if not zazen, then what?

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  • bayamo
    Member
    • Nov 2009
    • 411

    if not zazen, then what?

    What is it if it "is not zazen"? I work as a teacher and sometimes, in between classes, I'll just sit at my desk (on a chair) and just do what we all do when doing zazen. Is this just mindfulness practice? Or if I am watching a game, or drinking a beer, and know "this is what I am doing"? Is this akin to Jundo's Insta-Sittings?
    Oh, yeah. If I didn't have inner peace, I'd go completely psycho on all you guys all the time.
    Carl Carlson
  • Jundo
    Treeleaf Founder and Priest
    • Apr 2006
    • 40557

    #2
    Originally posted by bayamo
    What is it if it "is not zazen"? I work as a teacher and sometimes, in between classes, I'll just sit at my desk (on a chair) and just do what we all do when doing zazen. Is this just mindfulness practice? Or if I am watching a game, or drinking a beer, and know "this is what I am doing"? Is this akin to Jundo's Insta-Sittings?

    Only sitting on the cushion facing a wall is sitting. Dropping all goals, judgments, thought of other place in need of being or thing in need of doing in all time and space (and timeless spaceless too). Shikantaza. Only sitting on the cushion is Shikantaza is Zazen.

    That said, when rising from the cushion, much of life can be Shikantaza if conducted the same way. Sitting on a chair between classes ... if dropping all goals, judgments, thought of other place in need of being or thing in need of doing in all time and space (and timeless spaceless too). Shikantaza.

    Drinking tea and watching a sunrise ... if dropping all goals, judgments, thought of other place in need of being or thing in need of doing in all time and space (and timeless spaceless too). Shikantaza.

    So maybe also drinking a beer and watching a game ... if dropping all goals, judgments, thought of other place in need of being or thing in all time and space (and timeless spaceless too). Shikantaza.

    The main pointless point?

    Well, dropping all goals, judgments, thought of other place in need of being or thing in need of doing in all time and space (and timeless spaceless too) is Shikantaza.

    Gassho, J
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

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    • Jakudo
      Member
      • May 2009
      • 251

      #3
      Jundo your K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid) approach to practise is refreshing and seems to speak to me directly and/or indirectly. Thank you for teaching in such a way that even a simpleton like myself can gain an understanding.
      Gassho, Jakudo Hinton.
      Gassho, Shawn Jakudo Hinton
      It all begins when we say, “I”. Everything that follows is illusion.
      "Even to speak the word Buddha is dragging in the mud soaking wet; Even to say the word Zen is a total embarrassment."
      寂道

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      • bayamo
        Member
        • Nov 2009
        • 411

        #4
        thanks Jundo!
        Oh, yeah. If I didn't have inner peace, I'd go completely psycho on all you guys all the time.
        Carl Carlson

        Comment

        • Jeff
          Member
          • Dec 2012
          • 37

          #5
          Useful...thank you, Jundo!

          Comment

          • Mp

            #6
            Profound, yet simple and true. Thank you Jundo.

            Gassho
            Shingen

            Comment

            • Ed
              Member
              • Nov 2012
              • 223

              #7
              I never tire of hearing that simple teaching. Uchiyama roshi defines Dogen Zenji's Genjokoan phrase as "the ordinary profundity of the present moment becoming the present moment." Your shikantaza is this.
              Gratefully here,
              Ed B
              "Know that the practice of zazen is the complete path of buddha-dharma and nothing can be compared to it....it is not the practice of one or two buddhas but all the buddha ancestors practice this way."
              Dogen zenji in Bendowa





              Comment

              • Shohei
                Member
                • Oct 2007
                • 2854

                #8
                Its brilliant and clear but how many times I muddle it up, forget, miss the point and come back to this teaching.

                Thank you for this

                Gassho
                Shohei

                Comment

                • bayamo
                  Member
                  • Nov 2009
                  • 411

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Shohei
                  Its brilliant and clear but how many times I muddle it up, forget, miss the point and come back to this teaching.

                  Thank you for this

                  Gassho
                  Shohei
                  I hear ya buddy
                  Oh, yeah. If I didn't have inner peace, I'd go completely psycho on all you guys all the time.
                  Carl Carlson

                  Comment

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