Rindo Fujimoto, Roshi

In Rinzai training, the kôan is used to quiet (to clear) the mind. This is a good way to cultivate the Zen way of seeing; however, I think it is better to develop the Zen condition by shikantaza. This means devoting oneself solely to sitting; by quieting the mind and putting it in the left hand. In Sôtô Zen we just sit; this is the most natural way. If one puts his mind in the left hand with conscious attention on the mind or on the left hand, relativity results. We should sit in zazen forgetting the mind and the left hand.

The main aim of zazen is to “let go of mind and body”; however, Buddhists sometimes pay too much attention to the mind and therefore they cannot get rid of it. The kôan may be useful; however, shikantaza is better because one has a tendency to cling to the kôan and to one’s mind. Although we should “put the mind in the left hand,” we must not pay attention to the mind. When we pay too much attention to the left hand, we are preventing satori. When we consciously put the mind in the hand, it is wrong. There are various kinds of good meditation. Satori is beyond all of these, and it is necessary to pass through the many regions of the mind before enlightenment.

There are several stages of good meditation. These stages are only views on the way to the real satori experience. It is only possible to go through different kinds of meditation (states of mind) if one is faithful and keeps courage, and these states of mind are transcendable if we sit in right zazen. However they are not ideal states of mind, but states of mind on the way to enlightenment. Sometimes, they are wrongly understood as conditions of great satori, and one is apt to remain in them because they are happy conditions. However, a static enlightenment is an impurity. There is the Absolute Reality when we continue on, abandoning all.

(From THE WAY OF ZAZEN by Rindo Fujimoto, Roshi). 

Rindo Fujimoto began studying with the great Sogaku Harada at Hosshinji. He continued his studies with Toin Iida, and succeeded him as master of Shorinji temple.