Non engagement in Zazen

[Jundo]

It’s a great question and I certainly am not sure I understand this “correctly”. It seems to me, risking being wrong though it has been helpful, that the trick is to give up trying to do sitting in a correct way. The very need or want to do sitting “correctly” is what makes sitting “incorrect”.

Gassho, Hōzan
Satlah

Yes. Precisely.

And yet, and yet, sitting twiddling your thumbs, thinking about lunch, weighing things, judging, pondering things is wrong Shikantaza. It is a Koan.

I wrote about that a decade or so ago ...

Right Zazen and Wrong Zazen

Thus, allowing things to just be the way they are, no judging, not resisting, being with the flow, allowing 'happy' days to be happy and 'sad' days to be sad, all while dropping all idea of 'happy' and 'sad', whether really enjoying or really not enjoying ... fully dropping away any and all thought of doing Zazen 'right' or doing it 'wrong' ... THIS IS DOING IT RIGHT. And when you are doing it right, it will usually feel like you are doing it right, for there is no resistance, and a great sense of balance, insight and brilliance..

Fighting things, wishing things were some other way that how they are, judging, resisting, going against the grain and the flow, wishing 'sad' days were happy or 'happy' days were happier ... filled with a sense of self bumping up against all the other 'selfs', with a mind held by thoughts of doing Zazen 'right' or doing it 'wrong' ... THIS IS DOING ZAZEN WRONG. And when you are doing it wrong, it will usually feel like you are doing it wrong, for there is resistance, and a sense of imbalance, cloudiness, greyness.

But as well, even at those times when Zazen feels 'wrong', when there is resistance or imbalance ... it is still 'right', still 'Zazen', still just what it is. IT CANNOT BE WRONG. This last point is vital to understanding.

LINK: HERE

Gassho, J
stlah

[Houzan]

Yes. Precisely.

And yet, and yet, sitting twiddling your thumbs, thinking about lunch, weighing things, judging, pondering things is wrong Shikantaza. It is a Koan.

I wrote about that a decade or so ago ...

Right Zazen and Wrong Zazen



LINK: HERE

Gassho, J
stlah

And the solution to the koan is expressed in how you respond, during sitting, to noticing you have been grasping at thoughts: without judgement and in radical equanimity, you return to open spacious awareness, again and again and again. Like that?

Gassho, Hōzan
Satlah

[Jundo]

And the solution to the koan is expressed in how you respond, during sitting, to noticing you have been grasping at thoughts: without judgement and in radical equanimity, you return to open spacious awareness, again and again and again. Like that?

Gassho, Hōzan
Satlah

Sounds good. Yes, 10,000 times and 10,000 times again.

Gasssho, J

stlah

[RobO]

It’s a great question and I certainly am not sure I understand this “correctly”. It seems to me, risking being wrong though it has been helpful, that the trick is to give up trying to do sitting in a correct way. The very need or want to do sitting “correctly” is what makes sitting “incorrect”.

Gassho, Hōzan
Satlah

Thank you for this. At some point I had something closer to this kind of attitude and the "am I doing it right" crept back in. I think after a year or so of practice I felt I wanted to make sure. Uncertainty is another thing to not get tangled in, perhaps.


Jundo thank you for the quote to your previous writing, this clarifies for me as well, and the feel of things I will let guide me more. Shikantaza has lots of delicate nuance!

Thank you all.

Gassho, Rob
Sat/lah

[Houzan]

Thank you for this. At some point I had something closer to this kind of attitude and the "am I doing it right" crept back in. I think after a year or so of practice I felt I wanted to make sure. Uncertainty is another thing to not get tangled in, perhaps.

Sounds familiar: it creeps back in every once in a while, like you say. But this is the beauty of the sangha: to get these reassurances and reminders when needed. I know I need them quite often

Gassho, Hōzan
Satlah