While sitting in meditation,
Don't do anything else but focusing on the posture and the breathing.
If we continue to point our attention to an upright sitting posture and surrender to the rhythm of our breath,
We can liberate our mind naturally,
Automatically.
This simple reality of sitting upright and being fully present allows our mind to go beyond its usual functioning.
Instead of thinking,
As in evaluating,
Or as in problem solving,
Instead of dwelling in the mental and emotional dimensions of our being,
We enter the spiritual realm of our existence.
It's neither thinking nor the absence of thinking.
Zen,
We speak of shiryo,
Thinking,
And fu shiryo,
Non-thinking.
So it's neither thinking nor absence of thinking,
Neither shiryo nor fu shiryo.
It is thinking from the roots of non-thinking.
It is going beyond thinking and non-thinking,
Hi shiryo,
Thinking with our entire body,
With our entire being,
Wholeheartedly.
And that cannot be grasped with our analytical mind.
It cannot be understood rationally.
It's incomprehensible,
Elusive.
When we try to grasp it,
It escapes.
When we surrender to reality,
It appears.
To practice Zen,
By concentrating on posture and breathing,
Is to enter the realm of mu shin,
Mu,
Absence,
Shin,
Mind,
That which is unconditioned,
That which cannot be enclosed by thoughts.
This is the most precious thing of all.
In Buddha's way,
There are many things that can be understood,
Practiced with our ordinary mind.
For example,
Everything that has to do with causality,
With karma,
Action,
And consequence.
These things are in line with scientific understanding.
If we act a certain way,
It produces a certain effect.
Everything that exists has a cause.
Thoughts,
Words,
And actions have consequences.
Our ordinary mind can understand all that.
But this ordinary mind does not have the power to really liberate us.
Our ordinary mind remains in the conditioned world.
It remains a prisoner of its own limiting factors,
Its categories,
And judgments.
To concentrate on Zazen,
On sitting meditation,
Abandoning all personal thoughts in the practice,
Is to unconsciously and naturally become intimate with the unconditioned,
Real freedom,
Liberation,
The real potential of our humanity.
Although going beyond thinking and non-thinking is shiryu,
Is the most essential practice,
The most important,
And the essential point of transmission as well.
No words can describe it.
No words can describe its virtue,
Its meaning.
We can only experience it.
We can only realize it by being fully present in posture and breathing,
By surrendering to the simplicity of this living reality,
Right here,
Right now.
This body,
This breath.
