Coaching practices for Shikantaza No Object
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Shikantaza No Object, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I’m comfortable following the breath, but the moment I’m told to drop the anchor and just be present with nothing to hold onto, I either spin off into thinking or go blank
- I’m tired of techniques and counting and focusing on something
- A feeling shows up and I’m instantly grabbing at it or shoving it away
- Even in meditation I’m secretly grading myself, chasing some better state, treating sitting as a means to an end
- I want to try gazing-meditation but I have no idea what to actually look at
Practices that may help
- Releasing the object: sitting without a focal point
Let go of fixing attention on the breath, a mantra, or any other anchor — simply be present.
Shikantaza: Just Sitting - Shikantaza (just sitting)
Sit in open, objectless awareness — not focusing on anything, not following anything.
Zen Practice (Zazen and Beyond) - Shikantaza: Just Sitting
Shikantaza ("just this sitting") is the central meditation practice of Soto Zen, formulated by Dogen Zenji (1200–1253). It is objectless, open-awareness meditation: you sit with alert presence, not focusing on any particular object and not trying to achieve any state. Dogen taught that shikantaza is not a means to enlightenment but the expression of it — sitting is itself the practice. Benefits overlap with studied open-monitoring meditation, though shikantaza’s specific claims are experiential rather than clinically validated. - Non-grasping awareness: letting arise and pass
Watch thoughts, sensations, and emotions arise and dissolve without grabbing or pushing.
Shikantaza: Just Sitting - Shikantaza — "just sitting" in the Soto Zen tradition
Sit with complete presence and nothing to achieve — no goal, no technique, no observer separate from sitting.
Open Monitoring Meditation, Made Practical - Preparing the kasina object
Create or find a clean, simple, uniform kasina disk and position it correctly before each session.
Kasina Meditation: Concentration Through a Physical Object - Extending shikantaza to daily activity
Bring the same non-grasping, present awareness from formal sitting into ordinary tasks.
Shikantaza: Just Sitting - Stabilising the learning sign (uggaha nimitta)
Hold the image of the kasina in your mind without needing the physical object present.
Kasina Meditation: Concentration Through a Physical Object - Investigating the five aggregates
Examine whether any of the five skandhas — form, sensation, perception, formations, consciousness — is the fixed "self" you take yourself to be.
Anatta: The Buddhist Teaching of No-Self in Practice - Silent illumination: the quality of awake stillness
Cultivate a stillness that is lit from inside — quiet and alert, not blank and dull.
Shikantaza: Just Sitting
Related concerns
- How To Practice Shikantaza
Shikantaza ("just this sitting") is the central meditation practice of Soto Zen, formulated by Dogen Zenji (1200–1253). It is objectless, open-awareness meditation: you sit with alert presence, not focusing on any particular object and not trying to achieve any state. Dogen taught that shikantaza is not a means to enlightenment but the expression of it — sitting is itself the practice. Benefits overlap with studied open-monitoring meditation, though shikantaza’s specific claims are experiential rather than clinically validated.
- How To Sit Shikantaza
Let the body be upright, stable, and settled before everything else.
Grounding in posture: zazen as the foundation
- Shashu Meditation
Watch thoughts, sensations, and emotions arise and dissolve without grabbing or pushing.
Non-grasping awareness: letting arise and pass
- Shikantaza Just Sitting
Shikantaza ("just this sitting") is the central meditation practice of Soto Zen, formulated by Dogen Zenji (1200–1253). It is objectless, open-awareness meditation: you sit with alert presence, not focusing on any particular object and not trying to achieve any state. Dogen taught that shikantaza is not a means to enlightenment but the expression of it — sitting is itself the practice. Benefits overlap with studied open-monitoring meditation, though shikantaza’s specific claims are experiential rather than clinically validated.
- Shikantaza Just Sitting After A Loss
Cultivate a stillness that is lit from inside — quiet and alert, not blank and dull.
Silent illumination: the quality of awake stillness
- Shikantaza Just Sitting After A Setback
Watch thoughts, sensations, and emotions arise and dissolve without grabbing or pushing.
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