Zazen for Beginners Series: THREAD for QUESTIONS, COMMENTS

[dialectbird]

Cool, thank you. I have added you to my sitting group just in case ...

Also, did yah get a chance to sit today online and what was the outcome? Are you getting into a room and it is just that no one is there?

Gassho
Shingen

Sat/LAH

Hoya Shingen,
Unfortunately I was called in a bit early to work that time. I am absolutely going to keep making attempts until it works out. I thought that too, but I ended up sitting for about an hour with no bells.

[Mp]

Hoya Shingen,
Unfortunately I was called in a bit early to work that time. I am absolutely going to keep making attempts until it works out. I thought that too, but I ended up sitting for about an hour with no bells.

Called into work? Geezzzz ... don't they know zazen always comes first? LOL =)

No worries, keep at it and let me know what happens. If you and I need to do a test run to make sure all the bells are working, we can do that too. Keep me posted. =)

Gassho
Shingen

Sat/LAH

[Vanayr]

Jundo, have you considered creating some playlists on YouTube? Would make going from talk to talk a whole lot easer. Other than that nitpicking, this has been fantastic, thank you so much!

edit: Here is a playlist in the meantime if anyone would like it https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...dOg9CsUuYSCtDZ

[Jundo]

Jundo, have you considered creating some playlists on YouTube? Would make going from talk to talk a whole lot easer. Other than that nitpicking, this has been fantastic, thank you so much!

edit: Here is a playlist in the meantime if anyone would like it https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...dOg9CsUuYSCtDZ

Thank you for the suggestion.

I would like folks to read the accompanying text explanations for each video, however, and I think that the playlist by itself only gives the video talk without the accompanying written explanation. So, we have this list ...

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?14896-Sit-a-Long-with-Jundo-Zazen-for-Beginners-%28INTRODUCTION%29-Begin-Here%21

Gassho, Jundo

STLah

[MMorr]

Still having a heck of a time navigating this forum- still, like a blind squirrel, I am occasionally finding the nut! Please forgive me if I post in the wrong place until I get this figured out.

I am up to video 6 of the Intro series. Must stop to comment! These are truly wonderful lessons!!!!! Uniquely so for me. I was one of Fr. Pat Hawk's students in the Zen Desert Sangha in AZ for several years before he passed. I entered that relationship and training on an inner calling but no experience with zen at all. And Roshi's style was indescribably hands-off and yet laser clear in dokusan as I discovered the challenges of zazen. I read many many books, but it was two years in, when in utter frustration, I brought them all in a paper sack to the zendo and donated them. He said, "Good! Now we can begin." Not because I had read enough, but because I saw the futility of intellectualizing and was ready to experience.

All that frustration, and giving up on habitual intellectualizing were for me, a necessary part of the learning how to just sit. Obviously not for everyone, but yes, for me. Your clear and generously well prepared videos complete the picture and clarify the soto tradition more fully. I believe the Diamond Sangha lineage in which I began is somewhat different, though not greatly.

I believe I have stepped in to a manageable new kind of practice here- doing this online. I have not been able to find a "compatible" zen master. I was trained out of all the ideological stuff, the guided meditations, the concepts, the dogmas, and I never found another teacher who could teach with so few words as my skillful first zen master. Perhaps many of us have a hard time finding another teacher if we lose our first one.

I am old enough now that travels and retreat/sesshins are difficult. So I thank you for these wonderful lessons, in which I have learned much already in just 6 video lessons, even after several years of active practice. Once I figure out to navigate this complex forum and website, I'll be up and running and trying to find out how to do a live sit. Now I will proceed with the beginners lessons. And beginning my daily sits at home. My goodness, I have lived long enough to be able to do this! Imagine that.

Gassho
MMorr

[Jundo]

Please forgive me if I post in the wrong place ...

You are in JUST the right place. Always so.

If you need some help to find your way around the halls and closets of our little electric monastery ...

FEELING LOST AROUND THE COMMUNITY? Contact our "SANGHA BUDDHIES"

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?15768-FEELING-LOST-AROUND-THE-COMMUNITY-Contact-our-SANGHA-BUDDHIES

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Beakon]

I found this thread this morning after yoga class. There has been difficulties with my practice in zazen. I am attending a kundalini yoga class that's run by my friend Jitendradas. The aim is to help me not master yoga, but to help me be determined to wake up in the morning and exercise. I am hoping I will learn in Shikantaza what do do about falling asleep all the time this year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Seibu]

The 6th video has been a real mind-opener because it was something I didn't quite understand. In my mind and daily life both sides of the same coin clashed sometimes because I didn't know how to unify them. Your insightful video also reminded me of a part of Mumon's verse found below the koan Pai Chang's Fox:


Not falling, not evading--

two faces of the same die.

Not evading, not falling--

a thousand mistakes, ten thousand mistakes.

Quoted from The Gateless Barrier (Robert Aitken)



Thank you for sharing.

Gassho

Kakedashi


SatToday

[Landrew]

Just watched first video for beginners. The best explanation/demonstration of what meditation is all about that I have ever heard.
Thank You.

[Jundo]

Just watched first video for beginners. The best explanation/demonstration of what meditation is all about that I have ever heard.
Thank You.

It is all downhill from there!

Gassho J

StLAH

[Victor]

Thank you so much for this teaching series! I'm on either 5 or 6 and find them both informative and also rather entertaining! Well thought out and the message sticks! I look forward to learning with you all and sitting together!

[Tai Do]

Just finished the Beginner’s Series. I’ve sat everyday since I joined Treeleaf in January, but not everyday I’ve watched and read the series (sometimes I forgot, sometimes I was in a hurry so just sat).
Thank you for this, Jundo. I second Landrew: it is the best explanation of zazen I’ve encountered.
Gassho,
Mateus
Sat today

[Jundo]

Just finished the Beginner’s Series.

Of course, being a "beginner" never ends on this Path too, even when we are very very experienced and no longer a "beginner" at all ...

... and also being a "no beginner no ender" never ends, of begins for that matter. (A Koan)

Gassho, J

STLah

[Victor]

Hello all! I do have a question about my home "Zendo."

I do not have a room I can dedicate fully to my Zen practice. I kind of just use a small area in a corner of my den. Unfortunately it is a bit messy in there as we haven't been able to find good places yet to get everything unpacked and cleaned up, so this makes for even less space. When I walk around the contour of the room, does this even include walking around the contour left by the current cluttered state of the room?

Also, a question about my zafu. My zafu doesn't have its own place where it stays. For now I keep it under my altar table so my cat can't lay on it or puke on it. I also hope this will keep the dog from peeing on it if the dog is misbehaving. That said, will this be ok, or will I have to adjust that? I tend to either sit in front of my altar or I move the zafu to a blank wall and then sit. Are there any suggestions for how I could do this in a more proper way, taking my situation into account?

[Mp]

Hello all! I do have a question about my home "Zendo."

I do not have a room I can dedicate fully to my Zen practice. I kind of just use a small area in a corner of my den. Unfortunately it is a bit messy in there as we haven't been able to find good places yet to get everything unpacked and cleaned up, so this makes for even less space. When I walk around the contour of the room, does this even include walking around the contour left by the current cluttered state of the room?

Also, a question about my zafu. My zafu doesn't have its own place where it stays. For now I keep it under my altar table so my cat can't lay on it or puke on it. I also hope this will keep the dog from peeing on it if the dog is misbehaving. That said, will this be ok, or will I have to adjust that? I tend to either sit in front of my altar or I move the zafu to a blank wall and then sit. Are there any suggestions for how I could do this in a more proper way, taking my situation into account?

Hey Victor,

When you walk around the clutter, when you walk around the contour of the tiny room, you are walking around the universe. We practice in all areas of life, whether big or small, it is all good practice. =)

As for the zafu, life can brings ups and downs; accidents and the like ... even to our zafus. But we do try our best to take care and maintain them as best we can. Where ever you sit, that is the place for your zafu. In time you will have a dedicated place, but if in the meantime you need to move it about to care for it ... that is all good. =)

Gassho
Shingen

Sat/LAH