Taking Zazen Into Everyday Life

[GrasshopperMan17]

I've been wanting to move my Zen practice into everyday life, but am having trouble implementing it into my "daily doings". I'm wondering if anyone has any exercises or advice? Especially looking for advice on having a Zen mindset with ADHD, and what some of you do to practice with this, as I'm sure some of you do. Namasté

Gassho, John
ST/LAH

[Jundo]

I've been wanting to move my Zen practice into everyday life, but am having trouble implementing it into my "daily doings". I'm wondering if anyone has any exercises or advice? Especially looking for advice on having a Zen mindset with ADHD, and what some of you do to practice with this, as I'm sure some of you do. Namasté

Gassho, John
ST/LAH

Well, I am sure that many good folks will have other tips. What I do a couple of dozen times a day is incorporate a moment or half a moment of "Insta-Zazen" in everything that goes wrong (and sometimes what goes right) in daily life ...

... No parking spaces at the grocery? Insta-Zazen

... Tooth giving me some trouble? Insta-Zazen

... Daughter won't do her homework? Insta-Zazen

Like that.

- Zazen for Beginners (13) - Anywhere, Anytime INSTA-ZAZEN!©

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?14883-Sit-a-Long-with-Jundo-Zazen-for-Beginners-%2813%29

https://youtu.be/HmUK9bxOo0g

(The © mark is just a joke, by the way. You can steal it!)

Also Metta for difficult people, and so much more.

I look forward to hearing tips from the other folks here.

Gassho, J

STLah

[GrasshopperMan17]

Thank you for that, Jundo i look forward to hearing others' advice as well

Gassho, John
ST/LAH

[Amelia]

I've been wanting to move my Zen practice into everyday life, but am having trouble implementing it into my "daily doings". I'm wondering if anyone has any exercises or advice? Especially looking for advice on having a Zen mindset with ADHD, and what some of you do to practice with this, as I'm sure some of you do.

What I do a couple of dozen times a day is incorporate a moment or half a moment of "Insta-Zazen" in everything that goes wrong (and sometimes what goes right) in daily life ...

What Jundo says is good advice. I watched a documentary about Thich Nhat Hanh on Netflix and at his monasteries there is a chime that goes of every fifteen minutes, reminding everyone to stop and be still.

Now, my advice is not necessarily to do that, but I like the intent: to come back, again and again. This is what we do in zazen. As soon as we realize the mind or body has wandered, we bring it back. If we can bring this off the cushion, we bring practice to daily tasks. It is important not to lament that the mind wanders in the first place, but instead to simply acknowledge that this is what the mind does, and bring it gently back to here and now, without hesitation.

Gassho
Sat, lah

[Bion]

I've been wanting to move my Zen practice into everyday life, but am having trouble implementing it into my "daily doings". I'm wondering if anyone has any exercises or advice? Especially looking for advice on having a Zen mindset with ADHD, and what some of you do to practice with this, as I'm sure some of you do. Namasté

Gassho, John
ST/LAH

I, for example, will throughout the day perform mental body checks and try to become aware of my posture, breathing, sensations, environment etc.. When I’m walking somewhere I tend to place my tongue behind the front teeth, just like in zazen and walk purposefully and aware of myself. Sort of like a normal paced kinhin. [emoji3526] I tend to do quite a bit of bowing (or should I say gasshoing) so as to express immediate gratitude or sometimes even awareness. I will gassho at nice sights, before walking out of the house, before eating (I also chant the meal gatha before every meal). It’s mainly things like these, other than of course always keeping in mind the precepts!


Sorry for running super long!

[emoji1374] SatToday

[Seikan]

There's already much good advice above, but one thing I'd like to add is that keeping a regular zazen practice will slowly (over time) make it easier to keep coming back to the present, to the unfolding of the Universe before our eyes (and other senses). In fact, the more we maintain a formal zazen practice, the more this returning simply happens by itself, with less and less effort on our part. Practice and patience walk hand-in-hand here.

Gassho,
Seikan

-stlah-


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[Risho]

There's already much good advice above, but one thing I'd like to add is that keeping a regular zazen practice will slowly (over time) make it easier to keep coming back to the present, to the unfolding of the Universe before our eyes (and other senses). In fact, the more we maintain a formal zazen practice, the more this returning simply happens by itself, with less and less effort on our part. Practice and patience walk hand-in-hand here.

Gassho,
Seikan

-stlah-


Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk

Well said - and great advice from everyone

Gassho

Risho
-stlah

[Matt_]

Maybe this thread: https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...hlight=Matt_12 will help clarify some things for you.

Gassho,

Matt

[GrasshopperMan17]

Thank you for that Matt! I was looking for that thread before i posted this, to no avail. Very useful stuff! I still look forward to hearing other perspectives as well. Sorry for going over the 3 sentences

Gassho, John
Sat/LAH

[Doshin]

I have been a follower of Jundo’s Insta-Zazen during my day for years. Not good on incorporating rituals but strive to put the Precepts into practice to try to be a good person as I move about in my day. I am imperfect but as Jundo also has said when you fall down get back up.

Doshin
St

[Risho]

I have been a follower of Jundo’s Insta-Zazen during my day for years. Not good on incorporating rituals but strive to put the Precepts into practice to try to be a good person as I move about in my day. I am imperfect but as Jundo also has said when you fall down get back up.

Doshin
St

Hey Doshin - good seeing you around

Gassho

Risho
-stlah

[Risho]

I'm really glad this topic came up; I can always use a reminder; I especially like the point that Jundo makes about being mindful of the 'mind theatre'. This pop culture mindfulness nonsense, apologies for me being so blunt, is a much more superficial approach; to me it comes across as another form of grasping to keep this constant state of mind which is completely different from the more subtle observing (may be too much of a strong word) or just sitting of Shikantaza

Gassho

Risho
-stlah

[JimInBC]

This pop culture mindfulness nonsense, apologies for me being so blunt, is a much more superficial approach;

I think there are a few things going on, which are worth distinguishing. There is the mindfulness hype, "yay, it solves everything!" which overlooks the Buddhist context within which mindfulness was presented.

But there is also consciously taking one Buddhist practice, mindfulness, and seeing if it could in itself be an intervention for certain issues. Jon-Kabat Zinn has a pretty good empirical base in using mindfulness for stress relief. In that case, Zinn, a long-time Buddhist practitioner, consciously used a Buddhist technique to address a psychological issue. With no pretence that it is in any way a complete teaching or representative of Buddhism as a whole.

Then there is a third stream, that represents how Buddhism has changed over time as it reaches new historical periods and new cultures. A practice that greatly emphasized Sati over Samadhi arose in many Theravada countries in the 19th century (I've seen some nice papers linking it a response to colonialism, though I lack the expertise to comment on that). Westerners, like Joseph Goldstein, who studied Buddhism were highly influenced by this, and so brought it back to the States. And Mahasi Sayadaw, who taught a noting practice, was very influential in how this strain developed.

So I would say there are 3 mindfulness strains in the West: the new, developing Western Insight tradition started by teachers like Goldstein, Salzburg, and others. The research-based psychological interventions started by Zinn. And the nonsense, McMindfulness stream you identified.

Sorry for going over.

Gassho,
Jim
stlah

[Risho]

thank you that's very interesting.

Gassho

Risho
-stlah

[Doshin]

Hey Doshin - good seeing you around

Gassho

Risho
-stlah

Thank you Risho. I am around just don’t have much to say (I know there are those in my past career that wished I reached that point sooner )


Doshin
St