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Originally Posted by eputkonen
Shikantaza and inquiry have turned into traps as well for many. Traps of doing that just reinforce a separate "me".
Shikantaza (or Zazen) is just sitting. Not a "me" sitting. Not in order to get anything. Not a doing in any way. Just sitting...without purpose. The tricky part is can there be a "practicing" of shikantaza without trying to get anything out of it? If so, then it could facilitate this "felt-sense recognition". However, if there is a "me" doing shikantana in order to facilitate this "felt-sense recognition"...now it is corrupted. It turns into something that reinforces the delusion of "me" and reinforces the feeling of separation and fuels the feeling of trying to get out of separation and into "felt-sense recognition".
It is tricky. Shikantaza could help or hinder...depending on the motivation.
Inquiry is the same.
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Yes, I see what you are getting at and it is tricky since we could say that the ‘me’ doing shikantaza is no different to the ‘me’ running a blog or participating on a forum or filling in a tax return (except in shikentaza there are no self-referential thoughts.)
The ‘me’ sense, in itself, is not a problem it’s the belief that this body-mind matrix (from which the me sense arises) is an inherently existing entity that is somehow separate from the whole - in this way we overlook our true nature.
Undermining this belief is movement towards clarity.