Shikantaza (just sitting)
Sit in open, objectless awareness — not focusing on anything, not following anything.
Key takeaways
- What it is: Sit in open, objectless awareness — not focusing on anything, not following anything.
- Why it works: Shikantaza is open-monitoring meditation in its purest form: rather than fixing attention on an object, you rest in bare awareness of whatever arises and passes. This trains a non-reactive, panoramic attention that does not grasp or push away, which can loosen habitual reactivity and the automatic commentary the mind layers onto experience.
- Evidence: Plausible mechanism, limited direct outcome data.
- Avoid: Slipping into vague spacing-out or daydreaming and calling it "just sitting" — shikantaza is alert, awake openness, not drifting absence.
Why it works
Shikantaza is open-monitoring meditation in its purest form: rather than fixing attention on an object, you rest in bare awareness of whatever arises and passes. This trains a non-reactive, panoramic attention that does not grasp or push away, which can loosen habitual reactivity and the automatic commentary the mind layers onto experience.
How to do it
- 1After settling posture and breath, release any specific object of focus.
- 2Let sounds, sensations, and thoughts arise and pass through awareness without following or suppressing them.
- 3When you notice you have been pulled into a thought-stream, simply resume open sitting.
- 4Sit with alert presence rather than drifting into blankness or daydream.
What the evidence says
MechanisticShikantaza corresponds closely to open-monitoring meditation, a category with research on attentional and emotional effects. Outcome evidence is generally weaker and less abundant than for focused-attention or full mindfulness programs.
Honest caveat: Open-monitoring practice is studied as a category, but shikantaza specifically has limited dedicated outcome research; benefits are largely inferred and experiential.
Common mistake
Slipping into vague spacing-out or daydreaming and calling it "just sitting" — shikantaza is alert, awake openness, not drifting absence.
IX Coach can guide open-awareness sits and help you tell the difference between alert open monitoring and drifting, so "just sitting" stays awake.
Practice this with IX Coach →