1 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
View submission: Conflicted about Zen Buddhism in general
Who said it’s unusual to practice shikantaza for bliss? The Buddha didn’t.
The Buddha explained in the first jhana one has vivekajam Piti sukham.
If your mind has viveka, you can’t not feel bliss.
When I practice there is always bliss, non conceptual radiant bliss, and it transcends itself.
I wasn’t taught to practice it for bliss, it just happens whenever I have viveka, non clinging, non doing, and just seeing.
Comment by JundoCohen at 17/02/2025 at 00:52 UTC*
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Of course, you are free to do as you wish, and I am sure that it is a beneficial practice if you find it so. It is just that I have not heard any Shikantaza teacher in Soto Zen link Shikantaza with stages and Jhana. So, maybe this is just your own notion?
As a matter of fact, in Fukanzazengi, Master Dogen seems to say not. He says "所謂坐禪は習禪には非ず" which can mean that it is not "learning Jhana" or Zen by stages. Also, the expression sometimes translated as "bliss" is actually "唯是れ安楽の法門なり" with "安楽" which is more like "Peaceful Ease" ... 安楽 (Ch. 安樂), is the raku 楽 of Sukkha (i.e. 大樂), the opposite of "Dukkha." I prefer a translation of "peaceful ease/comfort" for anraku 安楽. But in ordinary Japanese, it just means "comfortable." https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%AE%89%E6%A5%BD[1][2]
1: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%AE%89%E6%A5%BD
2: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%AE%89%E6%A5%BD
If anything, I sometimes make the link (purely my own) of Shikantaza and the Fourth Jhana. The Fourth Jhana in the Pali Suttas was considered the 'summit' of Jhana practice (as the higher "otherworldly" Jhanas, No. 5 to 8, were not encouraged as a kind of 'dead end') and appears to manifest (quoting the sutta descriptions in the book link below) "an abandoning of pleasure, pain, attractions/aversions, a dropping of both joy and grief", a dropping away of both rapture and bliss states, resulting in a "purity of mindfulness" and "equanimity". Combine this with the fact that, more than a "one pointed mind absorbed into a particular object", there is a "unification of mind" (described as a broader awareness around the object of meditation ... whereby the "mind itself becomes collected and unmoving, but not the objects of awareness, as mindfulness becomes lucid, effortless and unbroken" (See, for examples. pages 82-83 here)) https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=lQ%5C_ZzFgJ1AwC&lpg=PP1&ots=Nfh%5C_Zax84P&dq=richard%20skankman&pg=PA80#v=onepage&q&f=false[3][4]
In any case, I have not heard any Soto Zen interpretation of Shikantaza and 1st Jhana like that, so take it as your notion. I would advise, if you have bliss, cherish such. But do not cling to bliss, of course. If you do not have bliss, cherish such. It is also what is, whole and complete.
Comment by Zazenhead at 16/02/2025 at 14:16 UTC
0 upvotes, 2 direct replies
I appreciate this view. I've been doing some research into jhanas recently, and it's interesting that shikantaza can directly lead to the first jhanas, which are supposed to be very enjoyable. Dogen in the fukanzazengi even says that zazen is the dharma gate of repose and bliss. I also know TNH once gave a talk and said that the absence of the three poisons (which would be let go of in shikantaza) is actually true happiness, and that we should recognize it as such.