How Joriki (super concentrated state) arises from Zazen

There are two worlds – the world of the Buddha ( which is the natural habitat of the inner Buddha in you – you need to try and visualize yourself in this ‘Buddha’ world) and the real world (where you actually live day to day). When you awaken in the morning, try and stay in the Buddha world- and ‘group’ all real-world sounds, images etc.into their own EXTERNAL  world. External to where you are . This helps to PUSH the world away somewhat.

Couple this with the commitment to only perform ‘compassionate’ acts and you should find yourself in a Buddha state of mind  – focusing on only helping others. This does not mean that you go ‘out of your way to help others – just help where you can and where you are asked for help.

Once this state is achieved, the mind becomes SILENT. Silence is the key driving force of Joriki. Words (or sounds of any kind) acts as deterrents to action. Once you are in this ‘silent mind’ state, all you feel like doing is ACTING. Action without words- compassionate action without any interfering thoughts. This is called Joriki (or Siddhi in Sanskrit).

When you are all action without (any) thought – you are tapping into latent energy – energy which is otherwise dissipated by the thinking process. The exact nature of the act will all ‘come to you’. Your next move will be dictated by the Universe – rather than you searching for what to do next. This is a key element of joriki – alert and ready to perform any action  – waiting (patiently) for instructions from the Universe.

If you can carry out all actions in this manner, you will be considered a karma yogi. Your actions will be performed with skill and a sense of detachment to their outcome. Detachment arises from the ‘pushing away’ of the real world as discussed above. If one views the real world as a sort of ‘illusory’ other world – and not one which is the natural habitat of humans, then one is able to successfully detach oneself from worldly actions. This in no way diminishes the quality of their actions – in fact, each action is performed in purity (without any interfering thoughts) and with full concentration.

Zazen

Maintaining this detached and highly concentrated state of mind is not easy – and is not permanent. It requires constant Zazen (practice). Zazen, if practiced enough, leads to joriki. Joriki lasts for a while but slips away eventually.

Fear

since Joriki involves actively pushing out all thoughts, it succeeds in pushing out fear altogether as well (fear is nothing but fearful thoughts). Action state – without any thought – without any fear.

Caffeine

Probably the quickest way to leave the ‘detached’ world – and enter the real world is to consume caffeine. The ‘alertness’ provided by caffeine is not the same as the alertness that is the nature of Joriki. It is actually in complete contradiction. Rather than subduing thought, caffeine stimulates a never ending flow of thoughts – most of which interfere with the unconscious performance of the act.

Silence Driven Action

The actions initiated by a completely quieted mind are the only actions that are ordained by the Universe (by your ‘inner Buddha’ – which is in-sync with the Universe). All other actions are driven by our outer selves – and, in the eyes of Buddhism, amount to nothing.