Mark Foote

(I apologize for the dupe)

In one of his lectures, Shunryu Suzuki spoke about the difference between “preparatory practice” and “shikantaza”, or “just sitting”: But usually in counting breathing or following breathing, you feel as if you are doing something, you know– you are following breathing, and you are counting breathing. This is, you know, why counting breathing or following breathing practice is, you know, for us it is some preparation– preparatory practice for shikantaza because for most people it is rather difficult to sit, you know, just to sit. (“The Background of Shikantaza”, Shunryu Suzuki; San Francisco, February 22, 1970; transcript from shunryusuzuki.com) Suzuki said that directing attention to the movement of breath (“following breathing… counting breathing”) has the feeling of “doing something”, and that “doing something” makes such practice only preparatory. Although attention can be directed to the movement of breath, necessity in the movement of breath can also direct attention, as I wrote previously: There can… come a moment when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a certain location in the body, or at a series of locations, with the ability to remain awake as the location of attention shifts retained through the exercise of presence. There’s a frailty in the structure of the lower spine, and the movement of breath can place the point of awareness in such a fashion as to engage a mechanism of support for the spine, often in stages. ... Again, a [person], putting away ease… enters and abides in the fourth musing; seated, [one] suffuses [one’s] body with purity by the pureness of [one’s] mind so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded with purity by the pureness of [one’s] mind. (AN III 25-28, Pali Text Society III p 18-19, see also MN III Pali Text Society III p 92-93; bracketed material paraphrases original) “Pureness of mind” is what remains when “doing something” ceases. When “doing something” has ceased, and there is “not one particle of the body” that cannot receive the placement of attention, then the placement of attention is free to shift as necessary in the movement of breath. (Shunryu Suzuki on Shikantaza and the Theravadin Stages) Returning to your question, Vajra Fist, which I think is an excellent one--I would contend that what Gautama described as the "fourth musing" is shikantaza. Gautama often described four "musings" followed by "the survey-sign" of the concentration, a kind of overview of the body that followed the fourth musing. My impression is that he could use the survey-sign to recall the fourth musing as circumstances dictated. And I would contend that a person who becomes adept at returning to the first musing, and at recalling the fourth musing in a natural rhythm of mindfulness that takes place in the first musing, is generally considered enlightened. That's not the attainment that marked Gautama's enlightenment, however. That was Gautama's way of living. Gautama's enlightenment involved the further deliverances, four concentrations and the final cessation of "doing something" in actions of feeling and perceiving, the actions of the mind. So to answer your question: yes, to actually practice shikantaza requires an experience: When the location of attention can shift anywhere in the body as a function of the movement of breath, and the activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation follows solely from the location of attention, there is a feeling of freedom. (What Shunryu Suzuki Actually Said) The difficulty is that most people will lose consciousness before they cede activity to the location of attention–they lose the presence of mind with the placement of attention, because they can’t believe that action in the body is possible without “doing something...” (Shunryu Suzuki on Shikantaza and the Theravadin Stages) but it's not the same as enlightenment. Passes for enlightenment often enough, though. Here’s Gautama, speaking about intervals of practice that can “develop mindfulness of death acutely”—the intervals are moments that call for a presence of mind with the placement of attention: …whoever develops mindfulness of death, thinking, ‘O, that I might live for the interval that it takes to swallow having chewed up one morsel of food… for the interval that it takes to breathe out after breathing in, or to breathe in after breathing out, that I might attend to the Blessed One’s instructions. I would have accomplished a great deal’ — they are said to dwell heedfully. They develop mindfulness of death acutely… (AN 6.19 PTS: A iii 303 p 218; Maranassati Sutta: Mindfulness of Death (1) tr Thanissaro Bhikkhu; “effluents” rendered as “cankers” in the PTS translation by F. L. Woodward) The presence of mind with the free placement of attention is shikantaza, provided there is "one-pointedness"--here’s a picture of Issho Fujita demonstrating “one-pointedness” at the Sonoma Mountain Zen Center:

I cleaned up my response to your question, Elysium, and posted the result on my site: Knees on the Ground A friend tells me he had some success doing exercises, but I've never had great luck that way.

truth veiled trickery top-down foolery--and yet, the cherry tree blooms

… free from the fervor of zest, (one) enters and abides in the third musing; (one) steeps and drenches and fills and suffuses this body with a zestless ease so that there is not one particle of the body that is not pervaded by this zestless ease. … just as in a pond of blue, white, and red water-lillies, the plants are born in water, grow in water, come not out of the water, but, sunk in the depths, find nourishment, and from tip to root are steeped, drenched, filled and suffused with cold water so that not a part of them is not pervaded by cold water; even so, (one) steeps (one’s) body in zestless ease. (AN III 25-28, Pali Text Society Vol. III p 18-19, see also MN III 92-93, PTS p 132-134) About Gautama’s analogy for the third state of concentration (white, red, and blue lotuses that never break the surface of a pond): I believe Gautama’s analogy refers to the balance of the legs, arms, and head around the place of occurrence of consciousness. The ox-herding picture of a flute-playing individual riding an ox similarly demonstrates the involvement of the limbs and the jaw with the weight and balance of the body, in the movement of breath.

Must be a lot of businesses that could use someone with computer skills, spread-sheet skills, statistical skills, which I'm guess you have. Maybe take a break and travel a bit, if you can afford it. The discouraging thing about the new digital age is the lack of personal contact in interviewing and hiring. Build your interpersonal networks, while you're in school. All just a guess on my part, I've been very fortunate and people have been very kind, and I've managed to get by in several capacities. The people are the main thing.

My cat just polished half the meat from a McDonald's double bacon cheeseburger. She loves that, and she's been off her feed lately, so I bought one for her.

"Upon abstracting (oneself) from (one's) physical body and from the outside world, (one) starts to identify, in the movement of (one's) breath, the physical automation that controls (their) life energy. (A person) continues like this until becoming a part of the air that (they) breath and reaching the understanding that (they themselves) only exist as consciousness, which is manifested as part of the autonomous mechanism of (their) breathing... ("Daoist Meditation: The Purification of the Heart Method of Meditation and Discourse on Sitting and Forgetting (Zuo Wang Lun) by Si Ma", Wu Jyh Cherng, p 28, emphasis added) In plain English: There can come a moment when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a certain location in the body, or at a series of locations, with the ability to remain awake as the location of attention shifts retained through the exercise of presence. There’s a frailty in the structure of the lower spine, and the movement of breath can place the point of awareness in such a fashion as to engage a mechanism of support for the spine, often in stages. (Shunryu Suzuki on Shikantaza and the Theravadin Stages) When the location of attention can shift anywhere in the body as a function of the movement of breath, and the activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation follows solely from the location of attention, there is a feeling of freedom. (What Shunryu Suzuki Actually Said)

Issho Fujita holds onto his hat, at Sonoma Mountain Zen Center:

Good question, and to my mind, that is exactly the topic. The presence of mind can utilize the location of attention to maintain the balance of the body and coordinate activity in the movement of breath, without a particularly conscious effort to do so. There can also come a moment when the movement of breath necessitates the placement of attention at a certain location in the body, or at a series of locations, with the ability to remain awake as the location of attention shifts retained through the exercise of presence. There’s a frailty in the structure of the lower spine, and the movement of breath can place the point of awareness in such a fashion as to engage a mechanism of support for the spine, often in stages. (Shunryu Suzuki on Shikantaza and the Theravadin Stages) Any bent-knee posture held for a period of time will allow a witness. Then, it's just hold onto your hat: When the location of attention can shift anywhere in the body as a function of the movement of breath, and the activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation follows solely from the location of attention, there is a feeling of freedom. (What Shunryu Suzuki Actually Said) I practice now to experience the free placement of attention as the sole source of activity in the body in the movement of breath, and in my “complicated, difficult” daily life, I look for the mindfulness that allows me to touch on that freedom. (“To Enjoy Our Life”) The piece that you're missing is the fact that action can come out of the free location of awareness, without what Gautama called "determinate thought". That has to be experienced to be believed.

"Happier", maybe not, but happiness is intrinsic to the states of concentration, according to the Gautamid: I know that while my father, the Sakyan, was ploughing, and I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose-apple tree, aloof from pleasures of the senses, aloof from unskilled states of mind, I entered on the first meditation, which is accompanied by initial thought and discursive thought, is born of aloofness, and is rapturous and joyful, and while abiding therein, I thought: ‘Now could this be a way to awakening?’ Then, following on my mindfulness, Aggivissana, there was the consciousness: This is itself the Way to awakening. This occurred to me, Aggivissana: ‘Now, am I afraid of that happiness which is happiness apart from sense-pleasures, apart from unskilled states of mind?’ This occurred to me…: I am not afraid of that happiness which is happiness apart from sense-pleasures, apart from unskilled states of mind.’ (MN 1 246-247, Vol I p 301) Whatever happiness, whatever joy, Ananda, arises in consequence of these five strands of sense-pleasures, it is called happiness in sense-pleasures. Whoever, Ananda, should speak thus: ‘This is the highest happiness and joy that creatures experience’—this I cannot allow on [their] part. What is the reason for this? There is, Ananda, another happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness. And what, Ananda, is this other happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness? Here, Ananda, a [person], aloof from pleasures of the senses, aloof from unskilled states of mind, enters and abides in the first meditation that is accompanied by initial thought and discursive thought, is born of aloofness and is rapturous and joyful. This, Ananda, is the other happiness that is more excellent and exquisite than that happiness. Whoever, Ananda, should speak thus: ‘This [the first meditative state] is the highest happiness and joy that creatures experience’–this I cannot allow on [their] part. What is the reason for this? There is, Ananda, another happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness. And what, Ananda, is this other happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness? Here, Ananda, [an individual], by allaying initial and discursive thought, [their] mind inwardly tranquillised and fixed on one point, enters and abides in the second meditation which is devoid of initial and discursive thought, is born of concentration, and is rapturous and joyful. This, Ananda, is the other happiness that is more excellent and joyful than that happiness. Whoever, Ananda, should speak thus… And what, Ananda, is this other happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness? Here, Ananda, [an individual], by the fading out of rapture, abides with equanimity, attentive and clearly conscious, and [they] experience in [their] person that happiness of which the [noble ones] say: ‘Joyful lives [the one] who has equanimity and is mindful’. And entering on the third meditation [they] abide in it. This, Ananda, is the other happiness that is more excellent and exquisite than that happiness. Whoever, Ananda, should speak thus… And what, Ananda is the other happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness? Here, Ananda, [an individual], by getting rid of happiness and by getting rid of anguish, by the going down of [their] former pleasures and sorrows, enters and abides in the fourth meditation which has neither anguish nor happiness, and which is entirely purified by equanimity and mindfulness. This, Ananda, is the other happiness that is more excellent and exquisite than that happiness. “Whoever, Ananda, should speak thus: ‘This [the fourth meditative state] is the highest happiness and joy that creatures experience’-this I cannot allow on [their] part. What is the reason for this? There is, Ananda, another happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness. And what, Ananda, is this other happiness more excellent and exquisite than that happiness? Here, Ananda, a [person], by wholly transcending perceptions of material shapes, by the going down of perceptions due to sensory impressions, by not attending to perceptions of difference, thinking: “Ether is unending’, enters and abides in the plane of infinite ether. This, Ananda, is the other happiness that is more excellent and exquisite than that happiness. …[a person], by wholly transcending the plane of infinite ether and thinking: ‘Consciousness is unending’, enters and abides in the plane of infinite consciousness… …[a person], by wholly transcending the plane of infinite consciousness, and thinking: ‘There is no thing’. enters and abides in the plane of no-thing… …[a person]. by wholly transcending the plane of no-thing, enters and abides in the plane of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. …[a person], by wholly transcending the plane of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. enters and abides in the stopping of perceiving and feeling. This, Ananda, is the other happiness that is more excellent and exquisite than that happiness.” (MN I 398-400, Vol II p 67-69) “…What do you think about this, reverend Jain: Is King Seniya Bimbisara of Magadha, without moving his body, without uttering a word, able to stay experiencing nothing but happiness for seven nights and days?” “No, your reverence.” “What do you think about this, reverend Jain: Is King Seniya Bimbisara of Magadha, without moving his body, without uttering a word, able to stay experiencing nothing but happiness for six nights and days, for five, for four, for three, for two nights and days, for one night and day?” “No, your reverence.” “But I, reverend Jain, am able, without moving my body, without uttering a word, to stay experiencing nothing but happiness for one night and day. I, reverend Jain, am able, without moving my body, without uttering a word, to stay experiencing nothing but happiness for two nights and days,, for three, four, five, six, for seven nights and days.” (MN I 94, Vol I p 123-124) Gautama also said that whatever one imagines a particular state of concentration to be, it is otherwise, and that the states are attained by "lack of desire, by means of lack of desire". Strange!

We can end this destructive conflict, and bring order to the universe! Obi-wan never told you, what happened to those vegetables...

It must have been love or, it must have been moonglow, way up in the blue

I dropped by Mickey D's the other day to pick up a double bacon cheese burger for the cat. She likes the bacon and beef from the sandwich. I take the breading off a couple chunks of the sweet and sour pork and shred 'em, she loves that. She'll eat cream cheese, if I make small pieces out of some. Likes chicken, but not fresh-cooked, for some reason. Needs a day in the refrigerator. Tonight she gets a little of the salmon, her favorite (aside from the double bacon cheese burger). Oh, and she eats canned catfood too. A little bit of expensive cans... Sophie the cat.

Interesting. Lately I've had some "you know squat about ancient Egypt and your art masks suck" versus "other people have comprehensive knowledge about ancient Egypt and other people have incredibly beautiful and emotive artwork", going on. What it's really about, is the attraction I feel for what these folks have done and the repulsion I feel for my inability to do much of anything of a similarly attractive quality. All the while ignoring something about how necessity can place my awareness, and how that placement must be free for me to be fully alive in the moment. ... is a tendency to attachment to be got rid of from every pleasant feeling? Is a tendency to repugnance to be got rid of from every painful feeling? Is a tendency to ignorance to be got rid of from every neutral feeling? No friend Visakha... In this case... (a person), aloof from pleasures of the senses, aloof from unskilled states of mind, enters on and abides in the first meditation, which is accompanied by initial thought and discursive thought, is born of aloofness, and is rapturous and joyful. It is by this means that (one) gets rid of attachment, no tendency to attachment lies there. In this case... (a person) reflects thus: 'Surely I, entering on it, will abide in that plane which the (nobles), entering on, are now abiding in. From setting up a yearning for the incomparable Deliverances there arises, as a result of the yearning, distress; it is by this means that (one) gets rid of repugnance, no tendency to repugnance lies latent there. In this case... (a person), by getting rid of that joy, and by getting rid of anguish, by the going down of (their) former pleasures and sorrows, enters on and abides in the fourth meditation which has neither anguish nor joy and which is entirely purified by equanimity and mindfulness. It is by this means that (one) gets rid of ignorance, no tendency to ignorance lies latent there. (MN I 303-304, PTS vol. I p 366-367, "The Miscellany (Lesser)", attributed to the nun Dhammadinna) The fourth concentration, wherein awareness takes place freely and action of the body follows automatically out of the location of awareness, apart from habit or volition. Yearning for the incomparable Deliverances, the further states, and as a result, distress. That would be a positive, in getting rid of a repulsion from my own inabilities, I guess. Maybe if I look to extend the mind of compassion around the world, such that I experience that excellence of the heart's release that is the first of the incomparable Deliverances "the infinity of space"! Runaway black hole, drawing stars behind it:

I'm coming unglued slowly at first, then faster soon I will be soaked

from Asahi beer I get an odd sensation I'm coming unglued

I thought you said you didn't have any good pictures! All of them are good, I'm jealous!

I think what's important are the actions I take, regardless of judgements, or maybe in spite of judgements. For me, a key part of action in the face of judgements, my own or others', is extending compassion to be receptive to what is beyond the walls and around the world. Move from the inside, informed by the outside beyond the boundaries of the senses. Especially in conflict situations. Helps to have a practice of balance.

And smelt so? Pah! (Hamlet 5.1.181–184)

To develop the ch'i and sink it to the tan t'ien you must keep the ch'i with the mind. Then you will realize suppleness. The Classics say, "The mind mobilizes the ch'i and the ch'i mobilizes the body. The ch'i spreads throughout the whole body." (“Cheng Tzu’s Thirteen Treatises on Ta’i Chi Chuan”, Cheng Man Ch’ing, trans. Benjamin Pang Jeng Lo and Martin Inn, p 32) If I can find a way to experience gravity in the placement of attention as the source of activity in my posture, and particular ligaments as the source of the reciprocity in that activity, then I have an ease. ("To Enjoy Our Life") I would posit that the patterns in the development of ch’i reflect involuntary activity of the body generated in the stretch of ligaments. There is, in addition, a possible mechanism of support for the spine from the displacement of the fascia behind the spine, a displacement that can be effected by pressure generated in the abdominal cavity and that may quite possibly depend on a push on the fascia behind the sacrum by the bulk of the extensor muscles, as they contract. The Tai Chi classics emphasize relaxation. For me, calm is also required with regard to the stretch of ligaments, if “automatic movement” is to be realized. The stretch of a ligament prior to strain is small (6%), and I would say that automatic movement is only initiated at the edge of the range. Cheng Man Ch’ing mentioned a Chinese description of seated meditation, “straighten the chest and sit precariously” (“Master Cheng’s Thirteen Chapters on T’ai-Chi Ch’uan”, Douglas Wile, p 21)–I think that also speaks to the necessity of calm. In my experience, “automatic” activity in the movement of breath can at times depend on the relaxation of particular muscle groups and the exercise of calm with regard to the stretch of particular ligaments. I believe that a pattern in the circulation of “automatic” activity can develop, especially when a bent-knee posture or carriage is maintained over a period of time. “Automatic” activity in the movement of breath also follows as one “lays hold of one-pointedness”, but in order to “lay hold”, carriage of the weight of the body must fall to the ligaments and volitive activity in the body must be relinquished. (A Way of Living)

I began to think I was reading a piece composed by AI.

My husband is a spear fisherman and he can hold his breath underwater for almost four minutes. He was trained to do so in a manner similar to how they train Navy Seals. They are able to do relaxation techniques and override their body’s impulse to panic. I’m not sure if everyone can accomplish this or if they are outliers. But one important point that I think fits into the topic here. They have to be wary of something called shallow water blackout. They will hold their breath without the panic response literally until they pass out underwater, and drown (even if they are only sitting on the bottom of a pool with a foot or two of water above them). (“The Case of the Suffocating Woman”, posted on Slate Star Codex April 5, 2017 by Scott Alexander; http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/04/05/the-case-of-the-suffocating-woman/; commenter “liz”, April 5, 2017 at 10:41 am) When we ask what it is which senses this suffering, we have to understand that the one who is breathing in and out, in and out, doesn’t suffer. But it does sense suffering. (Kobun Chino Otogawa; “Embracing Mind”, edited by Cosgrove & Hall, p 48) Kobun died in Switzerland, when he went into a shallow landscape pool after his five-year-old daughter, Maya, who had somehow fallen in and was drowning. I spoke to the guy who owned the property with the pool, and he shook his head in disbelief that Kobun had actually drowned, because the pool was only about three feet deep. Kobun once ended a talk by saying, “You know, sometimes zazen gets up and walks around.” It’s my belief that it was in fact zazen that went into the pool after Maya, and that it was the one who does not suffer (but nevertheless senses suffering) that remained under the surface by her side. (All of the above, from my Post: The Case of the Suffocating Woman)

Undoubtedly true, but still seeming somewhat unfortunate for those whom the gods hail upon.

It's a fascinating question, IMHO. The Zen tradition in particular likes to point to an unbroken transmission of the teaching, from Gautama the Shakyan to Kashyapa and down through the ages. The Denkoroku, written by one of Dogen's dharma heirs, purports to trace that transmission, but there is a point in the record where an assumption of person-to-person transmission is made but no name is provided. Actually, there's a story in the "sermon of the decease" (Pali Canon) about what happened after Gautama's death, and there Kashyapa is said to have received the bowl and robe after Gautama's death. The bowl and robe apparently went to China with Bodhidharma, but was no longer transmitted after the Sixth Patriarch. Seems that people were willing to kill to obtain the robe and bowl at that point, so the tradition was discontinued. Here's where the "unpopular opinion" thread lives on! In my opinion, when Gautama said "the cessation of inbreathing and outbreathing", he meant the cessation of "determinate thought" in inbreathing and outbreathing. Habit and volition with regard to the activity of the body in inbreathing and outbreathing only really cease when the location of awareness becomes the source of activity--awareness acts by virtue of location alone, as awareness shifts and moves (or not). That's "just sitting". Those who can "just sit" with aplomb are considered enlightened, for the most part. No amount of description amounts to the experience. The experience is really very much a physical thing, and being in the presence of someone who "just sits" with aplomb can be helpful--the experience can "rub off", as it were. Gautama described "purity by the pureness of mind" as a characteristic of the fourth concentration, that's "just sitting". Gautama's enlightenment, meanwhile, was associated with his attainment of the cessation of ("determinate thought") in feeling and perceiving, a whole other level of experience--the cessation of "doing something" in feeling and perceiving, the action of the mind. HIs enlightenment consisted of his insight into the four truths, and in particular into the dependent origination (and cessation) of suffering. Gautama said that until a person attained enlightenment, they must work at moral behavior, but afterward the tendency toward anything but moral behavior would be "cut off" like a palm tree reduced to a stump. Now it happens that for Gautama, sexual intercourse was a fatal failing, grounds for expulsion from the Order. The teachers who have been the most influential in my life were all married (Zen teachers). Draw your own conclusions.