An exemplary operation: Shikantaza and articulating practice via deleuze

Abstract

In what follows, we will propose a new theory and delimited definition of practice, where the latter can be understood as a “strange” (but not uncommon) register of action. It aims to clarify a conceptualization of what practice is and how it works, as well as to introduce a more assured vocabulary for its articulation. Understood simply, practice can be approached as a “strange” mode of more usual doings-a mode that is woven into the quotidian fabric of living but not technically “of” that register. Furthermore, the definition of practice proposed here, while delimited, also arguably works to include differently. With not every mode of action satisfying its criteria, and with other surprising examples falling within its definition, this approach brings out of solution a clearer understanding of what practice for our purposes does or does not include, and why.