"JUST THIS!" ... ain't just "just this"

[Jundo]

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It's often said about Shikantaza Zazen ... "just sit." We are encouraged to encounter the world as "just what is" and "just this."

But sometimes people misunderstand this "just" just a bit, including maybe many teachers. They may feel or accidently imply that "just" just means something like, "just this, and that's it, nothing more" or "just sit here and wait around" or "just take it as it comes" or "just sit on your rump like a lump."

But that is not the import of this "Just Sit" which is, truly, JUST SIT! (say that with some Oomph!)
This JUST THIS! leaves nothing out, and "JUST WHAT IS" means nothin' ain't just whatever!

It is true that we had best sit Zazen in equanimity, allowing conditions, putting down judgements, untangled from passing thoughts, not stirring up or wallowing in emotions. We find the most stable and balanced posture we can, let the breath come and go. That is all essential to the art of Zazen.

However, I often say that something more is required than mere "equanimity" and "allowing" if those just mean some kind of passive, detached numbness and "I quit" resignation, or some time measured sitting which kills some time, that confuses being unburdened from judgements with "I just don't give a damn."

Thus, just what is missing?

JUST SIT! JUST THIS! JUST WHAT IS! are much grander than that, and Just Sitting is truly sitting on a Buddha's throne (cushion) under the Bodhi Tree, the summit of summits, the world and all time spinning on from this still-still axis point, open boundlessly to all directions, all complete with nothing lacking just by this sitting, with not one other act in need of doing, no other place to be. Nothing is lacking. I say that our sitting calls for radical equanimity because, rather than mere impartiality or tolerating of present conditions, one is merged AS all conditions ... while each thing, being and moment of time (whether welcome or unwelcome) shows itself each and all a shining jewel. This is simply sacred, miraculous, sitting simply to be sitting here, and our sitting is the Whole World Sitting, the Buddhas and Ancestors sitting with our very back and backside. Yesterday, today and tomorrow, all the ups and downs, are expressed Just Here, Just This Timeless Moment that is ... just the Whole Show. We are not just flowing along with life and the universe, let alone are we just letting them flow by us (sometimes sweeping us away) ... but instead we and all are Just the Flow ... just flowing, flowing, flowing on ...

Wondrous!

Even so, such does not mean that fireworks will go off (sometimes they might.) Rather, even the ordinary, dull, tedious and troubling proves to be extra-ordinary for all its ordinariness! (That's why I call this little essay "ain't just 'just this'" rather than "ain't just this" ... because JUST THIS! is everything, including just this, that, and the other things, no matter how unspecial. All is special! Both the beautiful as well as the ugly and every in between JUST SHINES gloriously.)

One must sit ... JUST SIT! ... with just such feeling and faith subtly burning deep in one's bones as one sits.

Even if one does not feel so yet or always, nonetheless ALWAYS sit with such fact taken as faith. Trust that such is so, even when unseen. Remember that the moon is always present, whether seen with the eye or not.

JUST THIS! is truly JUST EVERYTHING! ... JUST WHAT IS! ... SO, just what need for more?

Gassho, J
stlah

[Bob-Midwest]

Been sitting on how to respond to this post and well, here I go, carefully, clearly, respectfully and humbly in search for some feedback.
The more words I read about Shikantaza Zazen the more I question what I am doing and doubts thus arise.
While I appreciate and am drawn to what I call Zen doublespeak and it's ability to override rationale thinking, it feels overused and I question that. Whether one believes in a God, original mind or whatever, I have a tough time believing access is so complicated and thus out of reach to most, including me. Where is the compassion, naturalness of such an approach?
Why isn't access to what is, which I assume is our goalless goal (don't get me going on that one) not clearer, easier and thus accessible to all and it seems not judging by the numbers? If the choice is being part of some privileged path or suffering, how can anyone with heart choose to leave the masses behind with a convenient believe that it benefits all ultimately? Tough sell to those of all generations who continue to suffer horribly.

bob
sat/lah

[Tensei]

I read an interesting line from Norman Fischer and Susan Moon's "What is Zen?" that I think is relevant to your thoughts:

"To some extent the apparent opacity of Zen texts has to do with this: the intention of the text is not to be understood in the usual sense (to grasp ideas) but rather to be felt, lived and digested."

Practice is realization. I don't think access is complicated, but I do think it takes skillful application of the eightfold path. Shikantaza is the ultimate expression of reality: just this, experiencing life without the filters of discriminatory thinking and separation, without our preconceived and conditioned notions.

Compassion lies in the inherit connection between all things - nothing and no one is left behind. When you sit, you sit with everyone and everything: past, present, future; from Dogen back to Shakyamuni; with the rocks outside your house to distant stars and the edge of the universe. It's hard not to want to share your glimpse of that compassion with others.

Please take the above with a generous dash of salt - I'm still quite a novice in my practice and understanding, and have quite a bit more digestion to do.

Gassho,
Tensei
satlah

[Bob-Midwest]

I read an interesting line from Norman Fischer and Susan Moon's "What is Zen?" that I think is relevant to your thoughts:

"To some extent the apparent opacity of Zen texts has to do with this: the intention of the text is not to be understood in the usual sense (to grasp ideas) but rather to be felt, lived and digested."

Practice is realization. I don't think access is complicated, but I do think it takes skillful application of the eightfold path. Shikantaza is the ultimate expression of reality: just this, experiencing life without the filters of discriminatory thinking and separation, without our preconceived and conditioned notions.

Compassion lies in the inherit connection between all things - nothing and no one is left behind. When you sit, you sit with everyone and everything: past, present, future; from Dogen back to Shakyamuni; with the rocks outside your house to distant stars and the edge of the universe. It's hard not to want to share your glimpse of that compassion with others.

Please take the above with a generous dash of salt - I'm still quite a novice in my practice and understanding, and have quite a bit more digestion to do.

Gassho,
Tensei
satlah

Thanks.
I too am clearly a novice after decades of sitting.
bob sat/lah

[Shujin]

Why isn't access to what is, which I assume is our goalless goal (don't get me going on that one) not clearer, easier and thus accessible to all and it seems not judging by the numbers? If the choice is being part of some privileged path or suffering, how can anyone with heart choose to leave the masses behind with a convenient believe that it benefits all ultimately? Tough sell to those of all generations who continue to suffer horribly.

I respect your post, Bob, and had a question (along with a comment):

In your practice, where do you feel that you're leaving people behind?

I don't find shikantaza inaccessible or difficult, just that it isn't for everyone. My wife is wonderful, patient woman. She is also more stereotypically Zen than I ever will be. She's known about this practice since we've been together, it just doesn't interest her. She's a Methodist Christian, and that's what resonates with her life.

Gassho,
Shujin

[Bob-Midwest]

I respect your post, Bob, and had a question (along with a comment):

In your practice, where do you feel that you're leaving people behind?

I don't find shikantaza inaccessible or difficult, just that it isn't for everyone. My wife is wonderful, patient woman. She is also more stereotypically Zen than I ever will be. She's known about this practice since we've been together, it just doesn't interest her. She's a Methodist Christian, and that's what resonates with her life.

Gassho,
Shujin

Hello.
Don’t feel I’m personally leaving anyone behind. Concern is this and other contemplative approaches are so complex, confusing they leave most behind. Doesn’t seem the way to me and wonder how much we “inside” contribute, prolong that belief.
Just seems waking up should be simpler and accessible to all equally.

[Bion]

Hello.
Don’t feel I’m personally leaving anyone behind. Concern is this and other contemplative approaches are so complex, confusing they leave most behind. Doesn’t seem the way to me and wonder how much we “inside” contribute, prolong that belief.
Just seems waking up should be simpler and accessible to all equally.

I'd argue, Bob, that what is actually difficult is letting go of the attempt to intellectually contain awakening or sitting practice. The more we try to explain it, the less clear it becomes. We call it practice-verification because the practice is verified as true and complete through engaging in it, not through explaining it.

I don't think we can contain shikantaza in concepts any more than we can contain the experience of happiness or love. The more I try to explain what it means to be happy, the more I complicate it. To define it is not to live it.
So, if you find that too many words blur things for you, simply trust the experience for a while. Give yourself a bit more credit—you are inherently as awakened as anyone.

gassho
sat lah

[Jundo]

While I appreciate and am drawn to what I call Zen doublespeak and it's ability to override rationale thinking, it feels overused and I question that. Whether one believes in a God, original mind or whatever, I have a tough time believing access is so complicated and thus out of reach to most, including me. Where is the compassion, naturalness of such an approach?
Why isn't access to what is, which I assume is our goalless goal (don't get me going on that one) not clearer, easier and thus accessible to all and it seems not judging by the numbers? If the choice is being part of some privileged path or suffering, how can anyone with heart choose to leave the masses behind with a convenient believe that it benefits all ultimately? Tough sell to those of all generations who continue to suffer horribly.

Well, I would first note that, sorry, many things in life and in understanding reality are a little bit tricky: Nuclear physics, sports archery, ballroom dancing, French cooking, learning to speak French ... all take a bit of special understanding, practice and skill, and not something for anyone to pick up in 5 minutes. Second, Zen did wonders in simplifying the Path and making it quickly realizable ... especially since much of Buddhism said it would take countless lifetimes. Third, not everyone got Zen through the centuries ... so, for those wanting something a little simpler ... they could chant to Amida or the like, which is also a good path.

At the heart of our practice is medicine to defeat the diseases that plague the "masses" in their common delusion, greed, anger and divided thinking. We are seeking to tame human nature, going against "common sense" ways of thinking sometimes. That is why it has to be subtle and tricky quite often, especially in its use of language.

Finally, frankly, I don't think what we practice here, and the central message, is really so hard at all. It may be a bit more subtle than just "sit there, breathe, let thoughts go." However, explaining the need to see the wholeness of sitting, that it is vital to sit with the attitude of "there is nothing more to do right now, no other place to be right now" ... What is so hard to understand about that?

Gassho, Jundo
stlah

[Bob-Midwest]

I'd argue, Bob, that what is actually difficult is letting go of the attempt to intellectually contain awakening or sitting practice. The more we try to explain it, the less clear it becomes. We call it practice-verification because the practice is verified as true and complete through engaging in it, not through explaining it.

I don't think we can contain shikantaza in concepts any more than we can contain the experience of happiness or love. The more I try to explain what it means to be happy, the more I complicate it. To define it is not to live it.
So, if you find that too many words blur things for you, simply trust the experience for a while. Give yourself a bit more credit—you are inherently as awakened as anyone.

gassho
sat lah

This is both helpful and kind.
Thank you.
bob
sat, lah

[Jundo]

I don't think we can contain shikantaza in concepts any more than we can contain the experience of happiness or love. The more I try to explain what it means to be happy, the more I complicate it. To define it is not to live it.

It has to be middle way here: If one is just lost in words and philosophizing, it is a dead practice, like simply talking about love or swimming without falling in love or jumping in the water.

If one just sits on the cushion without direction in both words and acts, things tend to be misunderstood or spin off in strange directions guided by our ignorance. That's something like grabbing the controls of a plane without a flying lesson.

So, as Katagiri Roshi said famously, "Ya gotta say something!"

Gassho, J
stlah

[Ekai]

I respect your post, Bob, and had a question (along with a comment):

In your practice, where do you feel that you're leaving people behind?

I don't find shikantaza inaccessible or difficult, just that it isn't for everyone. My wife is wonderful, patient woman. She is also more stereotypically Zen than I ever will be. She's known about this practice since we've been together, it just doesn't interest her. She's a Methodist Christian, and that's what resonates with her life.

Gassho,
Shujin

Shujin,

I think it's wonderful you have a marriage where both parties have different religions with respect for each other's chosen path. It's inspiring.

Gassho,
Ekai

SAT/LAH