Literally: "Just sitting" or "just sitting".
Shikantaza is the Japanese term for the central form of meditation in the tradition of Soto Zen. This practice was transmitted by the teacher Dogen Zenji in the 13th century as the purest and most direct expression of zazen. It is about sitting in a meditative posture, without relying on techniques, objects of concentration or visualizations. It is not intended to achieve anything or modify the experience.. It is practiced to simply be, with full presence, instant after instant.
Unlike other meditative approaches that seek to calm the mind, cultivate attention or generate specific states, shikantaza implies a total surrender to the act of sitting, trusting that the original nature of the mind—already enlightened—is fully expressed when we stop interfering.
It's not about "not thinking", but of cultivate a state beyond thinking and not thinking, often described with the term hishiryo ("thinking from beyond thought"). In shikantaza, the thoughts, Emotions and sensations appear and disappear like clouds in the sky, without the meditating person clinging to them or rejecting them.