Shikantaza

Shikantaza (只管打坐) is Dogen's Japanese translation of the Chinese phrase zhǐguǎn dǎzuò (只管打坐 / 祇管打坐), "focus on meditative practice alone", although many modern Western practitioners have interpreted this very differently. The phrase was used by Dogen's teacher Rujing, a monk of the Caodong school of Chan Buddhism, to refer to the meditation-practice called "silent illumination" (Chinese: 默照禅), or "serene reflection", taught by the Caodong master Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091–1157). In Japan, it is associated with the Zen Soto school, Dogen's offshoot of Caodong. Some practitioners teach that shikantaza means that one should not focus attention on a specific object (such as the breath), instead "just sitting" in a state of conscious awareness. However, the 13th-century origin of the expression indicates a general emphasis on meditation in any form as sufficient for spiritual enlightenment. 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.

According to Buswell and Lopez, the Sōtō school presents shikantaza as a radical simplification of practice which is necessary in the degenerate age of the Dharma, or mappō. That is, rather than try to master a range of concentration techniques, such as breath counting or the investigation of koans, by simply adopting the posture of the buddhas and ancestors, the practitioner becomes identical to them in body and mind, thus becoming stabilized in "a state of full clarity and alertness, free from any specific content," which is also described as the state of body and mind dropping off.

The term shikantaza is the Sino-Japanese reading of Zhǐguǎn dǎzuò (只管打坐 / 祇管打坐) "just sitting", "nothing but sitting", "meditation of just sitting", "just mind [yourself] sitting". Zhǐguǎn dǎzuò (只管打坐 / 祇管打坐) translates as follows:

The inspiration for this teaching derives from a pivotal episode reportedly occurring sometime in the early 1220s (Song dynasty), at Tiantong Mountain Monastery (天童寺, also known as Jingde Monastery 景德寺, east of modern-day Ningbo). An exchange took place between the eminent Chinese Caodong teacher Rujing and his disciples. In particular, it focuses on an inspiration by one of Rujing's Japanese disciples, Dōgen, who would later found the Sōtō Zen sect:

Then, one day during late night seated meditation, Reverend Jing entered the hall and admonished the great assembly for sleeping, saying:

"Inquiring into Zen is the sloughing off of body and mind [身心脱落]. There is no need for burning incense, making prostrations, recollecting buddhas, practicing repentances, or reading sūtras. Just sit [in meditation] [祇管に打坐]; only then will you attain it."

At that time, hearing this, the Master [Dōgen] immediately had a great awakening... . [emphasis added]

While T.G. Foulk's translation here reads only "sit", he and other interpreters clarify that the meaning of 打坐 is generally broad, meaning more than simply sitting. 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.