What is Shikantaza?
Shikantaza means just sitting or only sitting.
It is simply seated meditation.
Which is objectless.
Imageless theme list.
With no internal or external devices or supports.
And is non-concentrative.
D-centered.
And open-ended.
Yet it is a heightened,
Sustained,
And total awareness of the self and the world.
It seeks no attainment whatsoever,
Be it enlightenment,
An extraordinary religious experience.
Supernormal powers.
Or Buddhahood.
Here is the breakdown of the term.
Second means to sit.
Time means to hit the target.
Which in this practice is the reality of the present moment.
Just as it is.
Za means zazen or meditation.
So shikantaza means just sitting in zazen.
And being present to the moment.
In this manner,
We face reality directly.
We face our thoughts.
Feelings,
Sensations.
Perceptions,
Our discomfort.
Our boredom and frustrations.
As well as our joys and sense of ease.
When we sit.
We are sitting directly.
With our own reality.
And the reality of whole being as it continuously evolves in the present.
Ura Shakyamuni says,
We should sit like coiled dragons.
Which suggests a sitting posture in which there is stability,
And power.
Out under rigidity.
Or exertion.
