Hi Tony I don't know what's up with Fudo's scary pronouncement that such questions are "not to be answered" on an internet forum. Sounds authoritative, but I think it's just His Opinion. So I'll take a crack at it. I'm no Zen teacher, so this is just my experience, opinion, advice, and should be taken as such. If I say something wrong here, I am sorry, anyone please correct me.
When I started Zen practice, I was told to do breathing practice. Counting the breaths, then moving on to just awareness of breathing in, breathing out. I tried this, but like you, I reallllly wanted to get into looking into this emptiness of self business. So I asked the teacher if I could take up "Who am I?" as a koan, since it seemed natural to me, and I couldn't focus on anything else anyway. He agreed. It's difficult to work directly with looking at self, trying to understand what "emptiness of self" means. It's difficult first, because it brings up self-consciousness directly, and there might be a tendency to hang on to that (because you're trying to understand it). Which is painful. And it's also difficult because it can be confusing. I say "Who am I?" ... ok I'm... the seer. Then I try to see the seer, which can feel like trying to look at my own eyeball. :) So the mind can get confused about what's going on. That certainly happened with me. Here's what I've learned. To realize emptiness of self, is just to let go of self. In order to let go of self, you see that it's just a construction, a psycho-physiological grasping. One can let go of self in breathing practice, or Shikantaza (just sitting), or a variety of meditation practices. There is no 'one way.' If you are strongly attracted to meditation on the emptiness of self (whatever the exact nature of this meditation is for you) then pursue it, I think. But it's good to have another practice as well, so that when if just starts seeming like a burden, you can just sit, or just breathe. They can work together. BTW - the zen.pdf received from this group upon subscribing is a very complete instruction on how to do shikan-taza. In there however, it is just called "zazen." Ian >I have been recommended to do Shikantaza. I have come to Zen from a >Tibetan Buddhist background and am finding Shikantaza extremely >difficult. My mind want to conceptualise and analyze Emptiness. I am >constantly wanting to meditate on the Emptiness of 'self' instead of >practicing Shikantaza. > >Has anyone else experienced such hurdles? If so any advice on this >practice would be gratefully received! > >Tony... > > > > > > >Noble Eightfold Path: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, >Right Action, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration, Right >Livelihood >Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Would you Help a Child in need? It is easier than you think. Click Here to meet a Child you can help. http://us.click.yahoo.com/0Z9NuA/I_qJAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Noble Eightfold Path: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration, Right Livelihood Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
