No Obstacles to Zazen. Period.

[Jundo]

A friend wrote to say that, recently, work worries and other worries come rushing into his head during Zazen and are an obstacle to Zazen. For others, it might be health worries, family worries, things in the news, or just a barking dog or noisy neighbor, spinning one around emotionally. Each seem to interfere with calm and quiet Zazen.

However, I would insist, there are no obstacles to Zazen. None. Impossible. Period.

Better said, the only obstructions to Zazen exist between the ears.

Only when we think that there are obstacles to Zazen, or judge something an obstruction to Zazen, are there then obstacles to Zazen.

When we drop all thought that anything is an obstacle to Zazen, then there are no obstacles to Zazen at all.

Suppose one is sitting in a hurricane with a crying hungry baby, in the middle of a war zone with financial worries and the house on fire. The storm has our heart a flutter, the war might take our life any minute, bankruptcy looms, the fire needs quenching and the baby needs feeding ... all while there is Zazen to sit.

While the order of priority and concern is to be determined (probably best to deal with the fire first), and some things are truly more pressing than others or even life threatening ... remember that ALL are Zazen! Zazen is not solely the sitting.

So, though the war may take your life, and it is best to seek shelter, by knowing the peace beyond life and death, one "just sits" even on a battlefield! Such is the ultimate shelter.

The storm may blow, so board up the windows ... then sit, with the wind passing through one as thoughts pass through one, like storms that come and go.

Flee the burning house, grab a bucket ... then bow to the ashes and sit. Your house may be cinders, but there is this which is always cool when the heart is cool.

Bankruptcy may loom ... so scramble for your next meal ... yet know this treasure which cannot be lost nor ever gained.

Oh, and don't forget to feed the baby ... for holding her in your intwined arms is just the same as intwined Lotus legs.

Situations and conditions exist in the world, but our reaction to those situations and conditions is up to us, a matter between the ears. Even when our heart is aflutter with worry and fear, grief or longing ... bow to the worry, fear, grief and longing ... and sit.

When the heart drops resistance, preference for "something better," the wish that things were any way other than just as they are ... there are no obstacles to Zazen, never were and never could be.

Gassho, Jundo
stlah
.

image.png

[Jundo]

To someone who misunderstands my words as a call for "spiritual bypassing," I wrote this ...
~~~~
You misunderstand the point of Shikantaza. As I say, we cannot control worry and fear, grief or longing ... yet one can bow to worry and fear, grief or longing as they come and go like a storm. One can be at home with the fact that we sometimes run in terror, shitting our pants. Cortisol and adrenaline flood the bloodstream like rain falls and lightning flashes ... and we witness the flood, flow and flash. When running from the tiger, there is not an inch of room to think of anything but the tiger ... and yet a light peaks through the cracks of our terror.

I did not say to sit while the house burns and baby starves. You did not read my words. I said to grab a bucket, feed the baby ... then, if the house is reduced to cinders, sit with the cinders. Of course, sit with the grief of one's lost house. Each tear that falls down one's face also reflects the light of the moon. Sit with a cradled baby, feeding the baby, as if the Lotus Posture.

Nobody is speaking of unshakeable calmness. However, there is an Unshakeable Peace that holds all calm (small c) and tears (small t), all the bloody and broken pieces of this life. You seem to think in only "one or the other" terms, although this non-dual path is "Not Two" in suffering and not suffering at once. How to explain?

A few years ago, I had cancer and, as I lay in my hospital bed, was sometimes terrorized with fear of death, worry for my family, loneliness and the rest. Then, suddenly, in Shikantaza in that bed, there was nothing to fear, no death (no birth either), not the least separation. I would move back and forth between fear and the fearless. Then, suddenly, I realized that such was not two, and one can know both at once, as one. In treatment, I would sometimes vomit and was absolutely miserable, yet a light shined through the misery ... darkness as light, light as darkness.

It is hard to explain to folks who think in "either/or" terms. You think in purely psychological terms, not mystical terms. When you have practiced with this a bit more, I hope it becomes clear to you.

Gassho, J
stlah

[billvw]

Better said, the only obstructions to Zazen exist between the ears.

image.png

What great advice. I also recall you saying in one of your videos that there is no bad zazen. As long as we are doing zazen, that's all that matters. Somedays we can sit for long periods in deep meditation, sometimes we do all we can to keep our head above the water, but its all still zazen.

Thank you for sharing this.

Gassho,
Bill VanderWerp

[Jundo]

What great advice. I also recall you saying in one of your videos that there is no bad zazen. As long as we are doing zazen, that's all that matters. Somedays we can sit for long periods in deep meditation, sometimes we do all we can to keep our head above the water, but its all still zazen.

Thank you for sharing this.

Gassho,
Bill VanderWerp

That's right. And somewhere in there we discover something which shines through all it, deep or not, above or under water, always here.

Gassho, Jundo
stlah

[Kanshin]

Thank you, Jundo Roshi!

What you wrote made me think about something.

I understand the example with the burning house and the hungry baby: first you put out the fire and feed the baby. And I also understand the point that, when the house is gone, we can sit with the ashes and with the grief.

What I wonder about is where the line is between acting to improve the conditions of our life and radically accepting things as they are.

If the fire is out but the house is destroyed, do we first sit with the ashes and then start cleaning them? Or do we clean the ashes first and then sit? And when there is still something we can realistically do to improve a situation, how do we know when it is time to stop trying?

Maybe the difficult point is exactly this: when does trying to change things become resistance to reality, and when does “acceptance” simply become an excuse for not acting?

It seems to me that these are not really two separate stages. Action and acceptance somehow feed each other. We act where we can, while at the same time accepting what we cannot change. But in real life the line is not always clear.

Maybe this is one of those places where the Way needs some little “signposts”, even if they are not always easy to see.

So I wonder how you see this: how do we recognize the moment when it is time to keep acting, and the moment when it is time to stop trying to change things and simply sit with reality as it is?

Gassho,
Kanshin
stlah

[Hokuu]

Kanshin Yes, this seems like an old question the wise of the past tried to tackle but didn't offer a satisfactory answer. I guess it's about a person becoming wiser over time and "just knowing" what's better in every situation.


satlah

[Jundo]

Hi Kanshin,

These are fascinating questions, and I have come to this view over the years:

First, I believe that Dogen, most of the old masters, and the Buddha himself were actually "doers" who were rather "movers and shakers." I mean, they did not just sit around (although there was time to sit), but built things ... communities of hundreds of people, huge monastery complexes, with complex organizations involving feeding and financing all of that! They taught, they travelled, they studied, they left us words that fill books ... so not exactly lazy do-nothings!

In fact, I think that human beings are meant to be builders and planners, which is why we don't just stay in bed all day, and first crawled out of a cave and discovered fire, then went to the moon! In fact, the vast majority of early Buddhist, and then Chinese and Japanese Zen, lay followers were leaders, merchants, lords and land owners ... not exactly unambitious folks!

So, where is the line? It is case by case, but basically involves asking if something healthy is being built, or something harmful. Are we consuming (building, eating, buying) to excess, much like eating and a little social white wine might be healthful, but gluttony and addiction is not! Where is the line? Ya know it when ya see it. Also, we can (1) work goals while (2) being moderate, not being prisoners of our goals and their ends, and also (3) fully content and free of all goals AT ONCE. Yes, the Zen fellow can be (1) (2) AND (3) in the same instant!

There is a time to accept and just rest, doing nothing. There is a time to do while accepting! I cannot tell you which is which, as it depends ... you need to judge by your own heart. However, do not wallow and become a prisoner of any of it! Even "doing nothing" can be an addiction for some. Moderation is important: We all need food and shoes, but maybe not 5000 calories a day and 50 pairs of shoes. However, only you know where to draw the line.

So, I don't know whether to sit then sweep ashes, or sweep then sit, but one had better set to work finding shelter! (In fact, Eiheiji and so many Asian temples burn down every couple of hundred years, so this is not a "what if" speculation.)

Gassho, J
STLAH

PS - Right now I am getting ready for the release of my new book, I am building a mini-golf course (the only one) in my city, and I have studied guitar each evening for the last 5 months without a miss. I do other stuff too. I also find time to sit each day. I also consider all of it Zazen in wider meaning, and try not to be a prisoner of any of it.