Zazen is good for nothing.
We do it anyway.
​Our sitting practice is called zazen or shikantaza.  We do only four things in our zazen; we sit in zazen posture, breathe deeply through the nose, keep the eyes open and let go of thoughts. That's all we do. Anything else is extra.

It sounds like a very simple practice, and it is -- but it's also profound, challenging, joyful and intimate. We are doing nothing more than being right here, right now with body and mind. Conditions change inside and outside of ourselves, but we just return to this moment over and over again.

When we sit down and let go of our ideas, we stop chasing after things we like and running away from things we don't like. The dust settles, and we begin to see more clearly: the interdependence of all things, the constantly changing causes and conditions of our lives, and the true nature of self. Our natural wisdom and compassion arise of themselves.
​
Zazen is not a matter of trying to get to somewhere else, have some peak experience or become people we like better. As our dharma ancestor Kodo Sawaki famously said, zazen is beyond gain and beyond satori. In other words, zazen is good for nothing . . . but we do it anyway. We don't need to look for meaning in it; we're released from chasing a goal. Zazen is good -- but not for something. Zazen is good in itself.
Of course, it's good to sit enthusiastically, but your enthusiasm should not be for competition with others.  Then shall we honestly follow our desires?  Shall we sit only when we want to sit, and avoid sitting when we don't want to?  This is also a mistake.  It is good to sit with other people because we have scheduled zazen, even if we don't want to sit on that day.  This is worthy zazen.  Even if we sit unwillingly or we sit to keep others company, zazen is zazen when we actually sit.  It is solely dependent upon your attitude toward practice at the moment.
-- Uchiyama Roshi 
Resources for zazen
Sanshin style
Zazen instruction
Sanshin specialty: Sesshin
Sesshin at Sanshin is an opportunity to practice zazen without distraction.  It's one of the core activities for us in this dharma family, and we pay a lot of attention to it.  We set aside the usual activities -- or entertainments -- of temple life, like work periods, meetings with teachers and dharma talks, and focus completely on zazen.  We practice in complete silence following a 4 am to 9 pm daily schedule that consists simply of fourteen 50-minute periods of zazen with one-hour periods for oryoki meals and a bit of personal time.  This sesshin-without-toys style of practice was created by our founder's teacher, Kosho Uchiyama Roshi, and practiced at Antaiji in Kyoto, Japan.  We carry on and offer this tradition of our lineage here at Sanshin.  
Understanding Sanshin style sesshin: context, instructions, and other resources