(A response to Dosho Port and his article: https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/zen-...A2fqJICx9vGuL8)
Kensho, "Seeing the Nature" is said to be beyond words, and yet (said Katagiri Roshi) we often gotta say something. Thus, let us speak of a dropping away of the divisions of self and other, me you and all things, where all is whole, all pours in and out of all else, each and every fully hold each and all, and then we get up to dance. One could speak of our sitting on the throne of the universe, but this throne is shared with every other creature, grain of sand, star, rusty tin can and old bloody bandage in the universe. Better than "Seeing the Nature," 見性 is "Seeingnature" or "Natureseeing," or "sEeNaTuRiNg," as there is no separation of the seen and seer, even as we continue to live in this world of seers and things seen, me and you, stars and bloody bandages.
Realizing this "NAtseeuriNG" is vital in Soto and all Zen traditions, not only in the sense of having some experience or taste of such, but in then getting up off our asses and leaving the Zen garden, thus to "realize" this in the world by making it real in the living of life.
In the Rinzai and mixed traditions, one way (not all do this, but many) to experience such is to push push push on a Koan phrase, winding oneself up like a tightly wound spring which, when it suddenly pops and unwinds, may leave one momentarily or for some period of time with an experience of the self dropped away. It works, it is a great path for many and is to be honored and celebrated. Of course, it can also push some into psychosis, be as dangerous as crashing one's head repeatedly against a brick wall and, frankly, I think that folks who overemphasize these one time passing moments of Kensho miss the point. Truly, if you examine closely the people who claim to have had such experiences, many (not everyone, but many) don't seem particularly wise or peaceful due to such experiences. Often, they (not everyone, but many) seek to recreate the experience, or continue their hunger to push on for the next insight or brass ring. Master Dogen was very critical of such attitudes toward Kensho, writing, "The essence of the Buddha-Dharma is never seeing the nature (Kensho)." (Shizen-Bikkhu) On the other hand, it is a great path for those others who do find their way there, so to each their own. Furthermore, the Soto way can often fall into complacency, sitting just to relax, twiddling one's thumbs. Neither way is perfect, each is perfectly what it is. One person digs rock & roll, another goes country, both great musical ways.
But that does not mean that "Arte Unseeing" (a lovely anagram of "seeing nature") ain't vital in Soto too, for our way is to sit and be AS the nature, AS the Seeing, As the Buddha's Eye and all seen within this Buddha's Realm, including the sacred, glorious rusty tin cans. Our way of going about this, however, is a bit counter-intuitive, the very opposite of the push push push. I sometimes compare what we do to those trick Chinese finger cuffs. Remember those?
You pull and you pull, thinking you must escape or obtain something ... and the cuffs just tighten. However, completely give up, relax, stop trying ... and you slip right out. Well, the way to relax and be still is not to try to "relax and be still" ... but to release, relax and be still. Let it be, let it go ... We sit in Non-pursuit, right to the bottom of the bottomless sea. Notice that "non pursuit" is not complacent, giving up, "not pursuing." Rather, it is radical, to the marrow, dropping away of all need either to pursue or not pursue in its grand equanimity, at home right here, neither chasing nor running away.
We are not seeking a particular state of awareness in Shikantaza. Neither are we sitting and twiddling our thumbs. Rather, one is sitting as a Buddha Sitting, honoring all that is, no other place in need of going, the whole universe pouring in and out of right here and this sitting. Sitting is Reginae Tunes itself! (I love these Kensho anagrams!
) Of course, sometimes such states will come, sometimes they will not come. We just move on, seeking nothing by not seeking ... thus finding everything. You see, it is the little "self" that needs, feels "lack," wants to "get" somewhere other than where it is, cannot be still. It hungers for special states, and compares these "special states" with the rest of the world as if all of it ... even the cans and bandages ... were not sacred and special too. Thus, to just "Sit Just to Sit" Zazen without seeking to find ... puts the "self" out of a job, body-mind dropped away.Now, sometimes it is a softening of the borders of self and all the world, and sometimes it is a more radical dropping in which all differentiation of self and other, this thing and that, may fall away. Sometimes, over long practice, one may realize that one's bones have become as soaked with this wisdom, gradually over time, as if one had passed through a waterfall in a moment. So gradual, we may not notice that our gown is gathering dew, becoming as wet as the ocean with time. For others, it comes at once - just as wet.
And, you know, every so often, the heavens do open and the angels sing too!
(The recent article by Dosho seemed to completely miss this point.
)Thus, JUST SIT! ...
... for this JUST SITTING is Ange Reunites, Argentine Sue, Autre Engines and Genia Tenures too.
Gassho, J
STLah
Sorry to run long
I defined Kensho in my essay, and Satori is basically a generally word for awakening ... which can have may meanings depending on who one is asking. I define Satori as I wrote above in my essay, but in Soto Zen it is also how one brings this to life in one's way of living life. Thus, we speak of "practice-realization" or "practice-enlightenment."
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