The "just" in "just sitting"

Shikantaza: “just sitting”. The “just” means:

• nothing else but;
• only sitting;
• not turning away.

“Not turning away” means:

• letting go of trying to control experience;
• not judging your experience;
• giving everything that arises a warm welcome.

Don’t do anything but sit there. You only need to sit. Just allow the sitting to take place.

Sit like a mountain.

Unproductive

The “just” means no “in order to.”

• No attachment to a particular outcome.
• No intention to gain something.
• No goal or ulterior motive.

Enjoy your sitting deeply. Practice for the simple delight in the practice. Open, receptive, alert, in the same you played when you were a child.

Being instead of doing.

Wu wei

• Flow without forcing or coercing.
• Act without acting on, work without working at.
• Avoid assertion, practice inaction.
• Effortless action as in: no sense of self taking action.

The Way

• Actions are changes made by a self-conscious agent, a manifestation of purpose. So the Tao has no actions.
• Choosing obscures the way.
• Language has evolved to describe purposive action, making it hard to describe spontaneous, actionless, activity.
• The Tao is the source, the unconditioned prior to conditioning.

Added 2024-05-28, last updated 2024-09-10.