Dear All Leafers,
I am equanimously content to report that Tricycle ran an essay on Shikantaza that I first published here, that was first called "Breath, Samadhi and Radical Goallessness." Thank you to all who provided input for the first version.
This is the second time this week that they ran something connected to here, including a nice profile on our "Monastery of Open Doors" that is included as a feature in their November edition:
For those who cannot leap through the paywall, the original version of "Breath, Samadhi and Radical Goallessness" is here:
A little of the content:
So, what is the place of breath and deep samadhi states in shikantaza, or “just sitting,” the way of zazen that is the centerpiece of Soto practice?
The answer is that we cherish and celebrate such states, honor the breath, and welcome samadhi when it comes. However, we believe that samadhi, which emerges from anything but an attitude of radical goallessness, simply feeds the very hunger and thirst for gain that is the root of dukkha, or suffering. It becomes one more pleasure and treasure to chase after and enjoy, when the hunt and hunger is what we actually need to drop away in equanimity for the fulfillment of liberation.
So many schools of meditation call out levels of concentration and spiritual attainment, creating more rungs to reach, finish lines to cross, payoffs to earn, and prizes to strive for. But all of that is, quite literally, “self-defeating,” because striving is the source of the very suffering it seeks to relieve.
In shikantaza, our solution to this dilemma is to drop—down to the marrow—all hunting and reaching, except for sitting itself for sitting’s sake. Zazen must be good for nothing but sitting. Then, sitting itself is the treasure attained, the goal reached. Without such radical goallessness and forsaking of all cravings for goals, meditation becomes another ploy to feed never-ending, self-created feelings of human lack.
...
For us, deep and pleasant samadhi will emerge in our zazen, just as it does in the other schools of meditation, and it is wondrous! It is like an unsolicited treasure, for it arises right from our giving up of all need, much like a door that unlocks only when we stop struggling to unlock it. The very act of dropping all need to turn the key leads to the door springing open. Such unsolicited samadhi is glorious.
The answer is that we cherish and celebrate such states, honor the breath, and welcome samadhi when it comes. However, we believe that samadhi, which emerges from anything but an attitude of radical goallessness, simply feeds the very hunger and thirst for gain that is the root of dukkha, or suffering. It becomes one more pleasure and treasure to chase after and enjoy, when the hunt and hunger is what we actually need to drop away in equanimity for the fulfillment of liberation.
So many schools of meditation call out levels of concentration and spiritual attainment, creating more rungs to reach, finish lines to cross, payoffs to earn, and prizes to strive for. But all of that is, quite literally, “self-defeating,” because striving is the source of the very suffering it seeks to relieve.
In shikantaza, our solution to this dilemma is to drop—down to the marrow—all hunting and reaching, except for sitting itself for sitting’s sake. Zazen must be good for nothing but sitting. Then, sitting itself is the treasure attained, the goal reached. Without such radical goallessness and forsaking of all cravings for goals, meditation becomes another ploy to feed never-ending, self-created feelings of human lack.
...
For us, deep and pleasant samadhi will emerge in our zazen, just as it does in the other schools of meditation, and it is wondrous! It is like an unsolicited treasure, for it arises right from our giving up of all need, much like a door that unlocks only when we stop struggling to unlock it. The very act of dropping all need to turn the key leads to the door springing open. Such unsolicited samadhi is glorious.
Gassho, J
stlah
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Thank you, Jundo.
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