No Interruption To Shikantaza

[Stephanie]

Re: No Interruption To Shikantaza

I was reminded of something that happened this morning as I was sitting by what Steve wrote about his cat.

I have a female greyhound, and usually she's lazy and sleeps while I'm doing my morning Zazen. This morning, however, she decided to peek into the bedroom and see what I was doing. I just kept sitting while she sniffed around for a minute and figured out what I was up to. Then she just returned to the living room and her bed. In the back of my mind somehow it all clicked that a) all beings truly are interconnected, and b) she knew what I was doing there on the cushion, so decided to leave me alone to sit.

It was truly remarkable. It made me think that what she does when she lays on her bed all day long is probably no different than human Shikantaza


Chris

Our shelter-adopted cat "Alley" (RIP) used to love it when I would sit. She would somehow know what I was doing from the other end of the house, and unless she was asleep (Alley was a very lazy cat), would come up to my room. She would somehow find a way to fit all or part of her fat body on the zabuton :lol: and would sit with me, and purr. It was very strange, and yet comforting. She loved sitting with anyone who was being quiet and still. And she liked that zabuton so much that she would often seek it out as a lounge/nap spot when I wasn't sitting, and use the zafu as a pillow for her head :lol: Animals are amazing

[CoreyW]

Re: No Interruption To Shikantaza

I hadn't seen this thread until today and I am glad i saw it. Thank you everyone for your posts here. I find that all of it is something i needed to read.

gassho,
Corey

[Rob_Heathen]

Re: No Interruption To Shikantaza

Thank you for this thread. It has stirred emotions in me and made me smile. I appreciate that. I wish I had read this before now as well. Back in the States, my one year old daughter loves to sit on my lap while I am on my zafu. She also loves to steal it from me and take it to the living room and sit on it while she does various tasks like colouring or watching Yo Gaba Gaba! I once tried to move my zafu, while I thought she wasn't looking, back into my "quiet room" and she pitched a fit and ran over to grab it from me. I decided this was a good oportunity and sat on the couch and watched her sit on it for quite some time. I learn more from her than anything else in this world and it is those images I sit with now.

"Do No Harm."

~Rob

[Jinyu]

Re: No Interruption To Shikantaza

Hi everyone!

First, Thank you all for this thread!
It seems that we will always need Jundo to explain what Shikantaza is again and again... even if this can never be explained... anyway, it is always good practice and we always need the reminder!

I'll "add my little stone to the edifice"... I think there is also a matter of respect in all that.
I don't mean that we must regard zazen-shikantaza as something totally separated from our daily life, something more SACRED or whatever... but just to have respect for each moment of our life.

In the way we behave we show respect to ourselves and to others, respect for what we live and the way we feel about it.
I just see this "respect" thing as full acceptance and tolerance of what is. It is normal to be disturbed or bored sometimes, but to see and accept it as our practice, as it is in this moment, that's what I call respect for each moment.
So, in this perspective, a "difficult" zazen needs to be respected as any other zazen. Not judge, not see as less good than another moment...

Well, I hope you guys will understand what I tried to say...

Gassho to everyone,
Luis-Jinyu

[Nick B]

Re: No Interruption To Shikantaza

Thank you for this wonderful thread.

I am the only one who practices zazen in my household and I have only asked that I not be disturbed directly during zazen unless it is an emergency.

For me a quiet room is often upstairs when the family is down stairs and down stairs when the family is up stairs. This means that I often sit with the tv going or the radio playing country (of all things) in the back ground. When it is time for my wife to get ready for work or she just wants to do something in the room I am sitting in (including vacuuming) she does so. If the kids are playing war and the battle happens to go through the room I am in it does so. Further more, we just recently rescued a poodle named Bingo and he likes to put his nose in the middle of the cosmic mudra when I am sitting .

Such is the environment of my zazen most of the time and sitting in these conditions has actually helped my practice quit a bit. When I first started meditating years ago this sort of thing would drive me up a wall. I would in fact get very pissed off that my family could not respect me for just half an hour and keep the noise to a minimum. Now it is just life, I am no longer disturbed by all the things that arise within the environment of my practice. Now there is no difference between the birds singing out my window or the tv being on or my wife vacuuming the house. There is just sitting with whatever arises without getting stuck in anything in particular and when I get up from Zazen its just life living life.

I humbly bow to you all and thank you for sharing.