You should have your robes and belt loosely bound and arranged in order. This way your clothes aren’t binding any part of your body or restricting your breathing. Then place your right hand on the left leg and your left palm [facing upwards] on your right palm, thumb-tips touching. I used to put my hands in this position or mudra, resting them on my upper legs so I could let them be while I went on to meditate. But now I place my hands a little higher on my abdomen so that my thumbs are at the navel. I find that this brings a lightness and balance to my overall posture and energy. Throughout zazen, I check in with the contact between my thumbs and try to see how very lightly they can touch but still be touching. The awareness of the contact between the thumbs is a sort of barometer of my attention because when I can feel my thumbs touching, I am in my body. Since the body is always in the present, my mind wanders much less when I can feel the round openness of my hands and the contact between the thumbs. But I don’t think this is helpful if you have to work to hold the hands up, the feeling I have is to allow the energy in my hands to rise. When the upper chest is open and the shoulders dropped, with the upper arms and elbows in a comfortable position, then the top of the lungs can also breathe. When the hands are held up but without straining, I find that my shoulders relax and drop even more than when my hands are resting on my thighs.

Dogen said, Thus sit upright in correct bodily posture, neither inclining to the left nor to the right, neither leaning forward or backward. Be sure your ears are on a plane with your shoulders and your nose in line with your navel. Place your tongue against the front roof of your mouth, with the teeth and lips both shut. Let your upper and lower teeth rest on each other without tensing the jaw muscles. Your eyes should always remain open, and you should breathe gently through your nose. I think this passage illustrates the emphasis that Soto Zen places on taking the time to find a balanced, aligned and well-supported position, which helps us sit with stillness and ease. We use care getting into and out of the zazen position, being attentive to the way we sit. Later in the text Dogen said, When you arise from sitting, move slowly and quietly, calmly and deliberately. Do not rise suddenly or abruptly. Apparently Dogen thought the way to leave zazen was important enough to write instructions for how to do it as well.

Going back to the instructions for zazen, Dogen wrote, Once you have adjusted your posture, take a deep breath, inhale and exhale, rock your body right and left and settle into a steady, immobile sitting position. I have heard that Suzuki Roshi suggested taking four or five deep breaths at the beginning of zazen, but after doing this the breath should be left to its natural state.

Then Dogen gave his instruction for what to do with the mind in zazen. Think of not-thinking. How do you think of not-thinking? Non-thinking. This in itself is the essential art of zazen. "Think of not-thinking" refers to a well-known story about Yakusan Igen, or Yao-shan Weiyan, who lived in 8th century China. Yakusan was the disciple of Sekito Kisen who wrote "Merging of Difference and Unity." The story goes: One day after Master Yakusan had finished zazen, a monk asked, "What are you thinking of in the immoveable, mountain-like state of zazen?" Yakusan replied, "I think of not-thinking." Then the monk asked, for all of us, "How can one think of not-thinking?" Yakusan answered, "By nonthinking." or "[By sitting] beyond thinking."

A common misunderstanding is take this passage to mean that in zazen, we should stop our thinking. Whenever we read something that doesn’t sound quite right, it is important to investigate it. Suzuki Roshi said to look for the meaning behind the words. In Buddhism thinking includes all mental activity arising from discriminating consciousness – thoughts, feelings, emotions, psychological states, dreams and so on. Stopping thought involves using discriminating consciousness to control consciousness. Both thinking and stopping or controlling thought are limited by discriminating consciousness and bound to the realm of duality. Thinking and not-thinking are relative to each other, in that they mutually define each other like hot and cold, light and dark, forward and backward. But Dogen’s nonthinking is outside the framework of duality, and it is also different from Buddhist meditation methods used for developing concentration. Nonthinking is basically shikan taza or "just sitting."

The first part of this word "shikan" means only or "nothing but," ta means "precisely," and za means "sitting." So, shikantaza is nothing but, precisely sitting. Shikantaza has been defined as abiding in a state of brightly alert attention which is characterized by being free of thoughts, directed to no object, and attached to no particular content. This state of brightly alert attention is considered the purest form of zazen. Shikan can also be used in front of other words to mean just doing whatever it is you are doing, bringing your whole body, mind and energy to your present activity, which is how we extend practice beyond zazen. The idea of doing whatever we are doing with an undivided body and mind, is the cornerstone of Soto Zen practice.

Dogen referred to shikantaza or zazen as total engagement in immobile sitting. This is not a passive state of meditation where we let ourselves be spaced out or half-asleep, but it’s also not controlling thoughts or holding them at bay, nor is it being absorbed in one object to the exclusion of everything else, such as being absorbed in a mantra, being absorbed in staring at something like a candle flame, or even being absorbed in the breath. One-pointed concentration on the breath which blocks thoughts and feelings is not Dogen’s zazen. The field of awareness in zazen is wide, open and inclusive – it includes awareness of sound, awareness of posture, of our muscles and any tension, and so on. Non-thinking is an active, dynamic engagement with our being, just as it is.

In the book Soto Zen, Shohaku Okumura compared non-thinking to a car engine that’s idling in neutral. Even though the engine is working, the gears aren’t engaged so the car doesn’t move. He said when we are thinking non-thinking, "We cannot say that there is no thinking. And we cannot say that we are thinking....Thoughts are simply idling." In zazen, the mind is alive and functioning but it isn’t actively, intentionally producing thoughts. When thoughts arise, if the mind is bright and alert, it is much easier to let them flow through without grabbing onto and developing them. Okumura said, "...by keeping an upright posture, without either rejecting or chasing after anything, we aren’t controlled by delusive thoughts." Non-thinking can only be understood by experiencing it through a non-discursive state such as zazen – so talking about it misses the point.

In Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, Suzuki Roshi taught that when we’re practicing zazen, we shouldn’t try to stop our thinking, rather, we should let it stop by itself. He said, "If something comes into your mind, let it come in, and let it go out....When you try to stop your thinking, it means you're are bothered by it. Do not be bothered by anything. It appears as if something comes from outside your mind, but actually it is only the waves of your mind, and if you are not bothered by the waves, gradually they will be come calmer and calmer."

The idea that enlightenment is not separate from our everyday activity is a characteristic of the Zen School. This doesn’t mean that whatever we happen to be doing or thinking is enlightened activity. It means that when we are able to collect our attention and bring our presence to what we are doing, we can experience our innate completeness, our wholeness of being. When we are awake to our present activity, then it is Buddha’s activity. Even if we are feeling angry or depressed, bored or uncomfortable, when we can surrender our resistance to it and completely accept our experience just as it is, without trying to change it or improve it, this undivided acceptance is undivided presence or Buddha-mind.

Suzuki Roshi compared the mind in zazen to seeing a movie. The movie screen is always there whether a movie is playing or not. Sometimes there is a movie with colorful images and an entertaining story. But the practice of zazen is to just watch the screen regardless of whether or not images are appearing.

Tatsugami Roshi, was a Japanese priest who helped Suzuki Roshi establish the practice at Tassajara, and he said the way to think nonthinking is by throwing away everything. Throwing away or eliminating everything means to let go of anything extra – anything we are adding to this moment of existence. Our conceptualizations, ideas and commentary are the extras that we bring to our direct experience. When we drop them, it is like living from the center of our life rather than being a spectator to our life. Tatsugami said that throwing away everything means just going directly forward, without looking backwards or forwards, to the left or to the right. He said, "What will happen if you plunge into doing something, eliminating everything?" He said, "Dogen teaches that no matter what you are about to do, throwing away everything should be the basic attitude toward life." When we devote ourselves whole-heartedly to what we are doing, then that activity is our whole life at that moment. But if we are thinking or have an idea of anything else such as the result of our activity, what we are going to do next, what practice is or Buddha, etc., then whatever the idea is, because it is outside our immediate experience, it is just another distraction leading us away from actualizing the totality of Now.

Tatsugami Roshi went on to say that, "In order to ...throw away everything, all you have to do is just sit. In the world of the practice of nonthinking, you must be yourself in the practice of samadhi. Samadhi means to eliminate everything. The person who can throw away everything anywhere at any time attains true freedom." Throwing away or letting go of everything also means not holding back – letting go of your views of how you think things should be and jumping in just the way they are, just the way you are. He said, "... you cannot truly understand something without devoting yourself to it. If you try to do something with complete wholeheartedness, you will turn out to be yourself." This is the secret of Zen. We dedicate ourselves to hours and years of upright sitting, trying to be present, and the result is that we are simply ourselves, completely ourselves.

The Japanese priest, Fujita Sensei, gives a little different slant on nonthinking. He said, "When we refer to the qualities of...beyond thinking (hishiryo) ... we mean that sitting posture is [itself] beyond thinking and has no thought,...not that we ourselves are. We will never be beyond thinking.... What we can do is sit with the faith that zazen posture itself is Buddha, that zazen posture itself is beyond thinking." "We tend to think that we are sitting zazen. This is not the case. The entire universe is sitting zazen." But we can try to step aside, allowing the universe the use of this body and mind, allowing the universe to practice through our body and mind.

The effort we make in zazen is not to hold our minds empty or blank or void of thought. This leads to rigidity, to a rigid state of mind. Instead, our effort should lead to flexibility by being ready to let go when we notice that we are distracting ourselves from our intention to engage with our present body and mind. The World War II conscientious objector and poet, Kenneth Patchen, said, "There are so many little dyings, it doesn’t matter which of them we call death." Moment after moment, be willing to die, to step forward without looking to the left or right, to the future or to the past. Be willing to let go of distractions, to let go of insights, to let the tracking mind stop and return to your fundamental being, just as it is.