Nothing Happens, Everything Happens, Good Happens - REDUX-DUX-DUX

[Jundo]

NEW NEW NEWEST VERSION.
(previously called "What Happens When We Stop Sitting Zazen?" then "Good for Nothing Happens" ... )

Dear All,

I reworked this YET AGAIN before submitting to the magazine. I wanted to emphasize the "Nothing Happens"/"Zen is good for nothing" DOES NOT mean that very good things don't happen as a result of Zazen and Practice (they do!!), nor that we avoid to live gently by the Precepts.

~~~~~

Nothing Happens, Everything Happens, Good Happens

I am often asked what happens when sitting Shikantaza. And also, what happens if we stop? I answer that absolutely "Nothing Happens" when we sit Zazen, nor should we ever even want anything to happen. However, this wonderful "Nothing Happens" is not just something not happening. Nor is "Nothing Happens" our passively letting bad things happen! Absolutely not! Rather, "Just Sitting," free of demand that anything happen to please us, is letting EVERYTHING in the universe JUST HAPPEN! No less, "Nothing Happening" is freedom from greed, anger and other divided thoughts and acts happening, thus a Gateway to Liberation happening.

That's why, when "Nothing Happens" stops happening, then unfortunately, suffering happens! But when "Nothing Happens" truly happens, then happily, many good things happen.

As the great 'Homeless' Kodo Sawaki taught, Shikantaza Zazen is radically "Good for Nothing." Zazen is "Nothing Happens" and "Good for Nothing" because there is nothing to attain from Shikantaza, no score-card, never any goal to reach. There is no reason to sit. There never will be any point in sitting, no aimed for effect or needed purpose. Zazen will earn you no cash, not one red cent. Zazen burns few calories, and does not make you sexy. Shikantaza Zazen does nothing for you, and in fact, one should abandon any hope or wish for gain when sitting. Shikantaza won't cure your cold or save you from the undertaker. In fact, sitting has no middle point and no finish line, even when a bell rings at start and finish.

For that reason, to the uninitiated, Zazen probably makes no sense at all! Why do something that has no pay-off? Perhaps it is mere passivity, letting all the world's terrible things just happen?

Well, the answer to that becomes crystal clear if we consider what starts happening when "Nothing Happens" stops happening:

If we stop sitting this very good something that's "Good for Nothing," then our goal-driven, treadmill running, often frustrated, regretful, worried and judgmental little "self" is ready to fill the void. With the time saved by not sitting, we will have more time to chase life's constantly moving goal posts, ever out of reach and rarely long satisfying even when our greatest desires are attained. We will keep on keeping score in life, obsessively tallying whether we are getting ahead or falling behind where we should be. When we stop sitting this Zazen (in which the reason for sitting is simply sitting, sitting in the total fulfillment of Just Sitting), we can instead spend our day wondering whether human life has any reason at all, and when we will finally feel fulfilled in ours.

Of course, sitting or no sitting, the hands of the clock will keep moving, the calendar pages turning. We will grow old, sick and die someday, whether sitting Zazen or not. If we stop, we will have more minutes available to keep looking in the mirror, vainly checking our waistline and the new wrinkles on our faces. We will have more time to get angry at others. When we give up on the equanimeous, clear "Nothing Happens" mind of Zazen, our skulls can instead regret what happened long ago, wonder about when our life will finally start happening, worry about what may happen tomorrow. Will the future be something bad, or something good on which we might miss out? There are so many places to go, jobs to do and people to see in our day, those freed up hours will free us to go, do and see them.

In other words, what happens, if "Nothing Happens" stops happening, is the suffering for which only "Good for Nothing Happens" can be the cure!

But make no mistake, this "Nothing Happens" is not mere passivity: Sitting without demand that desired things happen, letting the world's Everything Just Happen, DOES NOT means that we should let harmful things just happen. Far from it! "Nothing Happens" means a life untangled from excess desire, hate, jealousy and other divided thoughts happening. When one lets the world Just Happen, but at the same time, lives a life avoiding greed, anger and ignorance happening, then some very, very good things happen!! Greed, anger and other deluded views of division, desire, conflict and friction, are the doorways to suffering. Instead, realization is peace, generosity, and wholeness happening, and our living in such ways gentle happening, by our avoiding bad things to happen, and our making good acts happen, even as we let life happen.

We sit precisely because sitting Shikantaza is beyond all goals to attain, and any scores to keep. We untangle from thoughts, posture stable and breath deep, but the only goal of sitting is sitting, which is thus sitting as all goals attained! It is sitting right here, free of falling ahead or falling behind, and all worry about doing so. Each instant is its own moment of arrival, its goal achieved, its own return home, and every instant of life is known as a new finish line crossed right again. A moment of sitting is whole and complete, a timeless moment, beyond birth and death, sickness and health, any years to measure. This cushion encompasses all the world, leaving no other place to go. There is no "us" which is not "them" to rush to see, not any job left undone in the act of sitting. There is no other moment. We then rise from the cushion and precede to live a gentle way, working for good, avoiding the harmful, getting the good jobs done. Sawaki Roshi's "Zen is Good for Nothing" never meant that Zen is only good for nothing.

It is vital to drop away, to the marrow, any instrumentalist view whatsoever of Zazen as a tool. It is also vital that we live by the Precepts, avoiding excess desires, violence, jealousy and other divided thoughts. Then and only then, this "Good for Nothing" is a treasure of infinite value."Nothing Happens" Zazen is sitting in the radical equanimity of everything just happening, then getting up to make life happen! It is the "Good for Nothing" that leaps through our endless judgements of good vs. bad ... then lives by doing good, avoiding the bad. This is Just Sitting, then doing, illuminating the Emptiness which is never nothing, the Wholeness of "all things" so good!

Yes, Good for Nothing Happens, Everything Happens, so Good Things Happen.

Gassho, J

stlah

[Tairin]

I have a preference for the original. There’s a certain spontaneity and more casual tone to the original. I didn’t find the original confusing or unclear.

That’s just me though.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Bion]

My thought is that the tone should depend on who the intended audience is. Someone who’s been sitting for years knows in their bones that zazen is, as everything else, a condition, or a cause, which means it triggers effects, or sparks other conditions in return. This person knows the benefits of daily sitting and I’m fairly certain would be able to list exactly what is “lost” when one gives up zazen. Some people need to hear that to be reminded. In the opposite direction, the person who is not yet intimate with zazen might misunderstand that the objective is to eventually attain something with the sitting, so they might need the lovely words, about the flowing of the oneness etc. So, I guess, it works, but it depends who it’s addressed to and with what purpose. For me, the way you wrote it, it works.

Sorry for running a little long

[emoji1374] Sat Today lah

[Guest]

I think as is works. I think that all of us need to be reminded no matter how long we have been sitting. It is kind of like an alarm clock. When we go to bed in the evening we know we need to wake up in the morning, but the alarm clock makes sure we do not miss the point. Just like this. Probably why Old Zuigan called and answered himself all of the time...a constant reminder to wake up to this moment, always transparent in everything we do.

Gassho,

Bill (Daiman)

Sat Today

[aprapti]

I have a preference for the original. There’s a certain spontaneity and more casual tone to the original. I didn’t find the original confusing or unclear.

That’s just me though.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

agree

aprapti

sat/lah

[Tai Do]

I liked both versions. Like Bion said, I think this here is best for a Buddhist magazine that have non Soto Zen readers.
Gassho,
Mateus
Satlah

[Tai Shi]

Sitting for 30 min. check the clock 0 min, 10, 8, 2, 10, 30 over, I have checked a clock 4 times, yet in 10 or 30 min or 2, where does 30 go, 30 minutes is 30 minutes, going no where. What happens to my pain? no where, some where. No pain, some pain, no pain/change? Change not. Change.
Gassho
sat/lah

[Jundo]

Okay, you guys get a chance to watch the Zen sausage made. Do you think that all those old classic Koans and legends got done on the first draft? Far from it, it took revision after revision to capture spontaneity! (Really, that's why so many of the old Koans and stories come in so many versions.)

In any case, below is the final final latest version. I think I may have this one as good as I can get it without messing with it more, and mucking it up more. It is really hard to get the "double entendre" meanings and counter-intuitive logic of the whole thing without getting even more tangled.

As always, any input welcomed from our crew of wise folks before I submit to Tricycle tonight ... (apologies for those who are reading this again. Your insights are cherished) ...

~~~~

Good for Nothing Happens

I am often asked what happens when sitting Shikantaza. And what happens if we stop? I answer that absolutely "Nothing Happens" when we sit Zazen, nor should we ever even want anything to happen. However, this wonderful "Nothing Happens" is not just something not happening! Absolutely not. That's why, when "Nothing Happens" stops happening, then unfortunately, suffering happens!

As the great 'Homeless' Kodo Sawaki taught, Shikantaza Zazen is radically "Good for Nothing." Zazen is "Nothing Happens" and "Good for Nothing" because there is nothing to attain from Shikantaza, no score-card, never any goal to reach. There is no reason to sit. There never will be any point in sitting, no aimed for effect or needed purpose. Zazen will earn you no cash, not a farthing or one red cent. Zazen burns few calories, and does not make you sexy. Shikantaza Zazen does nothing for you, and in fact, one should abandon any hope or wish for gain when sitting. Shikantaza won't cure your cold or save you from the undertaker. In fact, sitting has no middle point and no finish line, even when a bell rings at start and finish.

For that reason, to the uninitiated, Zazen probably make no sense at all! Why do something that has no pay-off?

Well, the answer to that becomes crystal clear if we consider what starts happening when "Nothing Happens" stops happening:

If we stop sitting this good something that's "Good for Nothing," then our goal-driven, treadmill running, often frustrated, regretful, worried and judgmental little "self" is ready to fill the void. With the time saved by not sitting, we will have more time to chase life's constantly moving goal posts, ever out of reach and rarely long satisfying even when our greatest desires are attained. We will keep on keeping score in life, obsessively tallying whether we are getting ahead or falling behind where we should be. When we stop sitting this Zazen (in which the reason for sitting is simply sitting in the total fulfillment of Just Sitting), we can instead spend our day wondering whether human life has any reason at all, and when we will finally feel fulfilled in ours.

Of course, sitting or no sitting, the hands of the clock will keep moving, the calendar pages turning. We will grow old, sick and die someday, whether sitting Zazen or not. If we stop, we will have more minutes available to keep looking in the mirror, vainly checking our waistline and the new wrinkles on our faces. When we give up on the equanimious, clear "Nothing Happens" mind of Zazen, our skulls can instead regret what happened long ago, wonder about when our life will finally start happening, worry about what may happen tomorrow. Will the future be something bad, or something good on which we might miss out? There are so many places to go, jobs to do and people to see in our day, those freed up hours will free us to go, do and see them.

In other words, what happens, if "Nothing Happens" stops happening, is the suffering for which only "Good for Nothing Happens" can be the cure!

We sit precisely because sitting Shikantaza is beyond all goals to attain, and any scores to keep. We untangle from thoughts, posture stable and breath deep, but the only goal of sitting is sitting, which is thus sitting as all goals attained! It is sitting right here, free of falling ahead or falling behind, and all worry about doing so. Each instant is its own moment of arrival, its goal achieved, its own return home, and every instant of life is known as a new finish line crossed right again. A moment of sitting is whole and complete, a timeless moment, beyond birth and death, sickness and health, any years to measure. This cushion encompasses all the world, leaving no other place to go. There is no "us" which is not "them" to rush to see, not any job left undone in the act of sitting.

It is vital to drop away, to the marrow, any instrumentalist view whatsoever of Zazen as a tool. Then and only then, this "Good for Nothing" is a Treasure of infinite value, and all the world."Nothing Happens" Zazen is sitting in the radical equanimity of everything just happening! It is the "Good for Nothing" that leaps through our endless judgements of good vs. bad ... illuminating the Emptiness which ain't never nothing, the Wholeness of "no things" so good!

Yes, Good for Nothing Happens.

[Koushi]

The most wonderful thing, this "Nothing Happening," "Good for Nothing," zazen.

Thank you, Jundo.

Gassho,
Koushi
ST

[Bion]

Okay, you guys get a chance to watch the Zen sausage made. Do you think that all those old classic Koans and legends got done on the first draft? Far from it, it took revision after revision to capture spontaneity! (Really, that's why so many of the old Koans and stories come in so many versions.)

In any case, below is the final final latest version. I think I may have this one as good as I can get it without messing with it more, and mucking it up more. It is really hard to get the "double entendre" meanings and counter-intuitive logic of the whole thing without getting even more tangled.

As always, any input welcomed from our crew of wise folks before I submit to Tricycle tonight ... (apologies for those who are reading this again. Your insights are cherished) ...

~~~~

Good for Nothing Happens

I am often asked what happens when sitting Shikantaza. And what happens if we stop? I answer that absolutely "Nothing Happens" when we sit Zazen, nor should we ever even want anything to happen. However, this wonderful "Nothing Happens" is not just something not happening! So, when we quit sitting, what happens is that "Nothing Happens" stops happening, and unfortunately, that ain't nothing!

As the great 'Homeless' Kodo Sawaki taught, Shikantaza Zazen is radically "Good for Nothing." Zazen is "Nothing Happens" and "Good for Nothing" because there is nothing to attain from Shikantaza, no score-card, never any goal to reach. There is no reason to sit. There never will be any point in sitting, no aimed for effect or needed purpose. Zazen will earn you no cash, not a farthing or one red cent. Zazen burns few calories, and does not make you sexy. Shikantaza Zazen does nothing for you, and in fact, one should abandon any hope or wish for gain when sitting. Shikantaza won't cure your cold or save you from the undertaker. In fact, sitting has no middle point and no finish line, even when a bell rings at start and finish.

For that reason, to the uninitiated, Zazen probably make no sense at all! Why do something that has no pay-off?

Well, the answer to that becomes crystal clear if we consider what starts happening when "Nothing Happens" stops happening:

If we stop sitting this good something that's "Good for Nothing," then our goal-driven, treadmill running, often frustrated, regretful, worried and judgmental little "self" is ready to fill the void. With the time saved by not sitting, we will have more time to chase life's constantly moving goal posts, ever out of reach and rarely long satisfying even when our greatest desires are attained. We will keep on keeping score in life, obsessively tallying whether we are getting ahead or falling behind where we should be. When we stop sitting this Zazen (in which the reason for sitting is simply sitting in the total fulfillment of Just Sitting), we can instead spend our day wondering whether human life has any reason at all, and when we will finally feel fulfilled in ours.

Of course, sitting or no sitting, the hands of the clock will keep moving, the calendar pages turning. We will grow old, sick and die someday, whether sitting Zazen or not. If we stop, we will have more minutes available to keep looking in the mirror, vainly checking our waistline and the new wrinkles on our faces. When we give up on the equanimious, clear "Nothing Happens" mind of Zazen, our skulls can instead regret what happened long ago, wonder about when our life will finally start happening, worry about what may happen tomorrow. Will the future be something bad, or something good on which we might miss out? There are so many places to go, jobs to do and people to see in our day, those freed up hours will free us to go, do and see them.

In other words, what happens, if "Nothing Happens" stops happening, is the suffering for which only "Good for Nothing Happens" can be the cure!

We sit precisely because sitting Shikantaza is beyond all goals to attain, and any scores to keep. We untangle from thoughts, posture stable and breath deep, but the only goal of sitting is sitting, which is thus sitting as all goals attained! It is sitting right here, free of falling ahead or falling behind, and all worry about doing so. Each instant is its own moment of arrival, its goal achieved, its own return home, and every instant of life is known as a new finish line crossed right again. A moment of sitting is whole and complete, a timeless moment, beyond birth and death, sickness and health, any years to measure. This cushion encompasses all the world, leaving no other place to go. There is no "us" which is not "them" to rush to see, not any job left undone in the act of sitting.

"Nothing Happening" Zazen is sitting in the radical equanimity of everything just happening! It is the "Good for Nothing" that leaps through our endless judgements of good vs. bad ... illuminating the Emptiness which ain't never nothing, the Wholeness of "no things" so good!

Yes, Good for Nothing Happens.

A big big YES to this version for me. Beautifully put and explained… I doubt someone could not feel inspired to sit zazen after reading this.

[emoji1374] Sat

[Tairin]

I am often asked what happens when sitting Shikantaza. And what happens if we stop? I answer that absolutely "Nothing Happens" when we sit Zazen, nor should we ever even want anything to happen. However, this wonderful "Nothing Happens" is not just something not happening! So, when we quit sitting, what happens is that "Nothing Happens" stops happening, and unfortunately, that ain't nothing!

I think you may cause some cranial whiplash with your introductory paragraph

I like this version. It is different again than the other two. Since you spent most of the article describing what happens when not Nothing Happens there’s a weird double negative going on through out which was kind of neat and keeps the reader (or at least this reader) on their toes.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Tairin]

Side note……. Mmmmmm Zen Sausage!

[Tai Do]

I second Bion and Tairin. The best version of the three.
Gassho,
Mateus
Satlah

[vanbui]

Beautifully written, Jundo.
Shikantaza is the answer for our endless desires.

Much gassho,

Van
Satlah

Sent from my SM-G998B using Tapatalk

[aprapti]

thank you, Jundo. This third version helps me..


aprapti

sat/lah