Zen Intention

Zen Intention describes Bodhicitta (The awake mind). Explains how the awareness of all experiences without attachment, aversion or judgment is the proper intention that guides shikantaza (just sitting) the primary contemplative practice in the Soto Zen tradition;
applications to meditation practice; a brief silent practice period to engage in the descriptions and teachings; raises the point that the practitioner internalize the teachings, makes it one's own for personal benefit as well as for the benefit of all beings

Transcript

Welcome.

This talk is about intention from the Soto Zen perspective.

It's a modified version of a talk that I gave here on Insight Timer during my live Friday morning guided and silent meditation on December 12th,

2025.

Several participants suggested that I record it,

So here it is.

This process of simple awareness during the practice of Shikantaza or just sitting derives from a kusho or silent illumination.

It's guided by the intention to raise bodhicitta.

Bodhicitta breaks down into bodhi for Buddha or awake citta,

Mind.

Awake mind,

The mind of true awareness,

To the arising and passing of all experience without grasping,

Pushing away,

Or judgment.

We just notice and we continue to focus on just sitting.

We just stay present,

Simply being with the truth of the reality of the moment,

Whatever that might be.

This entails a relaxed and open awareness.

In this way we gently and quietly settle down into what is happening in the moment and create the space for our natural,

Peaceful being to become realized.

This sense of settled clarity is simply the awareness of what is.

The Chan teacher Sheng Yen cautions that,

Quote,

Unless mokusho is practiced properly,

It is no more useful than soaking stones in cold water to brew a cup of tea.

And misusing it can also amount to escaping into the ghost cave to weave dreams of unconcern.

The short of it is that mokusho,

Silent illumination,

Is not the same as doing nothing.

We notice the mind's tendency to become attached to objects of consciousness,

Such as sounds,

Physical sensations,

Thoughts,

Including feelings,

Memories,

And future concerns.

Whatever we experience in this practice of choiceless,

Objectless,

Goalless awareness,

We simply notice and return to the present moment and to the basic fact of sitting.

To repeat,

In this practice your attention is focused on sitting just as you are.

You're not trying to gain anything or to reach any imagined place.

You are also not trying to get rid of anything.

You simply sit and return your attention to a sense of the whole body just sitting in the present.

The present is your target.

This is mokusho plain and simple.

The mandate here,

As I like to describe it,

Is to just keep sitting no matter what.

Or,

When you get lost in thought trains,

To just remind yourself,

Just being as it is,

Just sitting.

Remember,

Letting go of thoughts is not the same as trying to eliminate thinking altogether.

Just being is just a simple reminder to take a backward step and to simply continue to notice exactly what is happening in the present moment.

But,

What is this simple basic fact of sitting?

To cite an old koan,

What is sitting with the face before your parents were born?

This face is the face before concepts,

Ideas,

Or feelings,

Or memories,

Wishes,

Or desires become activated.

This is the true dharma eye,

The seeing before and beyond concepts.

What is this sitting before concepts form?

What is this sitting when concepts form,

Or after concepts form?

What is this sitting in the moment before the bell sounds?

Inside the sound of the bell,

Outside the sound of the bell,

Or after the sound of the bell?

What is this sitting when the bird flies away in the endless sky and you are simply being here,

Just sitting still,

Just noticing?

What is sitting upright?

What is the basic fact of sitting?

The sitting of the left hand nestled gently in the right palm,

Thumb tips slightly touching.

What is the mind of sitting in silence?

What is the mind of sitting in the truck sound,

After the truck sound,

In the wind sound,

After the wind sound?

Dogen Zenji,

The 13th century Japanese monk who founded the Sodo Zen tradition,

Says that we must thoroughly investigate all of these mind moments.

By thorough investigation,

He means to just keep sitting,

No matter what.

We investigate by sitting without pushing away,

Or grasping,

After chasing after anything.

In other words,

Avoid picking and choosing.

Avoid avoiding.

In other words,

Exercise non-attachment to the rising and passing of all experience.

This is bodhicitta,

The mind of true awareness.

Simply abide in the dharma position of your uniqueness,

Just as you are.

Abide in the common ground of whole being,

In separateness and deep connectedness.

What is this basic fact of sitting?

Abide in the sitting of this question.

Abide in the sitting of the present moment,

In the dharma position of who you are right now,

Just sitting.

The past is gone.

It's no more than a memory puff.

The future has not yet arrived.

It is no more than a fantasy or a wish and a desire.

The present moment is gone as soon as it arises again and again and again,

Moment after moment.

The only reality is just this present moment of silent illumination.

But please,

Be careful.

Don't grasp at the present either.

Grasping is one of the three poisonous minds,

Ignorance,

Attachment,

And aversion.

We tend to pick and choose,

To grasp and to push away,

Because ignorance splits mind into a grasper and a grasped,

And creates the likes and the dislikes that engender picking and choosing.

This is only natural because we are human beings.

This is not a problem if you simply sit and notice.

You see,

Ignorance creates desirer and desired.

Ignorance creates attachment and aversion,

Grasping and pushing away.

But the mind that sees and the mind that is seen is really the same mind,

One mind.

The mind that hears and the mind that is heard is also one and the same mind.

The mind that speaks and the mind that is spoken to is one and the same mind.

Dogen writes in Soko Shinzei Butsu,

Mind Here and Now is Buddha,

That we realize in practice that mind here and now is Buddha.

We realize in practice that the mind which is Buddha is this.

We realize in practice that mind and Buddha here and now is right.

And we realize in practice that the Buddha mind is here and now.

The mind that has been authentically transmitted means one mind as all dharmas and all dharmas as one mind.

So,

Be careful not to turn the one mind into a something.

There's really nowhere to stand,

No solid ground,

Just sitting as it is.

Mokusho,

Silent illumination is its own ground.

So don't grasp the nowhere either.

Grasping the nowhere is also one of the three poisonous minds.

Whatever one grasps at,

A memory,

A concern,

A creative flash,

Enlightenment,

Samsara,

Nirvana,

The present,

They can all function as anchors and resistances.

If you raise the anchor and just keep sitting,

What do you imagine will happen?

What is left?

Just this.

The silence of illumination and the illumination of silence.

The silence of just noticing and the illumination of simple awareness.

The renowned Zen teacher Kodo Sawaki,

Also known as Homeless Kodo,

Was reputed to say,

Zazen is good for nothing.

Well,

What is this nothing that Zazen is good for?

Do you want to find out?

Then just keep sitting,

No matter what.

And with these points in mind,

I'll ring the bell three times and we can enter a silent period of sitting.

Thank you for your presence and for your practice.

I understand that this period of sitting was very brief just to put the teachings into practice.

And the idea is to internalize the teaching and make it your own and bring the practice into your own life in your own time.

It's really important,

Not just for us,

But to practice for the benefit of all beings.

Thank you and take care.

Reviews

So glad you decided to publish this since I missed the Friday session. The message is always the same, isn’t it? Always simple. Always consistent. The best thing for me is that it works without external props. The Friday group is very important to me, but not essential. It’s the practice. Thank you

Thanks for posting this talk, Seiso. Very interesting. I missed it in December. I can't often participate in the morning zazen sessions now as they are at 11pm for me, so I'm usually asleep. I was there last night though. As usual your teachings challenge us and give us a lot to consider and to hopefully incorporate into our practice. I'll keep at it. There's nothing else to do really. 😏🙏

Thanks for posting this teaching. I remember hoping you would.
Very good lesson. 🙏🙏

Thanks so much for this excellent track to gently guide me into silent sits … thank you, Seiso 🙏