving, the car does not move. Even though thoughts are coming and
going, we take no action based on those thoughts. Thoughts are simply idling. We dont create karma.
This is what Dogen Zenji meant in Zuimonki when he said zazen is the true form of the self and non-
doing or not action
In Shobogenzo Zazenshin, Dogen Zenji said, In order to think (shiryo) of not-thinking (fu-shiryo),
we use beyond-thinking (hi-shiryo). This means that what is happening in our zazen is not a matter of
thinking or not-thinking. We do nothing; neither to think nor not to think. We put our entire self
on the ground of beyond-thinking. On that ground, sometimes many thoughts come up, sometimes, no
thoughts arise
In our daily lives, we try to study from teachers and books to correct the distortions of self-
centeredness. But in zazen we let go of all thoughts, even thoughts of making corrections
Our practice of just sitting is the practice of the bodhisattva vows and repentance. Buddhas and
ancestors zazen is the vow to save all living beings
Shohaku Okumura

Do not concentrate on any particular object or control your thought. When you maintain a proper
posture and your breathing settles down, your mind will naturally become tranquil.
When various thoughts arise in your mind, do not become caught up by them or struggle with
them; neither pursue nor try to escape from them. Just leave thoughts alone, allowing them to come up
and go away freely. The essential thing in doing zazen is to awaken (kakusoku) from distraction and
dullness, and return to the right posture moment by moment
Dogen called his meditation practice shikantaza, which literally means just sitting. In
shikantaza we sit without the koans used in Rinzai Zen. In our zazen, body and mind sit without any
techniqueskoans, mantras, visualizations, and so on. we find an upright posture, breathe through our
nose quietly and deeply from our abdomen, and keep our eyes open. We let go of whatever thoughts arise
within our mind. It is simply sitting upright without any expectation or gaining idea. Dogens essential
teaching is that practice and enlightenment are one. Practice is not a method to make a deluded person
into an enlightened being. Practice without self-centeredness is itself enlightenment.
This kind of zazen practice teaches us to sit upright wherever we are. Sometimes our mind is calm
and sometimes our mind is busy. Sometimes we feel peaceful, and sometimes we are in the midst of a
storm. We neither cling to nor avoid any condition, but keep sitting in an upright posture. We try to live
in this upright manner, not only in zazen but in our daily lives. When we deviate from uprightness, we
are aware of it and return to it.
Soto Zen Buddhism International Center (Sotoshu Shumucho)

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 The zazen in which you do nothing is best. When we do something, it is usually a matter of being
forced to do it by some demon.
What is the use of doing zazen? Zazen is good for nothing. Unless you hear more than enough of
that, and you just do what is good for nothing wholeheartedly, your practice is really good for nothing.
Homeless Kodo Sawaki

In short, doing zazen is to stop doing anything, to face the wall, and to sit, just being yourself that
is only the Self. While doing zazen we should refrain from doing anything, yet, being human, we begin to
think; we engage in a dialogue with the thoughts in our mind. I should have sold it that time; no, I
should have bought it, or I should have waited for a while. If you are a stockbroker you will think like
this.
If you are a young lover, you may find that your girlfriend inevitably appears all the time. If you
are a mother-in-law who doesnt get along with your daughter-in-law, you will think only of your sons
wife. Whatever situation you are involved, thoughts will arise of their own accord while you are doing
zazen.
Once you realize that you are thinking when you are supposed to be doing nothing, and return to
zazen, the thoughts which appeared as clearly before as if they were pictures on a TV. screen, disappear
as suddenly as if you had switched off the TV. Only the wall is left in from of you. For an instant this
is it. This is zazen. Yet again thoughts arise by themselves. Again you return to zazen and they
disappear. We simply repeat this; this is called kakusoku (awareness of Reality). The most important
point is to repeat this kakusoku billions of times. This is how we should practice zazen.
If we practice in this way we cannot help but realize that our thoughts are really nothing but
secretions of the brain. Just as our salivary glands secrete saliva, or as our stomachs secrete gastric juices,
so our thoughts are nothing but secretions of the brain.
Uchiyama Kosho

We say our practice should be without gaining ideas, without any expectations, even of
enlightenment. This does not mean, however, just to sit without any purpose. This practice free from
gaining ideas is based on the Prajnaparamita Sutra. However, if you are not careful, the sutra itself will
give you a gaining idea. It says, form is emptiness and emptiness is form. But if you attach to that
statement, you are liable to be involved in dualistic ideas: here is you, form, and here is emptiness, which
you are trying to realize through your form. So form is emptiness, and emptiness is form is still
dualistic. But fortunately our teaching goes on to say, Form is form and emptiness is emptiness. Here
there is no dualism.
When you find it difficult to stop your mind while you are sitting and when you are still trying to
stop your mind, this is the stage of form is emptiness and emptiness is form. But while you are
practicing in the dualistic way, more and more you will have oneness with your goal. And when your
practice becomes effortless, you can stop your mind. This is the stage of form is form and emptiness is
emptiness.
To stop your mind does not mean to stop the activities of mind. It means your mind pervades your
whole body. Your mind follows your breathing. With your full mind you form the mudra in your hands.
With your whole mind you sit with painful legs without being disturbed by them. This is to sit without
any idea of gain
Practice does not mean that whatever you do, even lying down, is zazen. When the restrictions
you have do not limit you, this is what we mean by practice. When you say, Whatever I do is Buddha
nature, so it doesnt matter what I do, and there is no need to practice zazen, that is already dualistic
understanding of our everyday life. If it really does not matter, there is no need for you even to say so.
As long as you are concerned about what you do, that is dualistic. If you are not concerned about what
you do, you will not say so. When you sit, you will sit. When you eat, you will eat. That is all. If you
say, It doesnt matter, it means that you are making some excuse to do something in your own way with
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your small mind. It means you are attached to some particular thing or way. That is not what we mean
when we say, Just to sit is enough, or Whatever you do is zazen. Of course whatever we do is zazen,
but if so, there is no need to say it.

Strictly speaking, any effort we make is not good for our practice because it creates waves in our
mind. It is impossible, however, to attain absolute calmness of our mind without any effort. We must
make some effort, but we must forget ourselves in the effort we make. In this realm there is no
subjectivity or objectivity. Our mind is just calm, without even any awareness. In this unawareness,
every effort and every idea and thought will vanish. So it is necessary for us to encourage ourselves and
to make an effort up to the last moment, when all effort disappears. You should keep you mind on your
breathing until you are not aware of your breathing.
Shunryu Suzuki

These sages universally maintain that absolute reality and the relative world are not-two
(which is the meaning of nondual), much as a mirror and its reflections are not separate, or an ocean is
one with its many waves. So the other world of Spirit and this world of separate phenomena are
deeply and profoundly not-two, and this nonduality is a direct and immediate realization which occurs
in certain meditative statesin other words, seen with the eye of contemplationalthough it then
becomes a very simple, very ordinary perception, whether you are meditating or not. Every single thing
you perceive is the radiance of Spirit itself, so much so, that Spirit is not seen apart from that thing: the
robin sings, and just that is it, nothing else. This becomes your constant realization, through all changes
of state, very naturally, just so. And this releases you from the basic insanity of hiding from the Real.
But why is it, then, that we ordinarily dont have that perception?
All the great Nondual wisdom traditions have given a fairly similar answer to that question. We
dont see that Spirit is fully and completely present right here, right now, because our awareness is
clouded with some sort of avoidance. We do not want to be choicelessly aware of the present; rather, we
want to run away from it, or run after it, or we want to change it, alter it, hate it, love it, loathe it, or in
some way agitate to get ourselves into, or out of, it. We will do anything except come to rest in the pure
Presence of the present. We will not rest with pure Presence; we want to be elsewhere, quickly. The
Great Search is the game, in its endless forms
... it becomes obvious that you are not entering this state, but rather, it is a state that, in some
profound and mysterious way, has been your primordial condition from time immemorial. You have, in
fact, never left this state for a second
But if that is so, then why even do spiritual practice? Isnt that just another form of the Great
Search? Yes, actually, spiritual practice is a form of the Great Search, and as such, it is destined to fail.
But that is exactly the point. You and I are already convinced that there are things that we need to do in
order to realize Spirit. We feel that there are places that Spirit is not (namely, in me), and we are going to
correct this state of affairs. Thus, we are already committed to the Great Search, and so nondual
meditation makes use of the fact and engages us in the Great Search in a particular and somewhat sneaky
fashion

The essence of Dzogchen in a nutshell: If Spirit has any meaning, it must be omnipresent, or
all-pervading and all-encompassing. There cant be a place Spirit is not, or it wouldnt be infinite.
Therefore, Spirit has to be completely present, right here, right now, in your own awareness. That is, your
own present awareness, precisely as it is, without changing it or altering it in any way, is perfectly and
completely permeated by Spirit.
Furthermore, it is not that Spirit is present but you need to be enlightened in order to see it. It is
not that you are one with Spirit but just dont know it yet. Because that would also imply that there is
some place Spirit is not. No, according to Dzogchen, you are always already one with Spirit, and that

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awareness is always already fully present, right now. You are looking directly at Spirit, with Spirit, in
every act of awareness. There is nowhere Spirit is not.
Further, if Spirit has any meaning at all, then it must be eternal, or without beginning and end. If
Spirit had a beginning in time, then it would be strictly temporal, it would not be timeless and eternal.
And this means, as regards your own awareness, that you cannot become enlightened. You cannot attain
enlightenment. If you could attain enlightenment, then that state would have a beginning in time, and so
it would not be true enlightenment.
Rather, Spirit, and enlightenment, has to be something that you are fully aware of right now.
Something you are already looking at right now
Meditation rearranges the puzzle; Dzogchen doesnt touch a thing. Thus the pointing-out
instructions usually begin, Without correcting or modifying your present awareness in any way
Ken Wilber

Some types of meditation are aimed at promoting a sense of confidence and well-being in
everyday life, while other types focus on producing altered states of consciousness, transcending the
world, or developing skills for serving other people. The instructions in this book [Minding Mind] focus
on the highest type of all, pure, clear meditation: a state of true objectivity that enables the practitioner
to use all the other types of meditation freely and consciously, without becoming fixated or obsessed.
Thomas Cleary

There is nothing on my mind, no unrest. This is, this is to say there is no thing. Nothing on your
mind means that you are holding on to nothing. Cleanly, sharply letting go, freshly breathing this breath.
Nothing bring, nothing grasp. This is all that I can teach you. Of course, its even better if you can come
to me and say: Even if I want to hold on to something, cant. Even if I wanted to grasp something, I
cant. There is no grasping. But as long as you are holding on to the notion of me, the notion of I, the
notion of mine, then you are most certainly holding something.
Harada Tangen

sometimes called choiceless awareness. Once you have achieved a certain calm by following
the breathing, you sit in the middle of your experience just as it is. You have no agenda regarding what to
be mindful of, and you are not for or against whatever turns up.
I dont recommend this practice for beginners because it is too easy to fool yourself, to keep
getting caught up in thought and believe you are practicing. But once the mind has learned to rest in the
breathing and developed some stability, you open up the field to whatever is there. More and more you
do less and less, until finally youre doing nothing
The attitude to sit with is one of total receptivity and openness. You lay the calculating mind to
rest and allow life to come to you, without reaching out for anything at all
Larry Rosenberg

Some meditators try to step immediately to the stage of non-fashioning without first having
gained the inner sensitivity to cause and effect, action and non-action, that comes from developing
concentration. In practice, though, this doesnt work. Only through that sensitivity can the basic causal
relationships of dependent co-arising and this/that conditionality be discovered. This discovery is needed
to give rise to a sense of dispassion, as one grows more and more disenchanted with the inconstant and
artificial nature of all mental phenomena and develops a strong desire to gain release from them. It is also
needed to uncover the precise point of non-fashioning between becoming and non-becoming where that
release can be found.
Thanissaro Bhikkhu

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 In recent times, however, the Zen schools have been engaging in the practice of silent
illumination, doing nothing but sitting lifelessly like wooden blocks. What, aside from that, do you
suppose they consider their most urgent concern? Well, they whither on about being men of nobility
who have nothing at all to do. They proceed to live up to that self-proclaimed role. Consuming lots of
good rice. Passing day after day in a state of seated sleep
Hakuin Ekaku

Please train yourself thus: In the seen, there will be just the seen. In the heard, there will be just
the heard. In the sensed, there will be just the sensed. In the cognized, there will be just the cognized.
When for you, in the seen there is just the seen, in the heard just the heard, in the sensed just the sensed, in
the cognized just the cognized, then you will not identify with the seen, and so on. And if you do not
identify with them, you will not be located in them; if you are not located in them, there will be no here,
no there, or in-between. And this will be the end of suffering.

In this way he abides contemplating the body as body [feelings as feeling, mind as mind, mind-
objects as mind-objects] internally, or he abides contemplating the body as body externally, or he abides
contemplating the body as a body both internally and externally. Or else he abides contemplating in the
body its arising factors, or he abides contemplating in the body its vanishing factors, or he abides
contemplating in the body both its arising and vanishing factors. Or else mindfulness that there is body
is simply established in him to the extent necessary for bare knowledge and mindfulness.

Shakyamuni Buddha

Nanyueh polishes a tile. (trans. Carl Bielefeldt)

When the Chan master Ta-chi of Chiang-hsi (Mazu, Baso) was studying with the Chan master Ta-
hui of Nan-yueh (Nanyue, Nangaku), after intimately receiving the mind seal, he always sat in meditation.
Once Nan-yueh went to Ta-chi and said, Worthy one, what are you figuring [striving] to do, sitting there
in meditation?
Chiang-hsi said, Im figuring to make a Buddha.
At this point, Nan-yueh took up a tile [brick] and began to rub it on a stone. At length, Ta-chi
asked, Master, what are you doing?
Nan-yueh said, Im polishing this to make a mirror.
Ta-chi said, How can you produce a mirror by polishing a tile?
Nan-yueh replied, How can you make a Buddha by sitting in meditation?
Ta-chi asked, Then, what is right?
Nan-yueh replied, When a man is driving a cart, if the cart doesnt go, should he beat the cart or
beat the ox?
Ta-chi did not reply.
Nan-yueh went on, Are you studying seated meditation or are you studying seated Buddha? If
you are studying seated meditation, meditation is not sitting still. If youre studying seated Buddha,
Buddha is no fixed mark [form]. If youre studying seated Buddha, this is killing [or, kill] Buddha. If
you grasp the mark [form] of sitting, youre not reaching its principle.

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 Nansens Ordinary Mind Is the Way. (trans. Sekida)
Joshu (Zhaozhou) asked Nansen (Nanquan), What is the Way?
Ordinary mind is the Way, Nansen replied.
Shall I try to seek after it? Joshu asked.
If you try for it, you will become separated from it, responded Nansen.
How can I know the Way unless I try for it? persisted Joshu.
Nansen said, The Way is not a matter of knowing or not knowing. Knowing is delusion; not
knowing is confusion. When you have really reached the true Way beyond doubt, you will find it as vast
and boundless as outer space. How can it be talked about on the level of right and wrong?
With these words, Joshu came to a sudden realization.

Yaoshans Non-Thinking. (trans. Loori)

When Yaoshan (Yakusan Igen) was sitting in meditation, a monk asked, What do you think about,
sitting in steadfast composure?
Yaoshan said, I think not-thinking.
The monk said, How do you think not-thinking?
Yaoshan said, Non-thinking.

Key texts for shikantaza class.

Daido Loori, ed.: The Art of Just Sitting

Dogen Zenji: Zazenshin, Fukanzazengi, Zazengi, Bendowa, Zanmai o Zanmai

(various translations available; a few of these are compiled in a pdf file at
www.upaya.org/uploads/pdfs/shikantazanreadergen.pdf)
(for comments on Dogen, we will also look at
Carl Bielefeldts Dogens Manuals of Zen Meditation and
Hee-Jin Kim Dogen on Meditation and Thinking)

Keizan Zenji: Zazen Yojinki (various translations)

Hongzhi: Cultivating the Empty Field (trans. Taigen Dan Leighton)

compiled by Jiryu for Spring 09 shikantaza class

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