William,
Different schools of training.
Meditation is only 1/13th of the practices in formal Zen training ("The
indispensable one-thirteenth part", I call it. ;-) Lucky.).
Vipassana has its own ways. It is a School, not a practice; let's leave it
aside.
"Insist" is not my word!
History, intention, and association with other practices makes all these things
different. They are not words.
Shikantaza is a tool and a practice.
A Stillson wrench is not a Crescent wrench, but; yes, they are each a type of
shifting-spanner. Do you know the proper environment and application in which
to use each? And why they developed? Like that.
Familiarity does not always breed contempt; as often, it breeds skill and
benefit, and it increases one's value to others.
Well, just talking here, and glad to have the conversation.
--Joe
> William Rintala <brintala@...> wrote:
>
> Thank you Joe. In looking them up I see very little difference yet you all
> use
> the different words. From the source of all things Wikipedia:
> ---
> ----Shikantaza -  literally means, "nothing but (shikan) precisely (da)
> sitting
> (za)." In other words DÅgen means by this, "doing only zazen
> whole-heartedly" or
> "single-minded sitting." Shikantaza implies "just sitting", and according to
> author James Ishmael Ford, "Some trace the root of this word to the
> pronunciation of the PÄli vipassana, though this is far from certain."
> Author
> Steve Hagen describes the Japanese word in four parts: shi means tranquility,
> kan means awareness, ta means hitting exactly the right spot (not one atom
> off),
> and za means to sit. Za is the same as in the word zazen, sitting.
>
> ----Zazen -Â is just sitting, "opening the hand of thought", that is,
> suspending
> all judgmental thinking and letting words, ideas, images and thoughts pass by
> without getting involved in them
>
> ----Vipassana -Â is anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing, is used to become
> aware of the impermanence of everything that exists.
>
> Why the insistance on different words?
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