The point of Shikantaza-based Zen practice...

Re: The point of Shikantaza-based Zen practice...

I strongly believe in the value of dialogue and debate, and in the simple power of presenting a different point of view, a different vision of how things can be, which people can then take or leave.

People have been exposed to these grand ideas for millenia and they have been ignoring them for nearly as long. The views have been presented and should continue to be expressed, but as soon as you get pissed, depressed, or upset that people aren't listening - you're saying 'no' to the way the world is.

Zen is a religion of last resort. People only resort to Zen after they begin to see that attempts to create a 'better' situation don't vanquish suffering.

Opposition validates the value-structure upon which the behavior you oppose relies.

"What at this very moment is missing?" - Lin Chi

[will]

Re: The point of Shikantaza-based Zen practice...

[But] I must mention one caution: in the Zen tradition, we often hear expressions such as “suchness” and “accept things as they are.” While these statements are true, they may be a bit misleading. There is an unspoken, underlying truth that things are changing moment by moment. Accepting suchness does not mean that no effort is necessary on your part. A spinning top appears to be stationary, despite being in motion. It is precisely this motion that keeps the top suspended upright. In much the same way, the man of buji is the busiest man, as he needs to change himself and improve himself moment by moment. This is the significance of our practice.

Note: If intellectualized a certain way, for ego "everything is perfect as it is", can become a justification for bad habits, craving, greed and complacency.

Gassho

[Jundo]

Re: The point of Shikantaza-based Zen practice...

Hi Guys,

Usually, the term "Buji Zen" is not used these days in a positive sense. Here is a typical sampling ...

Buji Zen - False zen practice. Those who rationalize "since Buddha-Nature is intrinsically with us, there is no need to practice Zazen", neglecting all the effort needed to overthrow delusion.

http://www.maximumbliss.com/zen%20dictionary.asp

[Jundo Note]

The first kind of sickness is sometimes called buji Zen. Buji means “nothing matters;” an “everything-is-OK” kind of Zen. The second sickness is the belief or attitude that we need to practice in order to attain enlightenment as some kind of fancy experience, after which everything becomes OK — that we have no problems at all after such an enlightened experience. This is the belief that, at a point, we become so-called enlightened persons.

These are two basic sicknesses in Zen practice, according to Dogen.

http://www.sanshinji.org/Sp04.shtml

So, we have to work very diligently to sit every day, and strive with great effort, all to realize that there is nothing to attain ... It is the way of effortless effort. We must aim carefully for the goalless goal!

Being the "Buddha" all along, and having not a thing about you that is in need of change ... that does not mean you don't have some work to do to realize truly that you are the Buddha without need of change. To realize that you are never, from the outset, in need of change is a VERY BIG CHANGE! There is absolutely nothing about you and the universe (not two) to add or take away, and tasting that there is "nothing to add" is an important addition!

And how do you realize that non-realization?

By Just sitting to-the-marrow, radically dropping all goals, judgments, attempts to get somewhere or to achieve some realization. That gets you somewhere, and a revolutionary realization!

Get how that goes? :shock:

Only then might one perhaps know "Buji" in its positive meaning ... such as here [from Eido Shimano Roshi, phrased with a bit of RInzai spice] ...

I would like to mention that the most important teaching of Master Rinzai is buji. This term appears more than twenty times in The Book of Rinzai, but there is no English word that reflects exactly what buji expresses.

Bu means no or negation. Ji is event, matter, action, phenomenon, affair, or thing. Literally, buji means to negate all ji. What does that mean? Life is ji. Getting old is ji. Sickness is ji. Passing away is also ji. In fact, from morning to night, we are ji itself. We have a tendency to think that by doing various practices (ji), we can reach a point where delusions disappear and there is nothing further to seek. This view is a deception. How could reality be altered by practice? Yet you may ask, if buji implies doing nothing, then why do we have to practice? Isn’t “doing nothing,” in the usual passive sense of the phrase, enough? At the same time, isn’t our very being one of ji? And isn’t our very being the source of all our problems and suffering? Can we negate or transcend our own limited being?

When we completely realize the true nature of the universe, what seems to be ji is in fact none other than buji. There is nothing to do, no matter how hard we try. From a slightly different perspective, the closest English word to buji is “now” or “as-it-is.” Right now, can you improve now-ness or as-it-is-ness? The answer is obviously no. At this very moment, can you or your circumstances be otherwise? When you understand that this present moment is all there is, you have no choice but to come to a radical acceptance. And it is this radical acceptance that is none other than true peace and composure. Buji means to be one with suchness, the unconditional nature of “let it be,” with nothing wanting, nothing superfluous.

...

[But] I must mention one caution: in the Zen tradition, we often hear expressions such as “suchness” and “accept things as they are.” While these statements are true, they may be a bit misleading. There is an unspoken, underlying truth that things are changing moment by moment. Accepting suchness does not mean that no effort is necessary on your part. A spinning top appears to be stationary, despite being in motion. It is precisely this motion that keeps the top suspended upright. In much the same way, the man of buji is the busiest man, as he needs to change himself and improve himself moment by moment. This is the significance of our practice.

Now, it is time to get to work.

Gassho, Jundo

PS- Yesterday's discussion of effortlessly combing our childrens' hair ... an excellent moment of Buji!

PPS - This is very important topic. I think I will make it the subject of my talk on the "Sit-a-Long" tonight.

Re: The point of Shikantaza-based Zen practice...

"Buji-zen" very interesting. I found this post from alt.zen in 1995 (ooh ancient history!)

[
I definitely agree that "acknowledgment" may be a less misleading term than "acceptance" but may not go far enough. Sometimes the acknowledgment of reality as-it-is is blown off as trivial or an intellectual exercise, but it needs to be deeper than that.

-Skye

Hi Skye,

Regarding the definition of "buji zen", I have run across another definition so I think maybe the definition per ZCLA in the 1970's may be peculiar to that time and place. But I have found that particular definition handy.

And thank you for the wonderful quote.

I am hoping you can expand on "it needs to be deeper than that" (and just so I am clear, can you specify what "it" refers to?)

thanks,
rowan

[Skye]

Re: The point of Shikantaza-based Zen practice...

"Buji-zen" very interesting. I found this post from alt.zen in 1995 (ooh ancient history!)

To: alt.zen
From: QUARK@Nice.guy.pushed.too.far (QUARK)
Subject: Re: Is it called "Buji" Zen?
Date: 9 Jan 1995 09:18:26 GMT

In article
Quoting: |hamm@uhcl4.cl.uh.edu (Jacob H. Hamm)
|>jim@MCS.COM (Reverend Jim Mines)

|> I ran across a reference to a name for those who practice
|>'undisciplined', wandering zen... is the term 'buji' or 'budo' or what?
|>

|I believe its buji, or wild fox, zen. Becareful about confusing lack
|of dogma with lack of discipline, wandering can teach you what sticking
|to the trails cannot.

And, I might add, can also get you lost rather quickly if you are unfamiliar
with the terrain!

The term *buji* (tm) doesn't really equate with the idea of
"wild fox" zen, per se. Originally, it was a term emphasized in early ch'an,
borrowed from the Taoists. Taoism has a corresponding term "wu-wei", which
literally means "non action", but means doing nothing that conflicts with
one's natural spontaneity or going against the course of Tao. In Zen it took
on a similar meaning, as in Lin Chi's admonitions to be a "person of buji", or
"with nothing to do", in the sense of not seeking outside oneself. The
term is used today by many modern teachers to refer to just such folks as Jay
describes above (including Jay, I presume?)- those who wander away from the
trails, so to speak. These self-described "wanderers" usually disdain any
kind of tradition, formal teaching, classical literature, importance of
checking one's progress, self-criticism, applied effort in training, etc.
etc. etc. and so become self-deluded with such notions that all it takes is
to become sort of a free spirit, floating through life by dancing through
the California sunshine. Is this good or bad?
YOU be the judge; I'm just pointing out common usage of the term.

I definitely agree that "acknowledgment" may be a less misleading term than "acceptance" but may not go far enough. Sometimes the acknowledgment of reality as-it-is is blown off as trivial or an intellectual exercise, but it needs to be deeper than that.

-Skye

Re: The point of Shikantaza-based Zen practice...

Yes, I agree -- a wonderful post, Rowan. Very clarifying. I like the contrast between "acceptance" as a passive buji Zen position and "acceptance" as an engaged "acknowledgment." This resonates with my own experiences, that what Zen practice helps one become able to do is honestly face whatever is going on, and deal with it. I think another useful contrast might be between "patience" and "apathy." Zen practice has certainly not made me more apathetic--I'm more in touch with my feelings, and care more--but it has definitely made me more patient.

Gassho--

[Jundo]

Re: The point of Shikantaza-based Zen practice...

Very nice post, Rowan, I believe. Very well said.

Gassho, Jundo

Re: The point of Shikantaza-based Zen practice...

Hi Stephanie,

To address your original post, I think that there may be a confusion between three common definitions of "acceptance". One is perjorative (has implications of good/bad) and that "acceptance" is the same as saying something is good or "as things should be". This can lead to to a deluded view called (at ZCLA in the old days, anyway) buji zen (or, as it was translated to me "do-nothing zen"). This is the attitude where the cat shit on the carpet is just fine and can stay there indefinitely. This is definitely, I believe, not an "enlightened" view. This leads to the second view, that acceptance necessitates inaction. However, in my view, inaction is impossible because every moment is a choice and "inaction" is as much an action as getting up and cleaning up the cat shit. The third definition (no hierarchical order intended) is that "acceptance" might better be called "acknowledgement". I acknowledge that there is cat shit on the carpet and can now clean it up, since I have noticed that it is there. Or maybe I have to do it later because I have to work.

Although it may be true that zen groups as a group may not participate in social action projects, I believe that zen buddhism is intrinsically a socially involved philosophy since at it's core is the principle that all beings/things/phenomena are one/interconnected and it is only a matter of taking care of what needs to be done, whether that is feeding and clothing the person who happens to be called Rowan, or feeding and clothing the person who happens to be called something else. Cleaning the apartment where the person called Rowan lives, or cleaning the forest where beings called deer and turkeys and lizards live. ON a more concrete level, I personally have learned so much about ethical living by doing oryoki meals, such a fine example of no waste, no wasted food, no wasted motion, no wasted water. Surely there is no more ecological way to eat than oryoki. This has affected other parts of my life. I now flush my toilet with my bath water (a saving of about 300-400 gallons a month - I am so chuffed!) But it is very true that buji zen is a pitfall that people can fall into.

thank you for your time,
with palms together,
rowan

Re: The point of Shikantaza-based Zen practice...

I always welcome off-topic discussion in threads I start, it keeps things interesting

Not that I think what you wrote was off-topic. I've struggled with exactly the same thing as you. I took it to a real extreme, in some of the relationships I got in, of placing the other completely above myself, the other's needs completely above my own needs. I agree with William Blake that the road of excess can lead to the palace of wisdom (but not necessarily). The extreme suffering and degradation I experienced at the hands of people I crawled on my belly for showed me that something was wrong about my idealistic and self-abnegating stance. What I was doing wasn't noble; it was sick, and pitiable.

I think one of the worst misconceptions I've seen in modern Buddhism is this idea that we either (a) don't have an ego or that (b) we have an ego, and we should destroy it in order to attain enlightenment. This leads to all sorts of crazy and pitiable behavior. Of course, the Buddha was right--we don't have any lasting, unchanging "essence." But "ego" is more or less a poetic description of a function of consciousness that keeps us alive and healthy. I believe that the path of Buddhism, when trod sanely, is about learning to relate to this experience of ego differently, not trying to destroy it. If you want to see what people who do not have a functioning ego are like, go to a psychiatric hospital, not an ashram.

It sounds like you're on a good path, Scott, and one that will be rewarding and healing, if it is anything like my journey was. But oh, it's hard. It's hard as hell.

[Dosho]

Re: The point of Shikantaza-based Zen practice...

Great posts Bob and Stephanie!

I have always felt the pull to help others and volunteer when I can, but much of my childhood was spent being told my needs were secondary to those around me. So, while the idea of serving others is a great thing, it can't be put above care for the self in every instance. One of my trepidations about Zen is that I have heard much of what is involved is the breaking down of the ego and the self, but what do you do if the ego is underdeveloped? I'm guessing that really wouldn't be seen as a problem here and to say I have no ego at all would be untrue, but when I am challenged in my ideas my tendency isn't to respond with assurance. Instead I recoil most of the time and allow other's opinions to be "better" than my own.

So, it will be an interesting balance to strike and I feel up to the task, but it will require me to face my fear and try to let go of many things.

BTW, if that was completely off topic I do beg everyone's pardon!

Gassho,
Scott

Re: The point of Shikantaza-based Zen practice...

Bob, you rock. It sounds like you pushed yourself to the limits and needed to step back for a while. Destroying oneself psychologically doesn't help anyone. We are limited creatures and acknowledging that is living wisely.

I don't think we are obligated to be "do-gooders"; I think guilt over not being on the front lines is misplaced. Like you (and like the existentialists), I believe that our main moral obligation is honesty, to not live in a state of what Sartre called "bad faith." We must realize our complicity in what we are, the way that the people we become reflect the choices we make. There is no one else to blame if we do not like who we are or the world we live in, if we are not acting to make them better.

Where I think bad faith can come in for a Buddhist is an embrace of the bodhisattva vow, the highest embodiment of the precepts, on an intellectual level, but a failure to follow through on it on the level of action. If we can honestly examine and admit why there is a discrepancy between our thinking and our actions, we are still in good faith. But this is difficult because many of us cannot face down the possibility of our own 'badness.' So we make up some sort of intellectual excuse that justifies our failure to live with integrity, according to the religious vision to which we claim to subscribe.

This is where Shakyamuni came in with incorporating 'Right Livelihood' as part of the Eightfold Path. I think 'Right Livelihood' extends beyond the area of industry in which one works and more generally stands as an injunction to live an honest life. It demands us to acknowledge how we live as a choice and not an imposition of an inescapable fate. If the work we do goes against what we claim to believe, we must reckon with that. We must say, "I am the author." Here is the moral battlefield: not that there is only one acceptable choice for how to be in the world with integrity, but that integrity demands we acknowledge our responsibility for what we do.

More than I see examples of people committing truly horrible acts, every day I see examples of people who refuse to take responsibility for their actions. It is always someone else's fault, or a twist of fate. Or perhaps they argue that they are not doing what they seem to be doing. This is what I find abhorrent; not that people have behaved badly, but that they cannot even take ownership of that. Despite Buddhism's rigorous demands for self-awareness, I have known many Buddhists who have used the teachings and logic of Buddhism to deepen their self-deception, not overcome it. They find a cosmic justification for their passivity in a misapprehension of Buddhist teaching.

I believe that looking at the world and saying, "All is as it should be," is the consummate act of bad faith. It is morally, intellectually, and spiritually dishonest. And people do it every day. "Everything happens for a reason," is a favorite saying, by which people mean that if something bad has happened, it was because the Universe needed it to be that way, not because they made a bad choice.

What bothers me is not that some people choose not to take action, but that they find ways to either deny it is a choice or to justify their lack of action as cosmically justified. If there is a God, we know from all religions what God wants most of us is to love our neighbor and to make this world more just; if there is no God, we know that the whole shebang is our responsibility. There is no way around it. I believe that this is the height of the human project we are approaching here, that we can take responsibility, and shape our world.

This is why I cannot embrace a religion that centers itself on the notion of passive acceptance. I think I understand what Jundo is getting at when he talks about "acceptance without acceptance." Zazen practice can help us find equanimity in even the most brutal situations. But if the end result is that we become passive, we are acting in bad faith, because as Sartre said, we cannot escape the act of choosing. To choose not to choose is a choice. But developing equanimity does not have to lead to passivity; instead, it can mean accepting our responsibility.

I do not believe it is our responsibility to jump on board for every cause that moves us, but it is our responsibility to acknowledge that we can shape our world. That we are capable of empathy and compassion shows us that our world is not acceptable, because people suffer in ways we find unconscionable, and for reasons that are not inevitable. Thus to say "All is as it should be" is to commit an intellectually and morally atrocious act. This is where the crisis arises: what then do we do? How do we choose to live in a world that is not as it should be? It is when we have reckoned with this that we can live in true peace and acceptance, because we are no longer playing games of self-deception to avoid our conscience. Once we choose to reckon with ourselves honestly, all the anxiety falls away, because we have accepted our role.

[roky]

Re: The point of Shikantaza-based Zen practice...

i know, i'm reaching back into some old posts, but i wasn't here then, so..

judging by the emotions this subject has brought up, i'd say something is going on -- no self-respecting buddhist wants to see him/herself as selfish -- and yet any decent path requires brutal self-honesty

i feel steph has a point -- social workers and do-gooders in general, tend to be treated poorly, paid crap, even depicted on screen as, often, the bad guys -- and granted that their are many power-trippers attracted to the work, it still is a very nasty job which often has great benefit for the recipients of services

and often it is a job that needs to be done -- for example, i used to remove severely abused children from violent people -- 2 a.m. i'd get the emergency call, and off i'd go, removing a baby "punished" by being scalded with boiling water

and the cases of sexual molestation by parents, usually men, was just about epidemic

would anyone suggest that we should not intervene in these situations? - well, that is what much of social work is about -- intervening, not sitting back and doing nothing, not swimming in denial

will you do this job? -- or many of the messier jobs like this in our very messed up society?

i think its possible to both do zazen, and "save the world" -- but i don't confuse the one with the other -- i've sat for many years, and did social work for even longer (yes, i'm now burnt out) -- sitting, even for 2 months, is very difficult, but no comparison to intervening as i described above -- so i'm always a bit suspicious of the "boddisatva", particularly in me -- its just too convenient a rationalization

for myself, i'm comfortable with admitting that i am no longer doing the work that i did -- i am, selfishly, pursuing a more self-centered path, doing a lot of zazen -- likd yin and yang, it is the other side of what i did -- i am withdrawn from the community, cause i got to the point that i couldn't even go shopping without seeing so much suffering(this is why i am so attracted to treeleaf -- at least folks are trying)

there are probably many treeleafers, like steph, who have done this work --thank you -- and there are many who have avoided it -- thank you also, for at least working on yourself -- but i believe that is just a beginning, a preparation for the broader, more engaged, "buddhism"

but then, that is what i believe :wink:

gassho, bob

Re: The point of Shikantaza-based Zen practice...

Irina and Kirk,

I think we may have different conceptions of what is meant by "dialogue" or "conversation" here. Being a windbag and going on and on about your pet theories doesn't accomplish anything other than making people want to smack you! :lol: But I genuinely believe that it is in sincere meeting, face-to-face between people, that any seed of positive social change occurs. Some revolutions begin in the heart of a single person -- Jesus, Buddha, etc. -- but even these people in their studies and lives were in dialogue with their ancestors, with the people that came before them. We see what people have done before and are doing, and we have a conversation about that--either in actuality, face-to-face with other people, or in our own inner lives, in the questions we ask.

I think many of us start with a conception that something "isn't right," and I think you're right Irina that it is often after our own struggles and losses and sufferings. And I sincerely agree with what people have said before that this isn't about some abstract utopic conception of the perfect society, but it starts very much in a down-to-earth way, about encountering the basic struggles people have day after day and asking if it really does have to be this way, if there is any way to change it. These efforts are often arduous, there must be many failures and slow progress, but if you look over the course of human history, we have made great changes in the world that have made the lives of many people so much better, and I believe we can keep doing so.

You see the evidence every day. I see a world that is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of environmental responsibility; I see the tide turning slowly, but perceptibly, in favor of LGBTQ folks in America; I see people becoming increasingly aware of the global impact of our lives and choices. The Enlightenment values of liberty, brotherhood, and equality are pressing on us more than ever. Even if the modern myth of "Progress" is a myth, we cannot say it does not have some reality as well. Not that long ago, in America, women could not vote and were pressed into limited, socially defined roles. Not that long ago, black folks were only "allowed" to drink at certain designated water fountains. And fifty years later, we are on the brink of having a Black president!

These things happened because people put themselves out there, they had a dialogue with the mainstream culture and challenged it, demonstrated peacefully, because people cared and even though they were confused and didn't know what to do to make things better made the effort anyway. To me, this is the most wonderful thing about being a human being, that we can imagine a better world and make it a reality. In my own life, the effort is much often on a smaller scale--as is probably the case for many of us--but to me, that is not the issue. The issue is that we sense on some level the call to wake up and care about our brothers and sisters and put ourselves out there for them in some way, however larger or small. And I continue to think that a religion that does not address this or puts it on the back burner, as some sort of afterthought, is not completely in touch with the truth of our existence and our potential as human beings--

Gassho,

Stephanie

[Ryumon]

Re: The point of Shikantaza-based Zen practice...

Steph, I am a big fan of discussions but there is a difference in what I think can be achieved when promoting change (I do my best at work with that colleague of mine :lol: ) compared to bringing the change out. We can inform people of the world injustices, talk to them, but as you say this will hardly transform them. Personal experience and the sense of interconnectedness will, I believe. I hear of many people who start cancer foundations or something in that line AFTER they have met cancer face to face. It is not till after things start falling apart for me that I begin relating to others' suffering on a more personal level.

Having been involved over the years in several associations with goals that could be described as "helping others" or "changing things", I agree that there's an awful lot of hot air spewed for often little progress. Debates go on forever to end up with little practical application. People just can't agree about how to change the world, so they find it much more self-enhancing to talk about it, and to come up with grand theories...

Kirk

[CinnamonGal]

Re: The point of Shikantaza-based Zen practice...

Will, thanks, I will check the link right away!

Steph, I am a big fan of discussions but there is a difference in what I think can be achieved when promoting change (I do my best at work with that colleague of mine :lol: ) compared to bringing the change out. We can inform people of the world injustices, talk to them, but as you say this will hardly transform them. Personal experience and the sense of interconnectedness will, I believe. I hear of many people who start cancer foundations or something in that line AFTER they have met cancer face to face. It is not till after things start falling apart for me that I begin relating to others' suffering on a more personal level.

I don't know, I guess it depends on the power of the message. I now believe more in the power of art that engages, something that speaks heart-to-heart (visual art, performance art, dance, music, etc) more than in the power of words (language). The story of the Buddha when he instead of giving a talk picked up a flower really speaks to me more than words could ever say.

I heard of a Zen master meeting a group of businessman who were eager to hear what he had to say. He said one thing only: "You all are going to die." (Imagine their faces! :wink: )

Steph, I guess we will meet half way somewhere .

Gassho,

Irina