Howdy, fellow sitters! 
In Shikantaza, we sit through thick and thin, ups and down, good and bad days, rain and sunshine ... dropping judgements and demands ... thus to find that immeasurable that is both thick and thin, the still centerpoint at the heart of "up vs. down," a Good (Big G) that is all of life's daily goods and bads ... the Clear Boundless Sky present even on the stormiest day.
In the CASE, the question is about the "meaning of Bodhidharma's having come (to China) from the West (India)," but it is usually taken to be really asking, "What is the true meaning of Zen?"
The response is the wonderful, "Sitting for a long time becomes toilsome," a pain in the butt, tiring.
Now, that may refer to Bodhidharma's having sat in the legend, facing a wall for 9 years. But I think it is about how we sit with whatever, even when it is dull or bothersome, and find something at the heart of "toilsome" that is (pardon my pretend French) "toi l'so me" (you are so me!)
In the POINTER, we just sit with the "gentle ease" that is so forceful it cuts right through iron and nails like butter (with that sword that "uncuts" two into one). We sit without running away from the arrows and swords of life. It is so whole that even a sharp needle cannot enter (how can it enter that without the slightest gap, no inside or outside?) Even when the foaming ways of a great Tsunami are reaching to the sky ... we just sit. We are the sky and the waters! Bodhidharma may have sat for 9 years, but it was only for a moment, for this moment (right now, of your sitting) ... and timeless too.
The VERSE is subject to various interpretations. I like that we may sit for 1, 2, 1000 or 10,000 hours, and it is like putting down a burden and seeing clearly ... even amid all the burdens in life we carry and the divisions and narrowness we encounter, beyond birth and death, ideas of sacred and profane and all other divisions. the 1 and 10,000 can also mean that, when you sit and liberate your heart, all the beings of the world are liberated at once!
It is lovely that the poem closes with a reference to a great woman teacher, "Iron Grindstone Liu" (she was known as a tough character.) When sitting, we turn neither left, right, follow from behind or take the lead. But even when we get up from the cushion, turning left or right, ahead or behind, the same unmoving stillness is present.
QUESTION: Do you find it easy to sit on the hardest days? Is there some way that sitting on the "bad days, the rainy days" is some of the most rewarding practice? Have you experienced sitting beyond the hard times even when you are right up to your neck in a hard time? Please tell any story you have of such a sitting.
Here is a song about sitting with all the struggles, sadness, doubts that somebody has in their day ...
.
Gassho, J
stlah
In Shikantaza, we sit through thick and thin, ups and down, good and bad days, rain and sunshine ... dropping judgements and demands ... thus to find that immeasurable that is both thick and thin, the still centerpoint at the heart of "up vs. down," a Good (Big G) that is all of life's daily goods and bads ... the Clear Boundless Sky present even on the stormiest day.
In the CASE, the question is about the "meaning of Bodhidharma's having come (to China) from the West (India)," but it is usually taken to be really asking, "What is the true meaning of Zen?"
The response is the wonderful, "Sitting for a long time becomes toilsome," a pain in the butt, tiring.
Now, that may refer to Bodhidharma's having sat in the legend, facing a wall for 9 years. But I think it is about how we sit with whatever, even when it is dull or bothersome, and find something at the heart of "toilsome" that is (pardon my pretend French) "toi l'so me" (you are so me!)
In the POINTER, we just sit with the "gentle ease" that is so forceful it cuts right through iron and nails like butter (with that sword that "uncuts" two into one). We sit without running away from the arrows and swords of life. It is so whole that even a sharp needle cannot enter (how can it enter that without the slightest gap, no inside or outside?) Even when the foaming ways of a great Tsunami are reaching to the sky ... we just sit. We are the sky and the waters! Bodhidharma may have sat for 9 years, but it was only for a moment, for this moment (right now, of your sitting) ... and timeless too.
The VERSE is subject to various interpretations. I like that we may sit for 1, 2, 1000 or 10,000 hours, and it is like putting down a burden and seeing clearly ... even amid all the burdens in life we carry and the divisions and narrowness we encounter, beyond birth and death, ideas of sacred and profane and all other divisions. the 1 and 10,000 can also mean that, when you sit and liberate your heart, all the beings of the world are liberated at once!
It is lovely that the poem closes with a reference to a great woman teacher, "Iron Grindstone Liu" (she was known as a tough character.) When sitting, we turn neither left, right, follow from behind or take the lead. But even when we get up from the cushion, turning left or right, ahead or behind, the same unmoving stillness is present.
QUESTION: Do you find it easy to sit on the hardest days? Is there some way that sitting on the "bad days, the rainy days" is some of the most rewarding practice? Have you experienced sitting beyond the hard times even when you are right up to your neck in a hard time? Please tell any story you have of such a sitting.
Here is a song about sitting with all the struggles, sadness, doubts that somebody has in their day ...
.
Gassho, J
stlah
). Persevering and sitting through the 2 days was definitely worth it though. My bane right now seems to be dealing with impatience on the zafu, either fighting the inclination to look at the timer, or letting go of the reasons my mind throws at me to interrupt my sitting. Sometimes I look, and sometimes the desire and thoughts vanish into clear sitting. Easy zazen, hard zazen - sometimes zazen, sometimes zaz'aint. But that is the point isn't it? to sit through whatever, and see what goes on... I find that easy and hard come and go as I sit. Some days there is more of one than the other, that's all.
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