Within the Shōbōgenzō, zazen stands as the very heart of the Buddhist path, not as one method among many but as the complete expression of the Buddha Way. Dōgen presents seated meditation as shikantaza, “just sitting,” a form of practice that does not aim at special states or attainments. This non-instrumental character is crucial: zazen is not a ladder to climb toward enlightenment, but the living enactment of enlightenment itself. In this sense, zazen is described as practice-realization, where practice and awakening are not two separate stages but a single, indivisible reality.

Dōgen’s writings depict zazen as the direct manifestation of Buddha-nature. In wholehearted sitting, the unity of practice and realization becomes apparent, and the practitioner participates in what is called the dropping off of body and mind. This does not point to an escape from the world, but to a release from dualistic thinking and self-centered grasping, allowing the natural state of being to reveal itself. Zazen thus functions as the concrete way in which the awakened activity of all buddhas is embodied in the present moment.

Because of this, zazen is portrayed as the life of buddhas and ancestors themselves, rather than a preparatory exercise leading to some later goal. To sit in this way is to join the continuous, timeless activity of awakening that runs through the lineage of practitioners. Study and doctrinal understanding are not dismissed, yet they are consistently placed in a secondary position to the direct, wordless realization that unfolds in seated meditation. Zazen condenses the entire path into the simple yet profound act of upright sitting, where form and essence, means and end, are realized as one.

In the vision articulated in the Shōbōgenzō, zazen is at once utterly ordinary and utterly complete. It is to be undertaken in the midst of everyday life, without reliance on special circumstances or dramatic experiences. Precisely in its simplicity and non-striving character, this practice reveals enlightenment as nothing other than the full, uncontrived presence of this very moment.