Hishiryo

Today, there is growing interest in meditation, understood as mindfulness or full attention. In the sramana movement of ancient India, the two rudders of the introspective vessel are concentration (samatha) and observation (vipassana). The predominance of one or the other defines the type or school of introspective practice. Observation corresponds to vipassana or mindfulness in its Westernized form. When concentration prevails, we speak of pure attention—a “revolutionary” concept in the field of “psychonavigation.” This is the practice explored in this thesis, which more properly concerns contemplation rather than meditation. The author seeks to demonstrate that the state of Zen consciousness known as hishiryo, as described in the ancient texts of the Soto Zen tradition, belongs to this latter category—pure attention, that is, total concentration, absorption, dhyana. Far from being revolutionary, it faithfully follows the teachings of the Soto lineage. What is truly innovative is the discernment, review, and confirmation of this fact, along with its contemporary explanation through science and the reasoning and testimonies that reveal its secret. Both disciplines—mindfulness and pure attention—are necessary and complementary. Nevertheless, this thesis argues that while mindfulness is essential and appropriately dominant in the early stages of practice, since it cultivates personal and spiritual growth, a distinction must be made in the more advanced stages, when the stream of discursive thoughts has been greatly reduced. At that point, pure attention should take precedence if one wishes to attain true transpersonal or mystical states of consciousness, since the “egoic” processes of the observer must be dissolved and transcended through this profound “self-hypnosis,” which is the practice of pure attention known as zazen shikantaza.