The way The "goal" Background Chinese texts Classical Post-classical Contemporary Zen in Japan Seon in Korea Thiền in Vietnam Western Zen Shikantaza (只管打坐) is Dogen's Japanese translation of the Chinese phrase zhǐguǎn dǎzuò (只管打坐 / 祇管打坐),[1][web 1] "focus on meditative practice alone", although many modern Western practitioners have interpreted this very differently.
Some practitioners teach that shikantaza means that one should not focus attention on a specific object (such as the breath),[note 1] instead "just sitting" in a state of conscious awareness.
The original teaching was meant to criticize the complicated ceremony, abstruse study, endless tracing of spiritual lineage, and other aspects of Buddhism that even by the 12th century had been identified as excessive.
[9] The original exchange between Rujing and his disciples indicates a clear meaning of the teaching: that high-flung ceremony and study are unnecessary and irrelevant, that zazen, dhyana, and similar meditation practice of whatever kind (whether sitting, resting, breathing, gazing at a scene, walking, or simply engaging in silence) should be sufficiently effective.
James Ishmael Ford states that "some trace the root of this word [shikantaza] to the Japanese pronunciation of Sanskrit vipassana, though this is far from certain.
It stems from a more commonly used Japanese word, namely 止観 (shikan, "concentration and observation"[note 2]) (as practiced by the Tendai sect) that translates the Sanskrit "śamatha and vipaśyanā," the two basic forms of Buddhist meditation.
[note 3] The phrase zhǐguǎn dǎzuò ("just sitting") was used by Dōgen's teacher Tiantong Rujing (1162–1228) for silent illumination[2] (Chinese mòzhào 默照; Japanese mokushō).
"[14] According to Merv Fowler, shikantaza is described best as "quiet sitting in open awareness, reflecting directly the reality of life.
"[16] Fred Reinhard Dallmayr writes, Regarding practice, Dogen counseled a distinctly nonattached or nonclinging kind of action, that is, an activity completely unconcerned with benefits or the accomplishment of ulterior goals: the activity of 'just sitting' or 'nothing-but-sitting' (shikantaza) whereby self-seeking is set aside in a manner resembling a resolute 'dropping off of body and mind.
Mental strength (joriki) is not achieved through sustained concentration as in breath meditation, but through awareness of the flow of mind, without actively attempting to let go of a thought.
"[21] For his part, describing the practice's goal as being simply aware of thoughts without getting caught by them, Sean Murphy cites Taizan Maezumi as advising to "regard our thoughts as if they were clouds, watching them as they drift from one end of the mind to the other, but making no attempt to hold onto them - and when they pass over the horizon, as they inevitably will, making no attempt to grasp after them.
[23] When faced against strong emotions or anxious thoughts, Cohen instructs to simply observe them with equanimity, "treating them like passing weather clouds".
[24][25] Another similar description comes from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, in I Am That, where he recommends "letting thoughts flow and watching them and to keep the mind quiet.