Someone asked my opinion on whether Shikantaza Zazen can be sat wrong.
No, it is impossible to sit wrong. This Zazen is beyond all "right and wrong" and the core of sitting is to sit with the mere act of sitting itself being the great Right which holds all worldly right and wrong, goals and stages. Sitting itself is the Act of Acts of simply crossing the legs (or "sitting" as the body allows if not physically able to do that, even on one's back in a hospital bed) which transcends anything more to attain beyond sitting itself. Shikantaza is fulfilled with nothing lacking just by accomplishing the simple act of sitting. Nothing lacks when sitting, there is no other place to better be, nothing else to do, during the time of sitting. So, it is IMPOSSIBLE to sit Zazen wrong. Even on those days when the mind may be a bit cloudy or disturbed, Even on those days when you fall asleep or get hit by a train while sitting Zazen, Zazen is Right from the startless start! .
That being said ...
Zazen can be sat wrong
When one sits judging one's sitting or the world as right or wrong, or that something lacks and is not up to par, when one is clinging to goals, measuring stages and hoping for some promised land elsewhere to attain, when one is sitting merely like a bump on a log, twiddling one's thumbs, thinking of some other place to be or thing one wants or would rather do, lost in thought clouds or runaway emotions, rather than vibrantly just sitting for sitting's sake letting thoughts and emotions pass without grabbing on and wallowing in them. Best not to fall asleep, and best to avoid sitting on train tracks!
Yes, Shikantaza is a Koan. .
The "goal" of Shikantaza is to sit Shikantaza free of goals. Sitting Zazen "right" is to sit as the sitting which is Right beyond Right merely by sitting itself, free of all other judgments of right vs. wrong.
Gassho, Jundo
SatTodayLAH
PS - There is an old post, an expanded riff on this same theme, here ...
Right Zazen and Wrong Zazen
PPS - If you ask me, it is particularly our western, capitalist, consumer driven syndrome to always measure things as right or wrong, and to chase after shiny things to attain. Shikantaza is thus excellent medicine for that dis-ease.
No, it is impossible to sit wrong. This Zazen is beyond all "right and wrong" and the core of sitting is to sit with the mere act of sitting itself being the great Right which holds all worldly right and wrong, goals and stages. Sitting itself is the Act of Acts of simply crossing the legs (or "sitting" as the body allows if not physically able to do that, even on one's back in a hospital bed) which transcends anything more to attain beyond sitting itself. Shikantaza is fulfilled with nothing lacking just by accomplishing the simple act of sitting. Nothing lacks when sitting, there is no other place to better be, nothing else to do, during the time of sitting. So, it is IMPOSSIBLE to sit Zazen wrong. Even on those days when the mind may be a bit cloudy or disturbed, Even on those days when you fall asleep or get hit by a train while sitting Zazen, Zazen is Right from the startless start! .
That being said ...
Zazen can be sat wrong
When one sits judging one's sitting or the world as right or wrong, or that something lacks and is not up to par, when one is clinging to goals, measuring stages and hoping for some promised land elsewhere to attain, when one is sitting merely like a bump on a log, twiddling one's thumbs, thinking of some other place to be or thing one wants or would rather do, lost in thought clouds or runaway emotions, rather than vibrantly just sitting for sitting's sake letting thoughts and emotions pass without grabbing on and wallowing in them. Best not to fall asleep, and best to avoid sitting on train tracks! Yes, Shikantaza is a Koan. .
The "goal" of Shikantaza is to sit Shikantaza free of goals. Sitting Zazen "right" is to sit as the sitting which is Right beyond Right merely by sitting itself, free of all other judgments of right vs. wrong.
Gassho, Jundo
SatTodayLAH
PS - There is an old post, an expanded riff on this same theme, here ...
Right Zazen and Wrong Zazen
PPS - If you ask me, it is particularly our western, capitalist, consumer driven syndrome to always measure things as right or wrong, and to chase after shiny things to attain. Shikantaza is thus excellent medicine for that dis-ease.
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