Shikantaza

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Daruma sits opposite the wall (Reigen Eto, 18th century)

Shikantaza ( Japanese. 只管 打坐 , shikan means "only", "simply" or "merely", ta has a reinforcing function (literally it means "to beat") and za is "sitting") is mostly used as "just sitting" in German translated. It is a meditation technique that is mainly cultivated in Zen Buddhism , especially as a central element of the Sōtō school.

Shikantaza is an important form of zazen in which introductory techniques such as counting the breath or the intensive study of koans practiced in the Rinzai school are dispensed with. It is "zazen for zazen's sake", although the term "zazen" in this context is not limited to the zazen posture. In this context, zazen means the undivided, holistic presence.

The most important source work describing the practice of Shikantaza is the Shōbōgenzō of the Dōgen Zenji ( 1200 - 1253 ).

method

Shikantaza is often referred to as the method without a method . It is aimed at the mindset of Zen practitioners and represents an in-depth method of Zen meditation. Unlike other meditation techniques, there is nothing to do here than just sit in conscious mindfulness . In doing so, one should not think about sitting itself, but rather one should become one with sitting there. For this purpose, the thoughts that soon seem endlessly storming on the practitioner must be let go until they gradually develop less and less.

However, the aim is by no means to actively suppress or push the thoughts away in the mind until the thought has become "empty". Rather, it should be discovered what is "behind" the thought, if one is ready to give up on them. Unlike in the sleep or twilight state, one is particularly clear and present consciousness during practice , which, however, is free of discursive thinking.

Shikantaza is not a detached method, but is based on the zazen attitude and the basic attitude not to stick to any experienced state or feeling. The exercise is seen as an endless deepening. Even an enlightened person should not cling to the "state" of the satori , but leave this experience behind and deepen the practice. The accompaniment of serious Shikantaza practitioners by an experienced (Zen) master or teacher is seen as necessary according to the teaching of Soto Zen in order to prevent a number of undesirable developments. Clinging to the zazen practice itself is sometimes seen as a danger with this meditation method, as Shunryū Suzuki describes in his book Zen Mind / Beginners Mind .

Shikantaza and zazen practice are only taught together. Therefore, the unconcentrated sitting and evasive daydreaming in order to escape the uncomfortable situation, also becomes the subject of Shikantaza. The escape of the here and now and in everyday life to end of man is therefore also in the sense of Shikantaza.

Shikantaza as the guiding principle in Dōgen's work

The Shōbōgenzō , written by Zen master Dōgen Zenji , together with Shikantaza, contains a total of four characterizing principles. These principles describe the basics for practicing zazen, as Dōgen describes them in his work. Shikantaza is therefore not an isolated method, but must be viewed and practiced in the overall context with the other guiding principles.

The other three are

Hishiryō
Beyond our personal subjective thinking / thinking and doing are one. The guiding principle describes the unity of body and mind.
Shoshin Tanza
Regularly sitting in the correct posture in zazen. The guiding principle describes the necessary, regular practice and aims at physical activity.
Shinjin Datsuraku
Free yourself from body and mind / body and mind have fallen away. No longer hanging on your body and giving up all thoughts in order to experience life in its purest form.

Shikantaza as Kôan

Steven Heines (ed.) Dogen and Soto Zen (Oxford 2015) contains the essay "Dogen's Use of Rujing's 'Just Sit' (shikan taza) and Other Koans" by T. Griffith Foulk, which the editor summarizes as follows:

"A central thesis of this chapter is that Dogen did not actually teach (or even make up) the kind of zazen commonly assigned to him as shikantaza by modern Soto scholars and Zen teachers. Foulk analyzes in detail that Dogen's instructions Do not use this term for zazen and do not recommend any method that corresponds to what researchers say about just sitting today. "

Rather, Foulk shows that Dôgen understood "just sitting" as Kôan. Dôgen understood sitting in several ways, as physical as well as "mental sitting", which is possible in any posture. But if the practitioner is neither attached to physical nor mental phenomena, then this liberated state is the "sitting of 'body and mind have fallen off'". Foulk concludes from this that Dôgen understood his teacher Rujing's admonition to just sit as an invitation in this sense: "Achieve only awakening!"

See also

Samadhi , Sesshin , Retreat , Kenshō , Satori , mystical experience

literature

Web links