BOOK OF EQUANIMITY - Case 93

[Nengyoku]

I will add my voice to this lovely din.

The storehouse treasure is not a treasure to be found or had. It is just simply our present existence, our innate goodness.
In the world of division and choosing, it is hard to see this treasure, to realize it is right here in every piece of existence.

So then, what is Shikantaza to this?
Shikantaza is the time of setting aside all this division and choosing. Taking a moment, or two, to just be with what is. All the division and clamor of the world dropping away, and revealing what was always revealed.
I often think to myself, "How can a world so beautiful be full of so much ugly, violent hate?" But maybe, just maybe, the beautiful and the ugly can both fall away into the flowing seamlessness of radical equanimity. Maybe this treasure that is our own innate goodness is part of that flowing seamlessness.
And so all that ugly is also innately good. Just a little twisted up in this exact moment.

Shikantaza is just setting aside division.
The treasury is the person who you revile the most. And the treasure is still inside of them. Setting aside that division is just how to see what is already there.

Gassho,
Nengyoku
SatLah

P.S.
I know in these bookclubs we don't really enforce the two sentences rules, but I still feel like I used too many words here, and I apologize for that.
I was going to cut it, but I'm going to leave my inane ramblings as they are. In the off chance that part of the bit I cut might help someone some day and that help be lost if I cut it.

[Koriki]

Jundo's explanation of the Storehouse is interesting. It reminds me of a box full of momentos and photos that also holds the Jewel. In the midst of searching for the Jewel it's easy to get distracted by each item and to quickly forget why you even opened the box as you get lost in thought. But the more you can see each item, acknowledge it, and be able to set it aside the more ability you will have to find the Jewel. A very familiar process.

Gassho,
Mark

sat today

[Michael Joseph]

Poor Roso: he's just like me, always tangled up in the expedient means instead of walking through, always looking at the finger instead of the moon. I "know" what the "jewel" points to--or what it's supposed to point to--but I have a difficult time realizing that I'm the one shining and all things are shining with me. Shikantaza is letting go of the "knowing" and accepting (or trying to accept) that what we search for is what is doing the searching. Thank you for the question.

Gassho,

Hobun

Sat today.

[Kiri]

It's really hard to see this hidden Jewel stitched insight our lives. Even when one sees, it usually feels far and unreachable. Sometimes I am even tempted to choose the steak over the Jewel!
So, we sit shikantaza.

Gassho, Kiri
Sat/lah

[Gareth]

Oneness and equanimity is the treasure - always there but only found by radical non seeking.

Gassho,
Gareth

Sat today, Lah

[Kenku]

I think you need some special skill in language to respond to this. Everything I say seems to miss what I mean. Nevertheless, the word that comes to mind is embodiment. Shikantaza is embodiment of the treasure. Being.

Sat and lah.