Shikantaza
In Zen Buddhism, Shikantaza is the practice of "just sitting." It is Dōgen's Japanese translation of the Chinese phrase zhǐguǎn dǎzuò. The phrase was used by Dōgen's teacher Rujing, a monk of the Caodong school of Chan Buddhism, to refer to the meditation practice called "silent illumination", or "serene reflection," famously taught by the Caodong master Hongzhi Zhengjue.
In Japan, the practice is associated with the Sōtō school, Dōgen's offshoot of Caodong. Some practitioners teach that shikantaza means that one should not focus attention on a specific object, instead "just sitting" in a state of conscious awareness. As the modern Sōtō Zen teacher Shohaku Okumura explains, "We don’t set our mind on any particular object, visualization, mantra, or even our breath itself. When we just sit, our mind is nowhere and everywhere."
According to Buswell and Lopez, the Sōtō school presents shikantaza as a radical simplification of practice which is necessary in the degenerate age of the Dharma, or mappō. That is, rather than try to master a range of concentration techniques, such as breath counting or the investigation of koans, by simply adopting the posture of the buddhas and ancestors, the practitioner becomes identical to them in body and mind. In this way, one stabilizes oneself in "a state of full clarity and alertness, free from any specific content," which is also described as the state of "body and mind dropping off".
Etymology
The term shikantaza is the Sino-Japanese reading of Zhǐguǎn dǎzuò "just sitting", "nothing but sitting", "meditation of just sitting", "just mind sitting". Zhǐguǎn dǎzuò translates as follows:zhǐguǎn, "by all means; merely, simply; only concerned with", "to focus exclusively on";dǎzuò 打坐, "sit in meditation", "to squat, sit down cross-legged", which corresponds with Sanskrit utkuṭuka-stha;James Ishmael Ford states that "some trace the root of this word to the Japanese pronunciation of Sanskrit vipassana, though this is far from certain." Shikan 只管 is also not to be confused with shikan 止観 which is a practice of the Tendai sect, and translates the Sanskrit śamatha and vipaśyanā, the two basic forms or components of Buddhist meditation.
Background
The phrase zhǐguǎn dǎzuò was used by Dōgen's teacher Tiantong Rujing for silent illumination. Koten Benson explains mòzhào as follows:The centrality of this teaching within the Sōtō tradition derives from a pivotal episode reportedly occurring sometime in the early 1220s at Tiantong Mountain Monastery depicting an exchange between the eminent Chinese Caodong teacher Rujing and his disciples. It is of particular importance for its account of an awakening experience by one of Rujing's Japanese disciples, Dōgen, who would later found the Sōtō Zen sect:
This exchange between Rujing and his disciples indicates that high-flung ceremony and study are unnecessary and irrelevant, and that "just sitting" is sufficient.
Practice
Classical sources
"Silent illumination" or "silent reflection" was the hallmark of the Chinese Caodong school of Chan. The first Chan teacher to articulate silent illumination was the Caodong master Hongzhi Zhengjue, who wrote an inscription entitled "silent illumination meditation". Sheng-yen explains thatWith the phrase shikantaza, Dōgen means "doing only zazen whole-heartedly" or "single-minded sitting." According to Merv Fowler, shikantaza is described best as "quiet sitting in open awareness, reflecting directly the reality of life." According to Austin, shikantaza is "an alert condition, performed erect, with no trace of sluggishness or drowsiness." Fred Reinhard Dallmayr writes,
Modern sources
Zen master John Daido Loori describes shikantaza as a challenging practice in spite of its name's simplicity. Mental strength is not achieved through sustained concentration as in breath meditation, but through awareness of the flow of mind, without actively attempting to let go of a thought. The user must watch their thoughts, "without analyzing them, judging them, attempting to understand or categorize them," being only aware of them. According to him, this helps mental activity move on and produce samadhi.Commenting on Loori's words, meditation expert Eric Harrison likens shikantaza to a psychological process of extinction, in which repeated reduction of a behavioral response eventually leads to no response.
Loori describes awareness as the one thing necessary to the practice of shikantaza. This requires a heightened state of mental alertness, which he warns cannot be maintained for too long periods of time. He recommends to practice shikantaza half an hour to an hour, then stand up and practice kinhin in order to relax the mind before sitting down and continuing.
Shunryū Suzuki states about shikantaza, "do not try to stop your mind, but leave everything as it is. Then things will not stay in your mind for so long. Things will come as they come and go as they go. Eventually your clear, empty mind will last fairly long." For his part, describing the practice's goal as being simply aware of thoughts without getting caught by them, Sean Murphy cites Taizan Maezumi as advising to "regard our thoughts as if they were clouds, watching them as they drift from one end of the mind to the other, but making no attempt to hold onto them - and when they pass over the horizon, as they inevitably will, making no attempt to grasp after them.
Jundo Cohen warns that its meaning of "just sitting" must not be taken too literally, and underlines the importance of awareness. When faced against strong emotions or anxious thoughts, Cohen instructs to simply observe them with equanimity, "treating them like passing weather clouds." At the same time, he stresses not to play with and be pulled in by thoughts. He compares shikantaza to "the children's puzzle of Chinese finger cuffs, which are escaped not by forceful effort, but by non-resistance." Only by dropping the hunt for enlightenment, accepting everything without grasping or avoiding, can enlightenment be found.
Similar techniques
A modern technique described as similar to shikantaza is called "Do Nothing Meditation" by Shinzen Young. The user is instructed to let go of all mental intentions, without trying to meditate or concentrate in any way. Any distraction or thought is allowed, unless the user feels they are intentionally thinking or doing something, in which case they must stop this intention and let it go, including any possible struggle at it. As a result, "eventually the mind feels very spacious, open, and relaxed, but also bright, clear, and vivid".Another similar description comes from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, in I Am That, where he recommends "letting thoughts flow and watching them and to keep the mind quiet. The state of freedom from all thoughts will happen suddenly and by the bliss of it you shall recognize it."
Osho also described his method of meditation as, "don’t do anything... just watch whatever the mind is doing. Don't disturb it, don't prevent it, don't repress it; don't do anything at all on your part. You just be a watcher, and the miracle of watching is meditation."