The Zen Master's Dance - 9 - Fukan Zazengi (middle of p. 38 to bottom of p. 41)

[Jundo]

We continue from middle of page 38, "The Mechanics of Sitting," stopping right before the discussion of "Think of not thinking" at the very bottom of page 41.

This week's reading looks at the physical posture of Zazen, but also talks about our attitudes during sitting.

Assignment:

Describe a "problem" in your life that would literally disappear, no longer be a "problem," if you stopped thinking about it as a "problem." In other words, is there a "problem" which is only a "problem" because you think of it as a "problem?" This will not work for all problems in life or the world (e.g., if you have bad health, you still will no matter your view about it; Global Warming will still be a world problem even if we ignore it, although your approach to even these bad situations may cool down quite a bit, and become more level headed, through this exercise.).

Instead, I am talking about some other problem that literally only (or pretty much only) exists because you consider it a problem.

To try to identify such self-made "problems," try to consider them with these attitudes discussed in the reading:

(1) Rain is just rain. It just is what it is.
(2) I am obsessing about this thing, overly focused on it, and I will now put the obsession down.
(3) I will treat it just like a table in the room during Zazen that I will not ponder.

See if you can find and describe a "problem" that largely evaporates when you do so.

Gassho, J

STLah

[Nengyoku]

I have had this person at work who I do not get along with. He is a supervisor, but not my supervisor, and we have a lot of confrontations about him being unhappy with my work. I hear all of the time about him talking bad about me, or trying to get me written up, and I have noticed that when he does receive work that needs to be assigned to the group I am in that he refuses to assign it to me.

And then one day the thought came into my head "What if none of this were true? You are so twisted up in anger right now, coming up with all of these actions to take to fix the situation or to address it with your supervisor, but if it isn't true then what? Do you make it worse by acting? Does it then become a problem because he finds out that YOU don't like HIM? What if every time you heard he said he didn't like you, someone else had made that up? What if he has never tried to reprimand you? What if he assigns work based on seniority?"
This person is constantly the "person you don't get along with" in my daily metta practice, and suddenly I realized he wasn't even someone I didn't get along with. I don't know him at all. I don't get along with an idea of him that I have created, my perception of him. I have to drop that.

He is just himself. I do not get angry about the rain, I just bring an umbrella.
I put the obsession down, and actually yesterday I had an encounter with him where I realized he was making dry jokes that normally I would have over thought and been anxious about.
I do not wonder about a table's attitude towards me, instead just letting it be a table. I should just let this person be this person, and keep walking.

Gassho,
William
SatLah

[Seishin]

If you look for problems you will always find them. The secret is not to seek them in the first place.

Also problems are not actually problems but opportunities.

My problem, which is only a problem because I think it is a problem, is the problem of thinking of a problem that is only a problem because I think it is a problem.

Sat

[Jundo]

If anyone needs help with this, I will give 3 imaginary "problem" situations, and please write about those (1) first, with real outrage and upseat, and (2) as I describe in the assignment:

(1) You find a scratch on the door of your new car.

(2) Someone cut in front of you in a line.

(3) A close relative expresses support for that candidate you can't stand.

Pick one.

Gassho, J

STLah

[Naiko]

As someone who is chronically impatient and in a hurry, I can certainly relate to creating a problem out of being cut in line (or even just being in line..). I’ve been there. The indignation of having my little place ignored, my wishes unfairly thwarted? I mean, How DARE they? To be slighted in such a way is an outrage! Clearly, everyone else can see how the line is formed….huff, puff.
Or
If waiting in line is not torture, but simply waiting in line, then being cut is no problem either. It’s just waiting. Even if impatience arises, it’s just there waiting too. And most often, watching that old script wave at me will elicit a good chuckle.
Gassho,
Naiko
st

[Jundo]

As someone who is chronically impatient and in a hurry, I can certainly relate to creating a problem out of being cut in line (or even just being in line..). I’ve been there. The indignation of having my little place ignored, my wishes unfairly thwarted? I mean, How DARE they? To be slighted in such a way is an outrage! Clearly, everyone else can see how the line is formed….huff, puff.
Or
If waiting in line is not torture, but simply waiting in line, then being cut is no problem either. It’s just waiting. Even if impatience arises, it’s just there waiting too. And most often, watching that old script wave at me will elicit a good chuckle.
Gassho,
Naiko
st

Nice.

Also, what line, who to cut and who to be cut? How can the universe be cut in two? What is the timeless waiting for?

Gassho, J

STLah

[Onkai]

A scratch on my pristine car. They didn't leave a note of apology or offer to pay for the repair. How inconsiderate! People want to ruin whatever is perfect. What is this world coming to?

vs,

A scratch on my car. Sometimes the parking spots are close together and I may have scratched someone else's car in the past without realizing it. I'll get the paint on my car touched up and it will be like new again.

Gassho,
Onkai
Sat/lah

[Jundo]

A scratch on my pristine car. They didn't leave a note of apology or offer to pay for the repair. How inconsiderate! People want to ruin whatever is perfect. What is this world coming to?

vs,

A scratch on my car. Sometimes the parking spots are close together and I may have scratched someone else's car in the past without realizing it. I'll get the paint on my car touched up and it will be like new again.

Gassho,
Onkai
Sat/lah

Lovely, and good thoughts and reasoning about the scratch.

Yet, in Zen, one can go beyond reasoning too ... scratch is just lovely scratch, car is just lovely car ... now just a scratchy car and a carry scratch ... Buddha scratching Buddha ...

And anyway ... what car, what scratch? How can one paint emptiness? Where in the universe is not the right parking space?

Gassho, J

STLah

[Tairin]

May as well pick a recent one. Yesterday was Christmas. Christmas has always been a special day in my family but it can be fraught with some potential problems. About half of my family members are practicing Christians. My Brother has become much more preachy about his faith in ways that can be quite uncomfortable. It often feels like we can be sitting in a sermon. He also refuses to partake in any present exchange. We have been hosting Christmas at my house for 20 years and only in the past 4 has he joined us. This year with his new wife. There’s always a risk of some uncomfortable discussion or comment which upsets someone.

Anyways. Christmas Day came and went yesterday and it was lovely. My new sister-in-law is a lovely person. Everyone enjoyed themselves. Presents were given and received. We had a wonderful meal together.

Problems? There were no problems aside from the ones that got manufactured in my head preparing for some potential unpleasantness.


Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Seishin]

Well I guess I will have to use one of Jundo's suggestions but maybe explain my original post. The minute someone put the label "problem" onto something, it invoke a negative aspect. I spent 5 + years here learning to let go and embrace suchness, so I don't go looking for problems or wish to find them in my past. I deal with things as they arise but for one could say historical reason, tend not to think of them as "problems" they are just occurrences. I spent 4 decades in a IT where countless years ago we differentiated between "incidents" and "problems". Incidents are events that are happening right here right now, which can then be viewed as problems "after" the event and analysis undertaken to avoid repeats. So learning to live in the now and by each moment, I have no need to look back and seek occurrences long since forgotten.

Anyway, imaginary person cut in front of me at the supermarket. I immediately remonstrate with them, explaining that it is a queue and that means one takes ones turn and "sorry pal" its not yours !! So, and probably with additional Anglo Saxon prose, I invite them to go to the back of the 10 person queue "be a good little person" and wait their turn. All this most likely supported with the, once infamous "death" stare form my angst filled teens, that tended to back folks up pretty quickly. Used effectively for decades but thankfully now lost along the way.

or

Oh, someone seems to be in a hurry I do hope everything is alright ??

Sat

[Jundo]

[DanM]

I got caught in bad traffic recently and realised this is one of these occasions where the problem only existed in my mind. I found it very frustrating at first but once I accepted that there was nothing I could do about it except continue to move along at whatever pace the traffic dictated, I started to realise it wasn’t the problem I thought it was. I was in my warm car listening to music with my wife as company and although I intermittently would feel agitated about the situation, it was easy to let go of it.

It is rather like the attitude drivers have when driving down the highway - they are attentive to the road as a whole, but do not think about anything specifically.

I think one of the reasons getting stuck is traffic is so frustrating for people is because it disrupts this attitude Jundo speaks of in this section of the book. Instead of driving along just going where we are going, we start to think “I’m going to be late,” “this is boring,” ”I’m sick of changing from first to second to third gear and back again,” “why isn’t the traffic moving?” etc, etc. But if you let go of all that you are still just driving along with the flow of traffic, however slowly or how much stopping and starting you need to do.

Gassho,
Dan
ST/LAH

[Gregor]

We have been having a lot of trouble with the boys going to bed on time the last week.

They will get up and scream or cry when we leave the room.

The more I fight and resist the worse it seems to get.

Typically I want them to go to bed so I can get time to read, do Zazen, or even sleep myself.

Well this attitude is counter productive. Last night when putting my son to bed I just stayed with him. Fully present in the moment not thinking about needing him to sleep or wanting to leave to go do something else.

I just was with him to be with him. It was lovely, just where I was meant to be.

And you know what? He eventually went to sleep and I had chance to do Zazen. .

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[Suuko]

We have been having a lot of trouble with the boys going to bed on time the last week.

They will get up and scream or cry when we leave the room.

The more I fight and resist the worse it seems to get.

Typically I want them to go to bed so I can get time to read, do Zazen, or even sleep myself.

Well this attitude is counter productive. Last night when putting my son to bed I just stayed with him. Fully present in the moment not thinking about needing him to sleep or wanting to leave to go do something else.

I just was with him to be with him. It was lovely, just where I was meant to be.

And you know what? He eventually went to sleep and I had chance to do Zazen. .

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Great things happen when we sometimes just let things be what they are. I feel a certain release at times during zazen when I just let certain annoying thoughts just come without thinking about them.

Gassho,
Sat today,
Guish.

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[Geika]

After thinking about it for a day, I guess the simplest answer is all the little annoying things that my husband or my family does on a daily basis. None of them are really problems at all, but the habitual nature of them can be a bit grating without presence of mind.

Gassho
Sat, lah