By: Kosho Uchiyama Roshi
I have said that if you sit and think during zazen, then that is thinking and not doing zazen. Does that mean that no thoughts at all should occur to us during zazen? Is good zazen that condition when all thoughts have ceased to come into our minds?
Here we have to clearly distinguish “chasing after thoughts and thinking” from “ideas or thoughts merely occurring.” If a thought occurs during zazen and we proceed to chase after it, then we are thinking and no doing zazen. Yet this doesn’t mean that we are doing zazen only when thoughts have entirely ceased to occur. How should we understand this contradiction?
Imagine placing a large rock next to a person doing zazen. Since this rock is not alive, no matter how long it sits there, a thought will never occur to is. Unlike the rock, however, the person doing zazen next to it is a living human being. Even if we sit as stationary as the rock, we cannot say that no thoughts will occur. On the contrary, if they did not, we would have to say that that person is no longer alive. Of course, the truth of life never means to become lifeless like the rock. For that reason, thoughts ceasing to occur is not the ideal state of one sitting zazen. It is perfectly natural that thoughts occur. Yet, if we chase after thoughts we are thinking and no longer doing zazen. So what should our attitude be?
Briefly, our attitude in zazen is aiming at maintaining the posture of zazen without our flesh and bones, and with our mind letting go of thoughts.
What is letting go of thoughts? Well, when we think, we think of something. Thinking of something means grasping that something with thought. However, during zazen we open the hand of thought that is trying to grasp something, and simply refrain from grasping. This is letting go of thoughts.
Note: Kosho Uchiyama Roshi (1912-1998) was a Soto Zen priest and Abbott of Anatai-ji Monastery near Tokyo. Among his dharma heirs are Shohaku Okumura. This quote is taken from his book Opening the Hand of Thought.