The two commens by Ven. silentbell San
I have received two comments from Ven. silentbell San on my Dogen Sangha Blog of 10/04/28 and 10/04/29, but I have lost a chance to express my answer to those questions on my Blog.
Therefore if it were permissible for me to express my opinion, it might be as follows.
Ven. silentbell San's comments
Dear Roshi, (silentbell) 10/04/30
What if a person practices shikantaza, and practices shikantaza, and then keeps practicing shikantaza, and NEVER arrives at a balanced states? Is this possible? Do we judge the balanced state by the stillness of our minds during zazen?
Thank you very much.
Gudo's Answer : When we practice Zazen everyday, it is perfectly impossible for us not to enter into the balanced state of the autonomic nervous system. The state in Zazen, can never be consideration or perception, but it is just Action. This interpretation can never be found in the Euro-American Civilizations, but in Indian Buddhist Philosophy, Action has completely independent entity from consideration or perception. This fundamental characteristic of Indian Buddhist Philosophy is enormously clear, and so we can insist that the fundamental philosophical system of Indian Buddhism does not have any separation between body and mind.
Ven. silentbell San's comment 10/04/29
What if a person practices shkantaza, and keeps practicing shikantazo still, and never reaches a balanced state? Does the balanced state depend upon the stillness of our minds?
Gudo's Answer : When we practice Zazen everyday, we can enter into the state of the balanced autonomic nervous system, and it is impossible for us to leave our balanced autonomic nervous system at all. Of course, if we contine our consideration or perception even in Zazen, it is impossible for us to leave from the consideration or perception, and so if we want to leave from consideration or perception in Zazen, it is necessary for us to stop consideration or perception actually, and if we want to stop consideration or perception in Zazn, we should do it exactly. Of course it is very common for us to consider or perceive even in Zazen, but such kinds of consideration or perception, can never be Zazen. Therefore if we want to practice the True Zazen exactly, we should do it directly. Zazen can never be consideration or perception, but Zazen is just Action itself. Therefore when we want to practice Zazen, it is necessary for us to practice Zazen itself. In other words, when we are practicing Zazen, we should stop consideration and perception, and we should be so careful for us to be exact in following the authentic posture following 'Fukan-Zazen-Gi' by Master Dogen.
Therefore if it were permissible for me to express my opinion, it might be as follows.
Ven. silentbell San's comments
Dear Roshi, (silentbell) 10/04/30
What if a person practices shikantaza, and practices shikantaza, and then keeps practicing shikantaza, and NEVER arrives at a balanced states? Is this possible? Do we judge the balanced state by the stillness of our minds during zazen?
Thank you very much.
Gudo's Answer : When we practice Zazen everyday, it is perfectly impossible for us not to enter into the balanced state of the autonomic nervous system. The state in Zazen, can never be consideration or perception, but it is just Action. This interpretation can never be found in the Euro-American Civilizations, but in Indian Buddhist Philosophy, Action has completely independent entity from consideration or perception. This fundamental characteristic of Indian Buddhist Philosophy is enormously clear, and so we can insist that the fundamental philosophical system of Indian Buddhism does not have any separation between body and mind.
Ven. silentbell San's comment 10/04/29
What if a person practices shkantaza, and keeps practicing shikantazo still, and never reaches a balanced state? Does the balanced state depend upon the stillness of our minds?
Gudo's Answer : When we practice Zazen everyday, we can enter into the state of the balanced autonomic nervous system, and it is impossible for us to leave our balanced autonomic nervous system at all. Of course, if we contine our consideration or perception even in Zazen, it is impossible for us to leave from the consideration or perception, and so if we want to leave from consideration or perception in Zazen, it is necessary for us to stop consideration or perception actually, and if we want to stop consideration or perception in Zazn, we should do it exactly. Of course it is very common for us to consider or perceive even in Zazen, but such kinds of consideration or perception, can never be Zazen. Therefore if we want to practice the True Zazen exactly, we should do it directly. Zazen can never be consideration or perception, but Zazen is just Action itself. Therefore when we want to practice Zazen, it is necessary for us to practice Zazen itself. In other words, when we are practicing Zazen, we should stop consideration and perception, and we should be so careful for us to be exact in following the authentic posture following 'Fukan-Zazen-Gi' by Master Dogen.