Experience of distress

[Guest]

I finish 7days Sesshin.

I cry ,smile ,anger,pain at Sesshin.

All people want to be happy.

But I think I can’t get such situation by myself.

When we accept happening,we can be happy,I think.

For me ,seeking for meaning is not good.If I seek for meaning of life ,I became kind of devil of desire.
Because meaning is changing every moment and different from every person.

Enjoy happening,accept neighbor is key point,I think.

How do you think about experience of distress and how do we become happy?

Nine bows
Gassho
Sat Sesshin
Kakunen


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[Jundo]

How do you think about experience of distress and how do we become happy?

Truly understand Shikantaza, and life, which you do not understand yet despite all your sitting.

Your head is too full of mess.

Please don't Teach others until you have clarity.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

[Rich]

I don't think or I think now or I think no thinking or watch and listen with love, gratitude and a smile to be here

SAT

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[Kyonin]

Hi Kakunen,

Maybe it is because you are searching something that you suffer?

Come on and sit with me in silence

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

[Eishuu]

When I have distress, I have found it good to just let it be there, let it flow like a river. So I don't push it away and I don't hang on to it...it is like weather. Sometimes I think pain needs to come out. The body lets it go. No need to chase after happiness or feel that one ought to be happy. These are just my thoughts.

Gassho
Eishuu
ST/LAH

[Kakunen]

Hi Kakunen,

Maybe it is because you are searching something that you suffer?

Come on and sit with me in silence

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

Past time experience of me is searching for meaning.

I want to sit with you,and Treeleafer,so I talk to my head monk of Myotokuji.

I feel I am not Japanese.
Again I feel I am not Japanese.

Gassho
Sat today
Kakunen


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[Kakunen]

Experience of distress

Truly understand Shikantaza, and life, which you do not understand yet despite all your sitting.

Your head is too full of mess.

Please don't Teach others until you have clarity.

Gassho, J

SatTodayLAH

Again I don’t teach .

But Monk Koya always teach me,human beings like to think something.

So just I follow my natural flow.

Why did you feel I want to teach other now?I just say my opinion here.

Let me know,please.

Gassho
Sat today
Kakunen


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[Rich]

Again I don’t teach .

But Monk Koya always teach me,human beings like to think something.

So just I follow my natural flow.

Why did you feel I want to teach other now?I just say my opinion here.

Let me know,please.

Gassho
Sat today
Kakunen


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Yes, thinking is a natural function of the brain. It becomes suffering when you identify with it, become attached to it, lose yourself in a dream.

SAT

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[Kakunen]

I don't think or I think now or I think no thinking or watch and listen with love, gratitude and a smile to be here

SAT

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You are like poet.

Deep bows
Kakunen


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[Kakunen]

Hi Kakunen,

Maybe it is because you are searching something that you suffer?

Come on and sit with me in silence

Gassho,

Kyonin
Sat/LAH

I can understand,I want keep pratticing true Budddhism,especially for Zazen.

I think in Japan,Lots of monk is not monk,just worker for celemony.

So I feel hard from them,also person who want to live as Boddhisatva at Japan suffer at hard situation.

At western contry,all people sit Zazen,honesty.

I fonud my mind like this.

I make mistake to separate western and Japanese,just think about sitting.

Gassho
Sat today
Kakunen


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[Rich]

You are like poet.

Deep bows
Kakunen


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Sometimes I write haiku to accompany my photos at

https://www.instagram.com/notmovingmind/

Energy expressed, not repressed

SAT today

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[Jinyo]

Sometimes I write haiku to accompany my photos at

https://www.instagram.com/notmovingmind/

Energy expressed, not repressed

SAT today

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Thanks for the link,



Jinyo

ST

[Kakunen]

Experience of distress

Sometimes I write haiku to accompany my photos at

https://www.instagram.com/notmovingmind/

Energy expressed, not repressed

SAT today

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I also take a picture.
I like to express picture more than words.And I am sometimes called like a poet.

Will share pictures.







Express myself is very comfortable,but difficult to live normal life.

Gassho
Sat today
Kakunen


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[Rich]

Beautiful pictures.

The dark night is the price one has to pay for the morning.

SAT today

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[ChrisMa]

I finish 7days Sesshin.

I cry ,smile ,anger,pain at Sesshin.

All people want to be happy.

But I think I can’t get such situation by myself.

When we accept happening,we can be happy,I think.

For me ,seeking for meaning is not good.If I seek for meaning of life ,I became kind of devil of desire.
Because meaning is changing every moment and different from every person.

Enjoy happening,accept neighbor is key point,I think.

How do you think about experience of distress and how do we become happy?

Nine bows
Gassho
Sat Sesshin
Kakunen


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you for all of your wonderful posts. I have been very inspired reading them. You are very honest and express yourself clearly.

I don't post here much but I will start to participate more. I'm from the UK and live in China now. There is no meditation group that I can go to here, but I have found many great discussions on this forum.

I have had similar problems. Always looking for meaning. I often don't get this right. But I have always found that the best Zazen is when there is no purpose, no goal, nothing to achieve. When I try to connect my zazen to big ideas about the meaning of life, the purpose of why we are here on Earth, the question of whether there is a purpose or not, and what we should do with our lives, the zazen becomes muddy and messy. I remember last year, I was going through a particularly difficult period (lots of work stress, living far from home, and also trying to figure out the meaning of my life, and life in general.) I went round and round in circles and got nowhere. Eventually I just gave up, and sat zazen in the confusion and chaos, fully embracing it. That was when I finally found peace. There is still confusion, but this reminded me that whenever I am trying to use zazen for a purpose, to find meaning, it becomes something else, and isn't zazen. When I just let things be, accept that the mind will race with thoughts sometimes, accept that there is sometimes a strong need for a feeling of meaning, and don't fight these thoughts, there is finally some quiet. Silence in the surrender and acceptance.

I can't remember who said this, maybe Brad Warner; the brain is just like another organ. The heart pumps blood, organs secrete hormones, the brain secretes thoughts. There's no reason to take the thoughts too seriously, the brain just releases them automatically. They just tell us that the brain is still there, doing its normal thing. Nothing more than that.

It's great that you are devoting so much time to your practice. I look forward to reading more updates.

I was meaning to ask you. Every three months I get a break of one to two weeks. Can you recommend some monasteries in Japan that can take foreign guests for sesshin (between a few days and 1 1/2 weeks) in Japan. I can't find any places like this in China, but I can go to Japan for at least one week a few times each year (if flights are very expensive, maybe twice per year). I can't speak Japanese, so a place with foreign or English-speaking monastics or guests would be necessary. Due to work and family commitments I can't stay for more than two weeks. I was planning to go to Antaiji for three years, but now I have other obligations, so shorter sesshins that can be done in gaps between working life are what I'm looking for.

Gassho,

SatToday,

Chris