SHIKANTAZA is meditation practice without meditation techniques. Shikan means “just,” “simply,” “solely,” or “single-mindedly.” Taza means “sitting.”
So shikantaza is often translated as “just sitting”—and nothing else. There is no contemplation, for example, of Buddhist concepts such as the impurity of the body, the suffering inherent in sensation, the impermanence of the mind, or no-self. Nor does it involve the concentration of our attention on activities such as counting the breath, repeating a mantra, holding a certain koan, or visualizing images of buddhas, bodhisattvas, the scenery of the pure land, or the full moon. In shikantaza, we don’t use any of these techniques.
My understanding of shikantaza is really doing nothing but sitting.
We sit with an upright posture.
We breathe deeply, smoothly, and peacefully through our nose, as if…
