--- In [email protected], "Bill!" <BillSmart@...> wrote:
>
>
> Steve,
>
> The Japanese word shikantaza has been tranlated on this forum by both
> Japanese and Chinese speakers in great detail. You can go back into the
> posts to see all the discussion on this, but the bottom line for me is
> that the translation means 'only sit'. When I was instructed in this by
> zen masters from both the Rienzi and Soto schools of Japanese Zen
> Buddhism I was told shikantaza meant 'clear mind'. - which is for me the
> same as 'only sit'.
>
> Now 'only sit' means just that - Only Sit. What is doesn't mean is
> counting breaths, chanting a mantra or visualizatons. It means Only
> Sit. To do this you have to have an 'empty mind' or 'clear mind'. That
> means you have to stop or pause your active discriminating mind - the
> one that thinks about things, creates duality (especially the illusion
> of self), makes valuations, catergorizes, plans, dreams, etc... This
> activity has to stop!
>
> Just how you get to the point of stopping the activity of this
> discriminating mind is the crux of Japanese Zen Buddhism - in my
> opinion. To get you to the point where your dicriminating mind stops
> (or disappears) Japanese Zen Buddhism uses various kinds of techinques.
> The one most often used goes like this:
>
> 1. First you learn to sit with a good upright posture which allows you
> to breathe from your belly pushing up on your diaphram and not using
> your shoulders to lift up on your diagphram. This is called
> belly-breathing.
>
> 2. Then you start sitting by counting your breaths 1 - 10, counting 1 on
> an exhale and 2 on an inhale. You focus all your concentration on the
> counting: one, two, three, etc... You think of nothing else. If you
> loose count or find yourself at 12 or 13, or catch your mind wandering -
> like thinking about how good you are sitting today or what you're going
> to do after you sit - you just start over at 1.
>
> 3. When you can do the above fairly well you change the counting to 1
> on and exhale/inhale, 2 on the next exhale/inhale, etc..., to 10.
>
> 4. When you can do the above you change to following the breaths. This
> is just being conscious and focussed on the exhale and inhale. You can
> visualize or feel your breaths going out and in. No counting.
>
> 5. When you can do the above you follow (concentrate on) one entire
> exhale/inhale cycle.
>
> 6. When you can do the above you drop the following - and then there is
> nothing. Clear Mind. Only Sit. Shikantaza.
>
> There are other Japanese Zen Buddhist techniques to get you to Clear
> Mind. Some of them are chanting, bowing, formal walking (kinhin),
> washing dishes, mopping the floor, painting a fence - and of course the
> most famous of all - koans. Koans are used to give your discriminating
> mind something to work on that it can't solve rationally. Eventually
> your discriminating mind gets tired or bored or whatever and just gives
> up - shuts down, and then you have Clear Mind!
>
> Hope this helps. I enjoyed writing it anyway...Bill!
>
> Thank you, Bill!
Steve
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