Sat without pain, stretches for hips

[Kevin M]

Hi,

I sat without pain today, except for when it was over and I had to get up

There's a thread here with good stretches https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?11499


... and another one on YouTube focusing extensively on hips (my biggest problem):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I4cKIK29O4

,
Kevin
#sat #today

[Kakunen]

Hi

I have opinion!

Sometimes I sit with pain,sometimes I sit without pain.

Please show this video Master Miyazaki who was Head monk at our 1st temple Eiheiji.
He was 104 years old at that time.

I sat 10days Sesshin ,from2AM to 9PM.

I feel pain and without pain.

Everything is good! Smile!

Peace! We can feel peace when we sit.

Anyway I start sitting from here.

Nine bows
Kakunen

[Jundo]

Hi

I have opinion!

Sometimes I sit with pain,sometimes I sit without pain.

Please show this video Master Miyazaki who was Head monk at our 1st temple Eiheiji.
He was 104 years old at that time.

I sat 10days Sesshin ,from2AM to 9PM.

I feel pain and without pain.

Everything is good! Smile!

Peace! We can feel peace when we sit.

Anyway I start sitting from here.

Nine bows
Kakunen

I will try to do a little translation of some of this in the coming days.

Gassho, J

STLah

[Juki]

These are all very basic, beginner-friendly hip stretches that I would add to any of my introductory yoga classes, and they focus primarily on external rotation of the hips, which is the most helpful type of stretch for allowing your knees to get to the floor when sitting Zazen. As a yoga teacher, the only thing I would add to this thread is cautionary. If you are sitting with tight hips, DO NOT try to force yourself to sit in either full lotus of half lotus posture. If you have tight hips and your body is not ready for a lotus position, you may be able to force yourself into the position, but eventually the tightness in your hips will result in a serious knee injury. So, sit Burmese until your hips open, which could take a long, long time given our sedentary culture. Also know that there are anatomical differences in the pelvic structure of men and women, which allows for a great deal more natural hip flexibility in women. So, women wit tight hips will become flexible more quickly than men with tight hips.

Gassho, Juki
(sat today)

[vanbui]

Thank you for the helpful information Jundo and Juki.

Gassho
satToday

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[Kevin M]

Thanks Juki, thanks Kakunen
Curious about the translation Jundo

Kevin
#sattoday


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[Shokai]

This is what I hope to be in 25years

104.png

Jundo; very interested in your translation of this video interview. I can catch bits and pieces; probably missing the nuances. It appears to contain some great wisdom. Hope to see your efforts soon.

gassho, Shokai

[Jundo]

By the way, Kakunen is in the hospital today with bad vertigo.

Let us sit and dedicate our activities to him and his feeling better.

Gassho, Jundo

STLah

[Amelia]

Thank you for letting us know, Jundo. Sitting with him and chanting metta.

Gassho, sat today, lah

[Jundo]

An imperfect translation, subject to revision ...

Showing his daily activity from 3:30am. He has been sitting Zazen since he was 11 years old, for 93 years, not missing a day. He is always sitting before the younger monks.

Q-What is being thought inside the head and heart during Zazen?

A- Don’t think about anything. Wild thoughts and judgements of “before and after” are left aside, and just in that moment there is only this one breath and then this one breath. Thinking any more beyond that is just excess.

Q – When I sit, a bunch of thoughts pop into my head like wildly sprouting weeds …

A – Human beings are filled with thoughts of fame and social position, striking poses, selfishness. We should not be conquered by desires. That is Zazen.

Q – By continuing to sit Zazen, we can conquer such things?

A – We become one with the breath. There is no gap within which desires can arise.

Zazen is to be going straight. Make the back straight, make the head and muscles straight. Do not lean to left or right. To be straight is to be true, honest, Body and mind are one. If the body is made straight, the heart becomes straight.

Q – So, that is the posture of Zazen, yes?

A – Yes. Human beings are always thinking that selfishness is freedom and the like. Proper bearing should become a daily thing.

NARRATOR – All daily activities are spiritual practice. Cleaning etc. And that includes going back to take care of anything missed.

A – Dogen Zenji said that everything is Zazen. To become one with that one thing or activity is Zazen. Nothing is left out. Walking is walking Zen, talking is talking Zen. It is sitting but not just sitting. How you take off the slippers is Zazen. Don’t just throw the slippers around. If you treat the slippers badly, you treat yourself badly. You should fix it so it is right. So, with life and with the slippers, put it straight. All shows your heart. If your heart is straight, all things must become straight. It is not really spiritual practice, but really just common sense and the natural thing. There is nothing above it.

NARRATOR – His mother was living separately, and his father died, so he was placed in a temple at age 11 and began trainng. The temple is in Hyogo Prefecture … They rose each day at 3am for Zazen, He wanted to play, and did not understand his teacher’s always doing Zazen, so the strict life was hard.

A – I did Zazen from age 11 even though I did not like it. At first, I thought that there should be more than that.

NARRATOR – Wanting to study, and against his teacher’s wishes, he went to university. He was filled with doubts about the meaning of Zazen. But he was age 29 when his master died, and he returned and he sat through the night with the corpse of his dead teacher, and felt the reverberations of his teacher’s training

A – When I saw his still warm body I thought he had been a great person. Working with and eating the same food each day as the young monks in training. After all, his daily life was a model. It was not just words, but how he lived. I wanted to become like that. I wanted to copy his example each and every day, for my whole life.

NARRATOR – He became head of his teacher’s temple. He stopped thinking about the meaning of Zazen, and just sat Zazen.

Q – Hearing the bird call, I feel that we are always wrapped in nature.

A – Nature is fantastic. I kept a journal, “On a certain day of a certain month, the flowers bloomed, on a certain date the bugs began to sing.“ Almost nothing varies [year by year], the rules and discipline are proper. That is the Dharma. It is Great Nature that manifests the Dharma. Human beings should live copying the laws of nature. The world of human beings gets all confused by people following their human desires. Great Nature just acts, while being silent in words about truth and principles. It does not think to be praised by someone, it does not think of financial rewards. When the time comes, the flowers just bloom. All just goes on silently, whether there is praise or not. That is just doing, it is a teaching. It is Truth.

Ekiho Miyazaki was the 79th Abbot of Eiheiji, He died at age 106 in 2008.

I was fortunate to meet him once.

[Meitou]

"When the time comes, the flowers just bloom. All just goes on silently, whether there is praise or not. That is just doing, it is a teaching. It is Truth."

What a lovely thread,thanks everyone. Thank you Juki for your continued good advice about yoga.
I'll sit and chant Metta for Kakunen today.
Gassho
Meitou
Satwithyoualltoday lah

[vanbui]

Thank you so much for sharing this translation Jundo.

I second Meitou regarding these lines
"When the time comes, the flowers just bloom. All just goes on silently, whether there is praise or not. That is just doing, it is a teaching. It is Truth."
I think it encapsulates the meaning of Zazen in 4 simple lines.

Gassho,
sattoday
Van



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[Shoki]

Thanks Kevin and Juki. And thanks to Jundo for the translation. As a gardener I type this looking out my window at my dormant garden. Frozen ground, brown stalks and snow flurries. Knowing that when the time comes the flowers will bloom. But now just this.

Gassho,
Today/LAH
James

[Jundo]

Kakunen sends some word to everyone ...

Thank you Treeleafer.

To Jundo

https://youtu.be/oY0zQPhz0e4

Kakunen
Gassho
Sat today

I think he is feeling a little better and has headed home.

He is chanting the Four Bodhisattva Vows (Shi Gu Sei Gan) ...

Shu jo muhen seigan do
Bonno mujin seigandan
Homon muryo seigangaku
Butsu do mujo seiganjo

Our version in English ...

To save all sentient beings, though beings numberless

To transform all delusions, though delusions inexhaustible

To perceive Reality, though Reality is boundless

To attain the Enlightened Way, a Way non-attainable

Gassho, J

STLah

[Shokai]

Thank you Kakunen;

Nice chanting

gassho, Shokai
stlah