How
Zen Buddhism Can Be Bettered
In
this text, I will use Hakuun Yasutani Roshi's instructions on just
sitting, as a source for commentary of my own, where I present an
idea how the training paradigm of zen buddhism, could be greatly
enhanced. For those not familiar with Yasutani Hakuun Roshi, a rather
famous figure of Japanese and Western Zen of the 20th
century, I recommend reading his
Wikipedia page.
Yasutani
Roshi's instruction of shikantaza,
or just sitting, are from the book ”On Zen Practice: Body, Breath
and Mind” by Taizan Maezumi and Bernie Glassman. You can read this
chapter that I will quote and comment below, from here.
I would ask the reader to read his instructions carefully, to be sure
that with my comments I am not mispresenting him.
Quotes
from Yasutani Roshi, with added comments.
In doing shikantaza you must maintain mental alertness, which is of particular importance to beginners - and even those who have been practicing ten years could still be called beginners! Often due to weak concentration, one becomes self-conscious or falls into a sort of trance or ecstatic state of mind...
When you thoroughly practice shikantaza you will sweat - even in the winter. Such intensely heightened alertness of mind cannot be maintained for long periods of time. You might think that you can maintain it for longer, but this state will naturally loosen. So sit half an hour to an hour, then stand up and do a period of kinhin, walking meditation.
During kinhin, relax the mind a little. Refresh yourself. Then sit down and continue shikantaza.
To do shikantaza does not mean to become without thoughts, yet, doing shikantaza, do not let your mind wander. Do not even contemplate enlightenment or becoming Buddha. As soon as such thoughts arise, you have stopped doing shikantaza...
Sit with such intensely heightened concentration, patience, and alertness that if someone were to touch you while you are sitting, there would be an electrical spark! Sitting thus, you return naturally to the original Buddha, the very nature of your being.
Kim's Comment: In his instructions, Yasutani quotes Dogen (see the original text), to indicate what shikantaza is. However, Yasutani's take on shikantaza is clearly different to Dogen's, because his instructions describe ”intensely heightened concentration”. Anyone who has studied vajrayana buddhism, and its clear expositions of meditation practices, can see that Yasutani confuses concentration practice or cultivation of one-pointedness (skt. samadhi, j. zanmai), as it is termed in zen buddhism, with effortless buddhanature sitting, which is what just sitting is. He confuses effort-based heightened concentration or heightened attention, with knowing awareness.
Yasutani: Then, almost anything can plunge you into the sudden realization that all beings are originally buddhas and all existence is perfect from the beginning. Experiencing this is called enlightenment...
Kim's Comment: Here, Yasutani describes how ”anything can plunge” the practitioners into ”sudden realization”, or kensho. This is where he unknowingly explains his erroneous pedagogy of just sitting. In the above bits, he gives instructions of sitting with high alertness, that can only be maintained for short periods of time, until it loosens. This is a classical description of samadhi meditation, which as many zen stories depict, is shattered by some sight, sound or event, which makes one see one's true nature (j. kensho). In a nutshell, Yasutani describes concentration practice of heightened intensity that is then plunged or shattered, which makes the natural state appear, to effect an insight, and he calls all of this with one term, that of shikantaza. This is where the pedagogical mistake is, for heightened concentration, or heightened attention is not the same as kensho, which is a synonym for shikantaza. For this reason, there is a significant difference between Yasutani's and Zen master Dogen's instructions.
Yasutani: In short, shikantaza is the actual practice of buddhahood itself from the very beginning - and, in diligently practicing shikantaza, when the time comes, one will realize that very fact. However, to practice in this manner can require a long time to attain enlightenment, and such practice should never be discontinued until one fully realizes enlightenment. Even after attaining great enlightenment and even if one becomes a roshi, one must continue to do shikantaza forever, simply because shikantaza is the actualization of enlightenment itself.
Kim's
Comment: In correct buddhanature sitting, there is no
beginning, realization or diligent practice. In correct shikantaza,
there is no effort, nor distraction, such as drowsiness, to a
slightest degree. I offer my further comments.
Samsaric
beings, such as myself, have two kinds of minds: one bound by
confusion (samsaric mind) and the other one free (buddhanature). The
way to illuminate the samsaric mind and its many traits, in
Rinzai-style of zen buddhism, is to focus strongly and keep focusing
strongly (samadhi), for in some cases several years, until some
spontaneous event from outside occurs, breaks the samadhi,
and in consequence, the practitioner momentarily sees his or her
buddhanature. What happens with concentration practice, is that one
becomes focused, instead of being distracted, while at the same time,
establishing calmness of the mind. This is how it ideally is, but in
some cases strong concentration, carried over a long period of time,
can also create great health problems. For this reason instructions
like this, without learning how to relax well, can be altogether
counterproductive. In regards to strong sitting, I find it
questionable what is the benefit of this for older people, from
middle-aged and older, who many are already calm and in general have
less vitality than younger people.
Being
concentrated is in a way, being self-immersed, self-indulgent.
Because the mind is restless and distractive, it requires a lot of
training to be able to create a samadhi, a state of complete
self-immersion or absorption. In rinzai zen, the logic is to create
this samadhi which when it is accomplished, will be automatically
smashed into bits by a sound or a sight, such as view of mountains,
red Autumn leaf falling from a tree, barking of a dog, sound of rain,
seeing of a flower or a yell of a zen master. The main point here is
that the cause that shatters the samadhi, never comes from the mind
of the practitioner him- or herself, because the mind is in samadhi,
in a state of immersion, without thought. In tantric terms, the cause
that generates kensho, always comes from outside of the
practitioner's energy field.
In
my view and experience, as well as those of my students, it is not
necessary to generate samadhi first. I have discussed this in
Rethinking
Zen and Kensho, which mentions how the whole process could be
made more efficient, through dynamic
concentration. In
the instruction above, Yasutani speaks of dynamic concentration, done
silently, actually at a medium,
rather than high
intensity.
If
the reader is not familiar how concentration is used in Open Heart,
as in Tibetan dzogchen, we use short sharp shouts, like short vocal
explosions, to cut through the many layers of the mind, to access and
recognise the natural state. This is not unfamiliar to zen buddhism
where teachers
and students yell to each other, or in some lineages have shouted
MUUU! for hours on
end to have kensho.
The
main difference between medium and (truly) high intensity focus is
that with short explosion the desired outcome, that of recognition of
buddhanature which is kensho, is accomplished in few seconds, while
with medium concentration it takes a lot longer, for the above
mentioned reason that one constantly gets distracted. Medium
intensity concentration also needs to be fed with energy which makes
it demanding of vitality and can even ruin one's health, as in the
cases of young zen master Hakuin, and my own, for example.
It
is a simple fact that the process of samadhi can be bypassed, while
prioritizing the recognition of buddhanature. The essential point is
that it is not through concentrative focus but through many
kenshos that one becomes familiar of one's buddhanature.
Thank
you for reading,
-
Kim Katami, 10.12.2018
Helsinki,
Finland.
In
my book, available free of charge, I have given detailed instructions
about dynamic concentration and its effectiveness, What's
Next? On Post-Awakening Practice.
See
demonstrations of dynamic concentration, playlist
here.
