Mike, What you are asking about is the very essence of zen, IMO. Non-dualistic (holistic) experience is the very essence of shikantaza and Buddha Nature as far as I'm concerned. All zen teaching techniques (counting breaths, koans, chanting, bowing, samu, kinhin, etc...) are employed to do one thing: stop your intellect from creating the illusion of duality. When you are able to do this, to wipe away all illusions, what is left is Buddha Nature or just holistic experience (sensual). There is no subject/object split. There is no observer/observed, no experience/experience. There is Just THIS! For example when you bite into a lemon there is no you/lemon split, no taste/smell split, no sour/sweet split, no lemon/other fruit split. There is Just THIS! It's later when your intellect kicks in and you start perceiving (rather than just experiencing) that you start assigning categories like lemon, yellow, sour, etc... That's what I mean by 'no observer' and that's what 'shikantaza' means by 'just sit', and 'clear mind' or 'no mind'. If you'd like to read in more detail what I think about this you can go to: The Origin of the Illusion of Self <http://www.billsmart.com/writing/zen/self/self.htm> which is about the dualistic illusion of self/other. ...Bill!
--- In [email protected], uerusuboyo@... wrote: > > Bill!, I'm interested in your point that there is no observer when sitting shikantaza. If so, are all sensations in the body-mind not experienced? If they are experienced, who or what is experiencing them? I'm also interested in other member's perspectives on this when they get passed the "He said - she said" current thread.. Mike Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPad >
