SIT-A-LONG with JUNDO: Xin Xin Ming - (II)

[Kyonin]

Thank you for this teaching.

Thinking that Zen teachers are super beings that are above suffering, fear and pain, is one of the most common myths.

Gassho,

Kyonin

[jeff_u]

Thank you Jundo for clarifying. I think somewhere along the way I developed a stereotype that all Westerners idealize their teachers in a way that doesn't allow them to be human. I know from my experiences in martial arts that people are constantly surprised when their teacher turns out to have human frailties like: making a mistake during a demonstration, having an affair that get exposed, losing a match, misjudging someones character, getting depressed. I think that I've seen so many people who are shocked and in denial about this that I've internalized it and not really reflected much on it. Thank you again for your insight!

Gassho,

Jeff

[Risho]

Thank you Jundo!

Gassho

Risho

[Shugen]

Gassho


Shugen

[galen]

Thank you Jundo.

From my experience, depression can be softened and lessened with a clean diet and constant workouts at the gym, and of course meditation. Those are powerful forces to have in the quiver of life, `as it is. Clinical depression usually needs to be combated by drugs (not insinuating thats the case), but still....... pushing the body to its limits through vigorous workouts almost daily (it is life), a very nutritious diet and meditation are about as good as any pill. See you soon Taigu, my best! And like Yugan suggests, its courageous just to bring it forth publicly, that in itself to me, even as hard as that may have been, and showing how deep you might have fell, should go a long ways to bouncing you back to more joy-filled times. You can do this, Taigu, see ya soon.


Gassho

[alan.r]

It can be such a difficult thing - "dancing vibrantly in emptiness" when a frustrating thing comes up, a depressing thing, a distracting thing. How to be in this world without my dumb self falling into my dumb self, over and over and over, falling into the trap by believing in the trap? Look at me, stuck in my mind again, what an idiot I am - no, what a trap to think that way. How to be in this world without getting caught in my mind, my thinking, my perceptions, my feelings, all the traps I see as traps, set up as traps? Just sit and be with and in the trap freedom. Without this body-mind no enlightenment. Without these thoughts and feelings nothing to just be with. Without this samsara no nirvana. Without this form no emptiness. Without these traps no freedom. Or something like that.

As always, thank you.

Gasso

[Myoshin]

"Without this body-mind no enlightenment. Without these thoughts and feelings nothing to just be with. Without this samsara no nirvana. Without this form no emptiness. Without these traps no freedom. Or something like that." Shomon

It rings in me, thank you to remember

Gassho

[Dokan]

Thank you Jundo.

Gassho

Dokan

PS - Posted up to podcast: treeleaf.podbean.com

[Jishin]

Great stuff. Thank you for the teaching.

Gassho,

John

[Gen01]

Thank you Jundo!

Gassho.

[Jorsh]

"Life is painful, suffering is optional." -Sylvia Boorstein. Depression; de- something reversed or removed. Of course, nothing is removed, so what is reversed? Our attention/will/this awareness, one feels. For me, depression has been that which has me constantly limiting myself and my abilities, and anxious with my state of mind. It takes up a lot of energy; which I guess is where the apathy comes in.
Turning your attention inward, one finds the energy again, to not be afraid. And even if life breaks your proverbial back, you can sit with the pain and see that one is still here, right here; with the ground beneath.
Thanks to the kind words of so many Treeleafers and hearing about their lots(and my own willingness I suppose) I have contention inside and outside of the breath, just sitting with this being. This awareness and the source are one and the same. Our pulse is the pulse.

Gassho to all of you beautiful people,

Josh

[Shokai]

Having viewed this sitalong one more time, in the style of modern social networking, I'd like to add one big "LIKE"
happy to be nesting @ treeleaf, thank you to all
gassho, shokai

[Jorsh]

I'm going to say something dumb: I get this. This is the way I've come to understand life through age, not sitting, I think. It's kind of like what I was saying about my dogs.- I will be unbearably wretched when they die- for a while... I will never forget them. I will, not relish the sadness, but I will allow myself to experience it fully all the while knowing that it will lessen and there are other lives to experience, like mine, my husband's, other animals, etc. I can also feel "through" it at the same time. If I talk too much, I sound like I don't understand- that's probably true, too.
Thank you,
Jenell

I can relate most definitely. I've had my fair share of pets during my short tenure in life. You do not hide any aspect of the reality, for it sort of feels like one would be doing them a dishonor. I feel that independence/interdependence all the time when I look at my kitties; I saved them from certain doom. What's happening here "human", is happening there "cat". We're in this together.

[Jorsh]

Excellent words, teach. "7 times down, 8 times up."

Gassho,
Josh

[MyoHo]

Thanks for the words Jundo.

Taigu, I offer my thoughts on this out of own experiance.

The blues can be a dangerous foe of sitting and like with the Buddha, it comes to pressure us and test our resolve. When pierced, it can be the weeds that, like manure, feed the flower of our sitting. ( that's from S.Suzuki i think?)

Happyness and sadness are One and the same. Teachings say everything is there because we put it there. True, but one must be a saint or something not to get touched by life's reality. Realy living and accepting the "Right now" doesn't mean everything just goes away, like using some magic spell, I think. But sadness and frustration are clouds too, they are part of the sky itself. They will pass.
Still..... life can be a real "ahaum"
It worked for me a few times. Depression also is a part of the you in the right now, just don't stick to it.

Thinking of you in compassion Taigu.

Gassho
Enkyo