In “Just Sitting” Zazen Practice, we learn to take life like the weather … Whatever comes, comes. Sunny days just sunny, rainy days just rainy. Let them just be.
Thus, we practice sitting on the cushion with energy, dedication and effort … all while dropping all goals, dropping all need to attain, dropping all judgments, dropping all resistance. Each moment on the cushion is complete, sacred, a perfect act, with not one thing to add, not one thing to take away. What is attained thereby is non-attaining.
And in this way, we encounter a way to live with energy, dedication, striving, moving forward in life … all without need to attain. Taking all as it comes, yet taking the corrective and preventive measure that need to be taken anyway. Action and stillness, resistance yet not resisting all at once. No separation from life, just as it is. Each moment of life is complete, sacred, with not one thing to add, not one thing to take away … even when not as we think it “should be“, even as we work to make better what needs to be made better.
There is no bad Zazen, not even the “bad” Zazen, when the mind is filled with storming clouds of thoughts and emotions. There is no Zazen that is incomplete, there is no hole in life to fill, even though we turn again and again to letting the thoughts and emotions drift from mind.
There is no bad weather, even the “bad” weather. The rain is just the rain … the sunshine, just the sunshine … even though we might desire one more than the other. We can put on our boots, seek shelter, even while letting the rain just pour down, sometimes soaking us to the bone. Acceptance, letting the drops just fall, and running for cover to get out of the storm, all at once as one!
In this way, there is no aspect of life that is incomplete, although there are many things about it we may wish to to change, wish were otherwise, must work to repair. Acceptance and wish for change, allowing while simultaneously not allowing, being still in heart while also working hard for change, all at once as one!
When sick we just let our sickness rain down, yet simultaneously see our doctors and take the medicine. When encountering war our heart is still, yet we work for peace nonetheless. If seeing injustice in the world, we are free of a need for change ... yet strive for change we do.
This is the taste of life … complete even when not as we desire … that we can learn to taste in Shikantaza Zazen.
Sunny days just sunny, rainy days just rainy. But in the latter case, while open to getting soaked to the bone, nevertheless grab yourself an umbrella if you can.
Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 15 to 35 minutes is recommended.
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