Radical Acceptance In Just Sitting

This is just sitting: sitting with no agenda, not even the agenda of becoming calm. Dogen's radical claim is that practice and realization are not two things. We are not sitting in order to get somewhere. Zazen is not a method for producing enlightenment; zazen is enlightenment, taking the shape of a person sitting still.
Which means: acceptance is not the reward at the end of your practice. Acceptance is the practice. Every time you don't get up, you are learning something in the body that no amount of understanding will teach you — that experience can be unpleasant and survivable at the same time. That you can host a feeling without becoming it, and without evicting it.

Transcript

Okay, Here we are. Shikintaza and just sitting. It's so good. There is nothing to achieve. But being in the body. We notice the shoulders in space. The muscles of the face. The breath as it rises and falls. The knees, The thighs, The shins, The feet. Resting in their own shape. Perfect as they are. Nothing to change. Here we are. We notice the spine in space, Upright. And sincere. When we inhale, The spine gets taller. And stronger. When we exhale, The exhale exits from the body. And the shoulders move away from the ears. Finding that here. Inhale up. Tall, Strong spine. Exhale out. Good. Shoulders move away from the ears. When we inhale, The diaphragm moves down. And when we exhale, Mouth or nose, The diaphragm moves up. Nothing to change. The body as it is. So good. Arms are relaxed and at ease. The hands resting. In whatever shape they're in. Perfect. As they are. We then bring our attention to our minds. Thoughts arise. And then they pass away. This could be in the form of memory. Fantasy planning. And we let them arise. All of what the mind generates, No problem. When we exhale, We actually let that go. Again, The mind generates more ideas, Thoughts, Memories, Fantasies. No problem. Exhale, Let that go. So it's a process of letting whatever is arising to arise. Good. And then the natural progression. There it is. Of the exit or the ending, The exhale. The emptying out. Of that round of breath. Good. Inhale, Receiving. Exhale, Letting go. It's the same with sensation. Sound, Arises pain in any part of the body. On the exhale an invitation to let that go at least the focus of the pain let it go. Inhale sound noticing. It arise. Good. And pass away. So here we have the arising of thought, Sensation, Sound, Breath. Arise. And pass away. This is the practice. Arising. I'm passing away. Arising, And passing away. Just noticing. What is arising? What's the most predominant? Is it sensation? Is it sound? Thought? Uh-huh. And then let it pass away. Good. Inhale, Arise. Exhale. Pass away. This is a form of radical acceptance. For letting whatever is. To be there now. The sensation in the body. The sound outside. The image, And the mind. Arising, Aha. And passing away. As we start to end, We're noticing All of the anchoring we did from the beginning of practice. The tall spine, The shoulders away from the ears. The thighs, The knees, The shins, Feet. Perfect as they are. The diaphragm, Moving down as we inhale. And up as we exhale. There it is. Good. One more inhale. Feel it. Arising. Exhale, Letting it go.