In Dōgen’s Zen, meditation—specifically zazen or shikantaza, “just sitting”—is not treated as a technique aimed at some future attainment, but as the very manifestation of awakening itself. The practitioner simply sits upright, alert, and aware, without clinging to any object of concentration or chasing after special experiences. Thoughts, sensations, and feelings are allowed to arise and pass without interference or judgment. This “pure sitting” is characterized by a non-gaining attitude: one does not sit in order to acquire calm, insight, or mystical states, but allows Buddha-nature to express itself directly. In this way, zazen is described as “good for nothing” in any utilitarian sense, because its value lies in being the functioning of enlightenment here and now.

Central to this vision is Dōgen’s teaching that practice and realization are not two separate stages but a single reality. Sitting meditation does not gradually lead toward enlightenment as a distant goal; rather, the act of sitting itself is enlightenment manifesting in the present moment. Zazen is thus the concrete embodiment of Buddha-nature, not a method for producing something that is lacking. The posture, breath, and mind unified in sitting are spoken of as the “body-mind of Buddha,” and through sustained practice there is the “dropping away of body-mind,” in which the usual sense of dualism loosens and a more fundamental unity is revealed. Each moment of sitting is complete in itself, an enactment of what Dōgen calls practice-enlightenment.

Meditation in this sense becomes both the heart of monastic life and the measure of daily conduct. In the communities shaped by Dōgen’s teaching, zazen stands at the center, with study, chanting, work, and ritual organized around it as natural extensions of the same undivided awareness. The meditative attitude cultivated on the cushion is meant to permeate ordinary activities, so that work, chores, and interactions are carried out with the same non-grasping, present-centered mind. Thus, meditation is not confined to special periods of practice but becomes an ongoing way of being, in which every action offers an opportunity for Buddha-nature to be expressed.