{"id":498,"date":"2008-10-14T19:50:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-14T19:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2008\/10\/after-searching-exhaustively\/"},"modified":"2008-10-14T19:50:00","modified_gmt":"2008-10-14T19:50:00","slug":"after-searching-exhaustively","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2008\/10\/after-searching-exhaustively.html","title":{"rendered":"After Searching Exhaustively"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

<\/span>\n

In today\u2019s Soto Zen discourse in America, terms like shikantaza and practice-enlightenment are often wantonly misused. Reader of such words, take heed! They are often pasted onto some \u201cspecial\u201d state of mind or used to justify some deluded state of mind. In such a way the wondrous and vital realization to which they point is obscured.<\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s always been this way. Dogen called practice-enlightenment a \u201csubtle method.\u201d Katagiri Roshi often said that only a few people really understood shikantaza.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Similarly, in Maezumi Roshi\u2019s commentary on Dogen\u2019s instructions for zazen, he translated the usually untranslated formal beginning, \u201cTazunuru ni sore\u2026\u201d as \u201cAfter searching exhaustively\u2026\u201d and then Dogen offers a couple pages on what he\u2019s found \u2013 specific instructions for the great spirit of universal zazen.<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

After searching exhaustively, what is shikantaza? <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Wikipedia has \u201cnothing but (shikan) precisely (ta) sitting (za)\u201d for shikantaza <\/span><\/span>(<\/span><\/span>\u53ea\u7ba1\u6253\u5750<\/span><\/span>)<\/span><\/span>. Not a bad translation. Much better than \u201cjust sitting.\u201d<\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

But you have to work out what shikantaza really is for yourself on your cushion and off.<\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

The characters <\/span>shi<\/span><\/i><\/span> and <\/span>kan<\/span><\/i><\/span> have the literal meanings of <\/span>free<\/span><\/i><\/span> and <\/span>tube<\/span><\/i><\/span>. It only seems<\/span> to be contradictory. Indeed, shikantaza is nothing but a free tube where free and tube are in intimate dialogue.<\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

The main point of this post: the discovery of true shikantaza and practice-enlightenment requires a devoted search, informed by work with someone who has made this discovery for themselves. Careful study of Dogen\u2019s work is a great resource in the culling and weeding process \u2013 culling and weeding everything you think shikantaza is.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Popular phrases like \u201cpanoramic nonjudgmental awareness\u201d and \u201cbig mind\u201d are just bits and pieces of earnest, vivid sitting. Please, students of dharma<\/a>, don\u2019t settle for a cheap, limp, Americanized imitation of the real, wholehearted deal.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s Soto Zen discourse in America, terms like shikantaza and practice-enlightenment are often wantonly misused. Reader of such words, take heed! They are often pasted onto some \u201cspecial\u201d state of mind or used to justify some deluded state of mind. In such a way the wondrous and vital realization to which they point is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAfter Searching Exhaustively<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In today\u2019s Soto Zen discourse in America, terms like shikantaza and practice-enlightenment are often wantonly misused. 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