Hi,
On the AZTA (American Zen Teachers Association) mailing list, a bunch of teachers got talking about Shikanataza and said I could share some of the comments here. (However, because of privacy on the mailing list, I won't say the specific teachers names as I did not check that. The below are from half a dozen well known folks). Some very helpful little pointers. Enjoy! Gassho, J
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At times I have said to my students that the essential art of zazen is letting go. That is the subtle art including letting go of thoughts, as opposed to trying to get rid of them; but also letting go of all kinds of subtle graspings and attachments, the cultivation of flexibility. I would suggest that this is the essential art evoked in the Heart Sutra closing mantra and its practice.
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Letting go. Another way of looking at it (and to me, this is also the same thing) is being present, completely present. This is turning the mind around (in full presence there is no mind and no object, just presence that's all-inclusive, and presence is always letting go, that's its nature, generous and open). The problem for most dharma students with ... the whole idea of turning the mind around etc etc is that it sounds too much like a job, also it sounds sexy and profound, these three together, a sexy and profound practice that I can accomplish if I am good enough though probably I am not, is a deadly idea for most dharma students, though of course this is not what the teaching is trying to say. But I am afraid this is how many people hear it. Anyway, this is what I have seen. Presence and letting go seem less disadvantageous in this regard.
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Agreed. Some Zen academic, maybe Tom Kasulis, coined as a term "presencing", the act of being present as a verb. Another way these can be misunderstood, the opposite maybe of some job to accomplish, is as being passive. Turning the light; Letting go; Presencing; and I would add the practice of Patience- are not jobs to accomplish, but they are also not passive. Patience is an active mode of attention that I also sometimes see as the Essential Art.
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I agree strongly with [the above] caution about the tendency for what is offered as a description to morph into instructions in a technique for striving toward attainment. I feel that letting go is, in and of itself, a removal of the obstructions that prevent us from seeing clearly and genuinely lighting up both the "inside" and the "outside", which after all together constitute a spacious whole.
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[A]llow thoughts to come without suppressing anything and let them go without clinging to anything ... "Thoughts coming" is the "natural condition of mind," so we want to accord with it and not try to suppress thoughts or cultivate a blank mind. "Letting them go" is not thinking or engagement in thought. So, letting thoughts come without suppressing anything and letting them go without clinging to anything is Dogen's "think not thinking," or, "non-thinking."
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Unfortunately, letting go can be a project and instruction to follow to get somewhere, some gain. I think it takes a long time to allow and accept with awareness and kindness this life as it is.
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Thank you everyone for such generous teachings. I have found that suggesting the word "let" without the "go" is very helpful for people. I like "let" because it invites surrender into the present moment and people seem less inclined to feel they must do something--even if it's "letting go" and "returning to the present moment".
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On the AZTA (American Zen Teachers Association) mailing list, a bunch of teachers got talking about Shikanataza and said I could share some of the comments here. (However, because of privacy on the mailing list, I won't say the specific teachers names as I did not check that. The below are from half a dozen well known folks). Some very helpful little pointers. Enjoy! Gassho, J
--------------------
At times I have said to my students that the essential art of zazen is letting go. That is the subtle art including letting go of thoughts, as opposed to trying to get rid of them; but also letting go of all kinds of subtle graspings and attachments, the cultivation of flexibility. I would suggest that this is the essential art evoked in the Heart Sutra closing mantra and its practice.
-----
Letting go. Another way of looking at it (and to me, this is also the same thing) is being present, completely present. This is turning the mind around (in full presence there is no mind and no object, just presence that's all-inclusive, and presence is always letting go, that's its nature, generous and open). The problem for most dharma students with ... the whole idea of turning the mind around etc etc is that it sounds too much like a job, also it sounds sexy and profound, these three together, a sexy and profound practice that I can accomplish if I am good enough though probably I am not, is a deadly idea for most dharma students, though of course this is not what the teaching is trying to say. But I am afraid this is how many people hear it. Anyway, this is what I have seen. Presence and letting go seem less disadvantageous in this regard.
-----
Agreed. Some Zen academic, maybe Tom Kasulis, coined as a term "presencing", the act of being present as a verb. Another way these can be misunderstood, the opposite maybe of some job to accomplish, is as being passive. Turning the light; Letting go; Presencing; and I would add the practice of Patience- are not jobs to accomplish, but they are also not passive. Patience is an active mode of attention that I also sometimes see as the Essential Art.
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I agree strongly with [the above] caution about the tendency for what is offered as a description to morph into instructions in a technique for striving toward attainment. I feel that letting go is, in and of itself, a removal of the obstructions that prevent us from seeing clearly and genuinely lighting up both the "inside" and the "outside", which after all together constitute a spacious whole.
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[A]llow thoughts to come without suppressing anything and let them go without clinging to anything ... "Thoughts coming" is the "natural condition of mind," so we want to accord with it and not try to suppress thoughts or cultivate a blank mind. "Letting them go" is not thinking or engagement in thought. So, letting thoughts come without suppressing anything and letting them go without clinging to anything is Dogen's "think not thinking," or, "non-thinking."
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Unfortunately, letting go can be a project and instruction to follow to get somewhere, some gain. I think it takes a long time to allow and accept with awareness and kindness this life as it is.
-----
Thank you everyone for such generous teachings. I have found that suggesting the word "let" without the "go" is very helpful for people. I like "let" because it invites surrender into the present moment and people seem less inclined to feel they must do something--even if it's "letting go" and "returning to the present moment".
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