dropping off body and mind

Excerpts

What our teachers say on it: excerpts from the talks and texts, lightly edited and shortened; an ellipsis (…) marks a sentence or more left out. The titles above the excerpts are mine, the teacher's words are in the excerpt; a question under a title really was asked at the talk. How they were made →

1. Shinjin datsuraku: dropping off heart-mind and body

   So let’s look at the phrase, shinjin datsuraku. Shin means mind, but not exactly mind in the English sense. … In English, it has a rather narrow meaning. A mind is thinking. In Japanese and Chinese, the character shin also means heart. So, heart-mind. In Japanese culture, there is no division between thinking mind and emotional heart. … And the second shin means body. Completely different. So if you hear shin, you don’t know which. Do you mean mind or do you mean body? You have to see the character written. And when you see the character for heart-mind, it’s completely different to the character for body. Shinjin, heart-mind body. Datsuraku. Datsuraku is a verb. It means to drop off, which is different to throwing away. If we throw something away, we push it from us. Intention. If we drop off something, we stop holding it. So the phrase shinjin datsuraku means to drop off heart, mind and body.

   Mike · Dropping Off Heart, Mind and Body June 2007 — Padmafarma

2. Dogen understands: zazen is getting rid of everything

   Master Dogen stayed at the temple for two years, listening to Master Tendo’s teaching and practising zazen. One day, while he was practising zazen, Master Tendo shouted at another monk who was sitting near Master Dogen, ‘Stop sleeping! Zazen is dropping off body and dropping off mind.’ When Master Dogen heard this, at last he understood something. Up to that point, he’d been hoping to get something from zazen. But Master Tendo said, ‘Throw everything away.’ When he heard that, he realised, ‘I see. Zazen is not getting anything. It’s getting rid of everything.’ So he felt very happy.

   Mike · The Life of Master Dogen June 2005 — Lotus CentreAlso in: Dropping Off Heart, Mind and Body, Bussho 1: Names and Reality, Bussho

3. Body and mind will naturally fall away

   Therefore we should cease the intellectual work of studying sayings and chasing words. We should learn the backward step of turning light and reflecting. Body and mind will naturally fall away, and the original features will manifest themselves before us. If we want to attain the matter of the ineffable, we should practice the matter of the ineffable at once.

   Dogen · Fukan-zazengi Shobogenzo

4. Just sit, free of body and mind

   In the authentic transmission of [our] religion, it is said that this Buddha-Dharma, which has been authentically and directly transmitted one-to-one, is supreme among the supreme. After the initial meeting with a [good] counselor we never again need to burn incense, to do prostrations, to recite Buddha’s name, to practice confession, or to read sutras. Just sit and get the state which is free of body and mind.

   Dogen · Bendōwa Shobogenzo

5. Our body-and-mind and the world’s fall away

   To learn the Buddha’s truth is to learn ourselves. To learn ourselves is to forget ourselves. To forget ourselves is to be experienced by the myriad dharmas. To be experienced by the myriad dharmas is to let our own body-and-mind, and the body-and-mind of the external world, fall away. There is a state in which the traces of realization are forgotten; and it manifests the traces of forgotten realization for a long, long time.

   Dogen · Genjō-kōan ShobogenzoAlso in: Understanding the Shobogenzo

6. The state in zazen: letting body and mind fall away

   Dogen says that in order to find out who we are, the best way is to forget who we are. And in order to forget who we are, it’s best to be experienced by the myriad dharmas. So when we forget who we are, there is no “we”, so this suggests a kind of ego less state. … To be experienced by the world is to let our own body-and-mind and the body-and-mind of the external world fall away. And as many of you know, to let our body-and-mind fall away is a description he uses in other places in the Shobogenzo to describe the state in Zazen. And to let our body-and-mind fall away suggests a simple, whole, state where we don’t discriminate on the basis of physical and mental body-and-mind. So the state he’s talking about here is the state we experience in Zazen.

   Mike · Genjo-koan 2: Delusion and Self-Image Summer 2002 — Genjo-koan

7. Taking off everything we put on top of ourselves

   Dogen, the 13th-century monk whose teachings I’m studying, said that practising zazen is dropping things off. Or taking things off, like taking off your clothes. And after you’ve taken off all these beautiful clothes, you are naked. That’s a human being. Please don’t do it now. I’ll be happier, yes, later. So, of course, Dogen didn’t say take off your clothes. He said dropping off body and mind. But he means to drop off all the things which we put on top of ourselves: our strong ambition, our pride, some kind of mask we use, everything like this, which we think we need in society. And Dogen says, take them all off during zazen. And then you can put them back on again if you want. But if you take them off and then put them on again, you notice what they are.

   Mike · Three Teachings from Japan September 2013 — Banský Studenec

8. The Universe drops off, the intellect puts on

   From Mike’s modern interpretation of Bussho: “Dropping off is a characteristic of the Universe, and the way to transcend the intellect.” That’s nice. We can drop off body and mind in Zazen Master Dogen says. It’s a characteristic of the Universe, but a characteristic of the human intellect is to put on. We put things on to ourselves, we have things, we get things, we want things, and we layer ourselves over with all these things. But Master Dogen suggests that we can drop them all off.

   Mike · Bussho 1: Having Buddha-Nature Summer 2005 — Bussho

9. Whenever we drop off body and mind, we are balanced

   Dogen says dropping off body and mind, so whenever we drop off body and mind we’re in the balanced state. It doesn’t matter whether we drop off body and mind when we wipe the toilet bowl, or whether we drop off body and mind when we leap over the high jump, or whatever it is, dropping off body and mind is dropping off body and mind.

   Mike · Uji 5: Words and Reality Winter 2004 — Uji

10. Unlearning the split between body and mind

    If we see mindfulness as a state to be practiced and attained, we attempt to use our mental faculties to monitor ourselves, with the aim of improving our behaviour. If we see oneness as a state in which we have to monitor ourselves putting together the two separate parts that we call body and mind, we are intentionally trying to attain something. In Buddhist terms, this is the state of two moons. But when we see mindfulness as dropping off awareness of body and mind, as in the oneness in action that Dogen teaches, then we are unlearning the split between body and mind that our culture has taught us to value so highly. We need to explain that mindfulness means not a split state, but a state of wholeness or oneness in action. This is the state of one moon. Since this is an act of removing or dropping off, it feels like a loss, rather than a gain. It feels more disappointing than satisfying, and it feels more stupid than clever. This is the way that Dogen teaches.

    Mike · One Moon, Two Moons

11. Dropping off the body means releasing the stress in the muscles

    Zazen is one way to lengthen the spine, because if we sit in a balanced state, the muscles which control our balance can work in a balanced way. There are lots of small muscles between our vertebrae, and the bigger muscles can learn how to be in a natural situation. From the mental point of view, Dogen calls this dropping off body. He didn’t have the language. Dropping off body means releasing the stress, the physical stress in our muscles. In zazen we release the physical stress in our muscles by keeping the posture. So if we notice we’re going forward, we straighten up.

    Mike · Zazen Is Not Meditation July 2021 — Skalní faraAlso in: Shoaku Makusa 3: Balance and Not Doing Wrong, Buddhism Beyond Robes and Incense, Buddhism Free from ‘Buddhism’, Action and Result, Living in the Present

12. The habits in our muscles take months or years to drop away

    Master Dogen talks about zazen as “dropping off”, not getting something, not doing something, but stopping getting something, stopping doing something. However, we all have different bodies and different habits, and habits are ingrained in our muscles to some extent. So it’s necessary for us to practice in order to drop off our habits. Our body has habits and we don’t notice them, we might put our head on one side when we talk, our muscles get used to it and it feels comfortable like that. And when we sit straight and we’re trying to balance our pile of stones, something tells us that it doesn’t feel right. So we have to give ourselves time to settle, and for the habits and tensions in our muscles to drop away. That might take months or years, we’re all different.

    Mike · Introductions 3: A Middle Without Intention Summer 2003 — Introductions to Shobogenzo Chapters

13. Balance of the nervous system felt as plus/minus zero

    The state in Zazen is called Shinjin Datsuraku, which means, “dropping body and mind off.” And when we think about the meaning of “dropping body and mind off,” we can interpret that when we are keeping the ANS in balance, the balance of the ANS can be felt like plus/minus 0, and so we sometimes feel that consciousness of our body seems to be 0, and consciousness of our mind seems also to be 0. And such a state is called “dropping body and mind off.” … Therefore, by practicing Zazen everyday we can become accustomed to having balance in our ANS, and such a state is just the state of Buddhas.

    Nishijima · The Relation Between the Autonomic Nervous System and Buddhism

Main theme

• So the phrase shinjin datsuraku means to drop off heart, mind and body

  1Dropping Off Heart, Mind and Body June 2007 — Padmafarma

Developed

• to let our body-and-mind fall away is a description he uses in other places in the Shobogenzo to describe the state in Zazen

  2Genjo-koan 2: Delusion and Self-Image Summer 2002 — Genjo-koan

• Dogen says dropping off body and mind, so whenever we drop off body and mind we’re in the balanced state.

  3Uji 5: Words and Reality Winter 2004 — Uji

• Master Dogen talks about Zazen as “the body and mind dropping off”.

  4Bussho 1: Names and Reality Winter 2005 — Bussho

• We can drop off body and mind in Zazen Master Dogen says. It’s a characteristic of the Universe

  5Bussho 1: Having Buddha-Nature Summer 2005 — Bussho

• Stop sleeping! Zazen is dropping off body and dropping off mind.

  6The Life of Master Dogen June 2005 — Lotus Centre

• He said dropping off body and mind. But he means to drop off all the things which we put on top of ourselves

  7Three Teachings from Japan September 2013 — Banský Studenec

• Drop off your body, drop off your mind means deconstruct your picture.

  8The Map in Our Head May 2012 — Nová Dedinka

• Body and mind will naturally fall away, and the original features will manifest themselves before us.

  9Fukan-zazengi Shobogenzo

• Just sit and get the state which is free of body and mind

  10Bendōwa Shobogenzo

• To be experienced by the myriad dharmas is to let our own body-and-mind, and the body-and-mind of the external world, fall away.

  11Genjō-kōan Shobogenzo

• He calls this state action and describes it as dropping off body and mind.

  12One Moon, Two Moons

• The state in Zazen is called Shinjin Datsuraku, which means, “dropping body and mind off.”

  13The Relation Between the Autonomic Nervous System and Buddhism

Mention

• if you are an eighty year-old person, you should be an eighty year-old person fully, dropping off mind and body.

  14Zazen According to Sawaki Summer 2004 — Yoko Luetchford

• these characters appear in Master Tendo Nyojo’s often-quoted words that zazen is getting rid of body and mind.

  15Bussho Shobogenzo

• is to let our own body and mind, and the body and mind of the external world, fall away.

  16Understanding the Shobogenzo

Also in the narrower keywords

dropping off body as releasing stress +5 texts

• when we sit in zazen, our muscles slowly drop off tension.

  Buddhism Beyond Robes and Incense June 2006 — Padmafarma

• Dogen calls this dropping off body. He didn't have the language. Dropping off body means releasing the stress, the physical stress in our muscles.

  Zazen Is Not Meditation July 2021 — Skalní fara

• So when Master Dogen talks about ‘dropping off body and mind’ we can include in that ‘dropping off all the tensions in our body’.

  Shoaku Makusa 3: Balance and Not Doing Wrong Winter 2006 — Shoaku Makusa

• slowly these tensions will drop away, in the shoulders, in the arms, and so on.

  Action and Result, Living in the Present May 2014 — Banská Štiavnica

• we release them and feel the relief. Gradually we drop off tensions and that is a kind of movement.

  Buddhism Free from ‘Buddhism’ September 2009 — Earth Spirit

dropping off muscular habits +1 text

• habits are ingrained in our muscles to some extent. So it’s necessary for us to practice in order to drop off our habits

  Introductions 3: A Middle Without Intention Summer 2003 — Introductions to Shobogenzo Chapters