Instructions for Shikantaza

It's hard to give concise, clear instructions for shikantaza. Part of this is because I think we all have to find our own way into shikantaza; to become familiar enough with our own internal worlds that we can arrive at our own understanding of what is meant by hishiryo (non-thinking, as opposed to not thinking).

Koun Franz

Dogen's instructions are found in the text called Fukanzazengi, which translates as something like, "A universal recommendation for the practice of zazen", and it's where the reference to hishiryo comes from. You can find a good translation at the Sotoshu's own website (the Sotoshu is the Soto Zen institution in Japan), another with commentary is at terebess.hu/zen/dogen/Fukanzazengi.pdf.

I've always liked the relative straightforwardness and this text, but the question of "What do you do with your mind during shikantaza" is no more clearly answered here than anywhere. This was all brought to mind today when I came across a set of instructions for shikantaza from Zen teacher Koun Franz which really struck me. They've got some of the straightforwardness of the Fukanzazengi, but also a poetry of the Absolute to them as well that I think highlights the futility of a paint-by-numbers approach to shikantaza.

It starts:

Choose this place.

Whenever you can, sit with others. When you can’t, sit with others. Let others sit with you.

Wear the kashaya [kesa / rakusu]. Just as Buddhas sit in zazen while zazen is the activity of Buddhas, Buddhas wear the kashaya -- the kashaya manifests the shape of a Buddha. Even if there is no robe, just wear it.

Do not put yourself into sitting -- come empty handed. Do not make zazen -- let sitting reveal itself. Do not use zazen for this or that -- sitting is neither means nor end.

...and it finishes:

Zazen is not non-doing; it is not non-thinking. Zazen is a deep, dreamless sleep on fire. It is clutching a boulder to your belly at the bottom of the cool ocean. Roots penetrate and plunge downward into the rough textures of the earth. A cloud dissolves into open sky.

Stirring stuff! Perhaps not ideal instruction for beginners, but for those who've had a sniff of the Way, who are struggling to pin down what this shikantaza thing is, a wonderful flavour of the mundane and the sublime which together make up both shikantaza and every moment.

You can find the whole text at nyoho.com/2013/04/07/an-attempt-at-instructions-for-zazen.