Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

, it is the job of the to run the '' zendo'' according to the rules prescribed by the teacher, and maintain the zendo's schedule. The jikido makes a commitment to run every regularly scheduled sitting and each monthly ''sesshin''. In

Sōtō Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngshān L ...

the ''jikido'' is the one person, other than the Teacher, who faces outward in the ''zendo'' instead of facing the wall. This is because the ''jikido''`s practice cannot be simply private or inward, but must always face outward, aware and responsive to what's going on in the ''zendo''. The ''jikido''`s job is not just to facilitate the functioning of the ''zendo'', the ''jikido'' embodies and exemplifies practice as functioning. And that is the functioning of no-self – of the forgotten self – that responds to each thing in turn, performs each function in turn without a thought of right or wrong or ''how am I doing'' or ''how do I look doing it''.

See also