Shikantaza

is Dogen's Japanese translation of the Chinese phrase zhǐguǎn dǎzuò (只管打坐 / 祇管 打坐), "just sitting." The phrase was used by his teacher Rujing, a monk of the Caodong school of Chan Buddhism, to refer to the meditation-practice called "Silent Illumination" (), or "Serene Reflection," taught by the Caodong master Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091-1157). In Japan, it is associated with the Zen Soto school. In shikantaza one does not focus attention on a specific object (such as the breath); instead, practitioners "just sit" in a state of conscious awareness. The term shikantaza is the Sino-Japanese reading of Zhǐguǎn dǎzuò (只管打坐 / 祇管 打坐) "just sitting," "nothing but sitting," "meditation of just sitting," “just mind [yourself] sitting.” Zhǐguǎn dǎzuò (只管打坐 / 祇管打坐) translates as follows: zhǐguǎn (只管, J. shikan; or 祇管, with 祇 [zhǐ] serving as a variant of 只 [zhǐ]), "by all means; merely, simply; only concerned with," "to focus exclusively on"; dǎzuò 打坐, "[Buddhism/Daoism] sit in meditation," "to squat, sit down cross-legged", which corresponds with Sanskrit utkuṭuka-stha; According to Buswell and Lopez, shikantaza may simply be used by Dogen as a synonym for “sitting in meditation” (zazen), sitting in dhyana, which may also be practiced while walking, standing or lying down. James Ishmael Ford states that "some trace the root of this word [shikantaza] to the Japanese pronunciation of Sanskrit vipassana, though this is far from certain." This etymological error about 只管 (shikan, "only," "just") is rooted in the fact that Japanese has many homophones pronounced shikan. It stems from a more commonly used Japanese word, namely 止観 (shikan, "concentration and observation" (as practiced by the Tendai sect) that translates the Sanskrit "śamatha and vipaśyanā," the two basic forms of Buddhist meditation. The phrase zhǐguǎn dǎzuò ("just sitting") was used by Dōgen's teacher Tiantong Rujing (1162-1228) for silent illumination (Chinese mòzhào 默照; Japanese mokushō).