"Just sitting"

Stian Gudmundsen Høiland, modified 12 Years ago at 8/13/11 7:24 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 8/13/11 7:22 PM

"Just sitting"

Posts: 296 Join Date: 9/5/10 Recent Posts
I had a good session today after being inspired by a thought:

Our inclined focus of the moment corresponds to the current stage of insight, and just exploring the moment-to-moment default state of the mind without changing the focus-quality of attention (e.g. wide or narrow) - among other things - will eventually lead somewhere useful (i.e. stream-entry).


Am I on to something here?

Is this what is called "just sitting"? I got the impression that "just sitting" had something to do with that sudden non-dual recognition aka. rigpa aka. many other words (satori? and kensho? a glossary would be nice).
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Tommy M, modified 12 Years ago at 8/14/11 4:21 PM
Created 12 Years ago at 8/14/11 4:21 PM

RE: "Just sitting"

Posts: 1199 Join Date: 11/12/10 Recent Posts
The "just sitting" practice is shikantaza but I don't know how effective this is for attaining stream-entry. I think there may be more zen-orientated practitioners on here and KFD who could probably offer a better view on this than me since my own experience is primarily vipassana based. As far as I know, in shikantaza you're not really exploring as such, it's more that you're staying present constantly and bringing the attention back to the present moment over and over again. Again, I don't know enough about this so it's just an opinion based on my own experimentation with this technique.

I got the impression that "just sitting" had something to do with that sudden non-dual recognition aka. rigpa aka. many other words (satori? and kensho? a glossary would be nice).

Be careful of confusing your terminology here, satori and kensho aren't the same thing although the do reveal the same territory. I'd rather leave you to get information from someone more familiar with this system than I am as I don't want to muddy the water.

Advice? I can only speak from experience, but vipassana wins hands down for me. It's effective, precise and simple.
Alex W, modified 12 Years ago at 8/15/11 2:18 AM
Created 12 Years ago at 8/15/11 2:18 AM

RE: "Just sitting"

Posts: 34 Join Date: 8/22/09 Recent Posts
Yes, 'just sitting' means just that: just sitting. One is sitting in the lotus or half lotus posture with open eyes, aware of the body as a whole. One is not investigating the 3 characteritics. One is not trying to find or reach something. One is doing nothing other than 'just sitting', aware of the body as a whole, including the environment completely present here and now.

What happens is that the limits of the body may start to fade away, leading dissolution of the boundaries between the body and the world. A subtle sense of self is still present at this stage.

When the sense of self vanishes completely, there is just the seeing of nature as it really is, in its suchness (Jp. shikan). 'Seeing nature' (Jp. kensho) is this condition. It is simply the nature not filtered by subjectivity or self-reflection. As far as I can tell, this is pretty much like the PCE described by AF practitioners.

If we call 'stream entry' the abendonment of the belief in a self, shikantaza leads to the vanishing of the sense of self and therefore to the realization that we can live happily and operate without it. What remains is the functioning of the senses.

"To study the buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things." (Dogen, Genjokoan).