Taking Zazen Into Everyday Life

[GrasshopperMan17]

I am around just don’t have much to say

I understand that. There was a few days that i was just observing the goings-on of the zendo, but not commenting or talking much, and i suspect that there will be more periods of time like that as well. That's okay, for you and for me

Gassho, John
ST/LAH

[GrasshopperMan17]

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

Thank you for that perspective, Jim, i appreciate the historical perspective. I dont subscribe to the McMindfulness approach, but i understand where its coming from; mindfulness is very helpful from a psychological standpoint. I'm trying to put mindfulness in a Buddhist perspective, and this helps a little

Gassho, John
ST/LAH

[GrasshopperMan17]

tried the Insta-Zazen thing today on my break at work. Got a few humorous jabs and comments on it (which i didn't mind), but it seemed helpful and like a good thing to do. Thank you Jundo

Gassho, John
ST/LAH

[Jundo]

tried the Insta-Zazen thing today on my break at work. Got a few humorous jabs and comments on it (which i didn't mind), but it seemed helpful and like a good thing to do. Thank you Jundo

Gassho, John
ST/LAH

Oh, it need not be visible! No need to crawl on your desk in the Lotus Posture!

In fact, no need to show any signs of it on the outside whatsoever. For example, standing on a bus in "Zazen" (left) and regular standing in a bus (right) ...



See if you can spot which of the three men is engaged in Zazen during this meeting ...



ANSWER: ALL OF THEM!

Like that. No need for your co-workers to notice.

Gassho, J

STLah

PS - I just noticed that, in the bottom picture, two of the men happen to have their hands in the Zazen mudra! However, I assure you that that was total coincidence. Mudra optional!

[Choboku]

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 have a lot of trouble with this as well. The best I've found is to keep trying. I work on pausing before I talk, to give my brain time to catch up to my mouth. I've heard of a master saying, "you can make things a little better." If you just focus on doing one thing a little better each day, the process may be easier.

Keep moving forward, buddy.

Sat today,
Adam

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[Suuko]

In my experience. the Zazen we sit on the cushion penetrates our lives on its own. For ex, I notice that I am less reactive during the day. I suggest that you plan Insta Zazen breaks everyday by putting a few alarms on your phone
Otherwise, like Jundo said, there are opportunities everywhere for Insta Zazen.

Gassho,
Sat today,
Lah,
Geerish.

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[Doshin]

I understand that. There was a few days that i was just observing the goings-on of the zendo, but not commenting or talking much, and i suspect that there will be more periods of time like that as well. That's okay, for you and for me

Gassho, John
ST/LAH

Doshin
St

[gaurdianaq]

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.

Gassho,
Jim
stlah

I definitely noticed some cross over with stuff I've seen in Buddhism when I read his book "Full Catastrophe Living", he very much emphasized non-doing and applying it to stress relief and such. Very good book (bit of a slog to get through though).

As for the original post, I find the more I practice/read more up on stuff, the more I find myself actively catching myself. On the flip side, I have not been practicing as much recently due to some of the craziness of the move and I have to wonder if that's been impacting my day to day...


Evan,
Sat today, lah

[krissydear]

Jon Kabat-Zinn! I have been trying to remember that name forever.

I really love what Geika pointed out- that we “must not lament the way our minds drift.” I do that much too often.

Thank you for this thread. It has been really helpful.

Gassho
Krissy
sat


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[Suuko]

Jon Kabat-Zinn! I have been trying to remember that name forever.

I really love what Geika pointed out- that we “must not lament the way our minds drift.” I do that much too often.

Thank you for this thread. It has been really helpful.

Gassho
Krissy
sat


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I have trained in MBSR and Zinn's work has influenced this practice so much. Basically, you can view your thoughts for what they are, just thoughts. In this way, this detached approach allows people to deal with Anxiety, pain and chronic illnesses better.

Gassho,
Sat today
Geerish.

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[Jundo]

I have trained in MBSR and Zinn's work has influenced this practice so much. Basically, you can view your thoughts for what they are, just thoughts. In this way, this detached approach allows people to deal with Anxiety, pain and chronic illnesses better.

Gassho,
Sat today
Geerish.

Yet these mindfulness approaches leave so much out, Baby Buddha with the bathwater, whereby so much that might be truly helpful to the basic existential suffering of human beings is forgotten.

Gassho, Jundo

STLah

[Suuko]

Yet these mindfulness approaches leave so much out, Baby Buddha with the bathwater, whereby so much that might be truly helpful to the basic existential suffering of human beings is forgotten.

Gassho, Jundo

STLah

I think this is what happens when we oversimplify. We lose the essence. The word zen itself is so misused.

However, I have helped a lot of people with body scanning techniques where they become more aware of their bodies and learn to cope with their illnesses through acceptance.

However, it's used as a pill to deal with something. We sit Zazen in peace and storm. It's so different.

Gassho,
Geerish.

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[Franz]

Hi John I can share some practices that are helping me:
- Simplified my activities to the essential (the usual.. videogames, tv, social media, etc). Same goes for personal belongings, got rid of everyhing I don´t actively use.
- Increased a lot cleaning and ordering (I have a 2 years old son, who helps me by giving me A LOT of occasions to clean and reorder ). I find cleaning my personal form of zen.
- Established a daily routine - both at home and at work - to make sure I have the the time for practicing (be it formal zen, insta-zen and simple mindfulness)
HtH
Franz, Sat

[Suuko]

Hi John I can share some practices that are helping me:
- Simplified my activities to the essential (the usual.. videogames, tv, social media, etc). Same goes for personal belongings, got rid of everyhing I don´t actively use.
- Increased a lot cleaning and ordering (I have a 2 years old son, who helps me by giving me A LOT of occasions to clean and reorder ). I find cleaning my personal form of zen.
- Established a daily routine - both at home and at work - to make sure I have the the time for practicing (be it formal zen, insta-zen and simple mindfulness)
HtH
Franz, Sat

I clean the garden and house with the same mindset as we'd clean the zendo. It's indeed liberating. Cleaning the house or washing the car is like cleaning oneself and is part of the practice.

Gassho,
Sat today,
Geerish.

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[Risho]

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

This post will go long; apologies - and I will sit extra to make up for it, but this is something I have to say.

Really, really good advice here, but I have been thinking about this. Also- listen to this; it's a superb talk about just this topic: Norman Fischer's talk on Case 19 - Everyday Mind is Zen

This question about moving Zen into your everyday life - when you asked this I immediately iterated through a list of tips and life hacks. The problem with that way of thinking is that it misses the point and the question.

There is no integrating Zen practice into your every day life. That's like asking how do you get to where you are now? You see this all over the place in koans and teachings because it is such a prescient and important question. In fact, in this koan that Norman Fischer discusses: Everyday mind is zen -> the monk is asking his teacher the exact same question you are asking the sangha - so you and (all of us) are in very good company.

The question isn't how you move practice into your every day life - the question is do you see how zen is already your every day life? And Zen - we've all touched upon it in this thread; there has to be a new word for this because it's been destroyed and turned into something it's not.

I used to tell my wife that I'm going to meditate to make it more palatable - you know sugar coat it. Nope - now I tell her I'm going to go sit or sit Shikantaza - it's not meditation. I do this a lot to dilute things down to make them more palatable.

And that's what "zen" is in our daily zeitgeist. We want to be more zen. No you want to escape your damned life lol (Not you - the general you)

Zen isn't about simplifying your life so you can be calm all the time. Zen is about facing your life - and that also means facing your death - try to package that up - that lurking mortality right around the corner.

So, and this is my personal perspective (I know I can get intense as my wife likes to point out lol), there is no time to waste. There is a crying baby, a burning world, suffering and death. There is also beauty and calm.

Zen is not about latching on to one and avoiding the other - if you avoid what you don't like you are missing all or most of your life.

But what if you could go beyond likes and dislikes? How would you do that? I can't tell you how - no one can all the time - that's why we practice and sit zazen. This whole practice is about jumping into our life, living our lives fully - the chaos, the calm, the beauty, the ugliness - taking it all in in one big gulp.

You have to figure out how to fit zen practice into your life - but you first have to realize that there is no fitting anywhere. It's like you have to get out of your own way. This topic has been coming up a lot too but you are an expression/ you are the universe. WE don't see this because even though that is the case - that is always the case- we don't let the universe shine through us.

We already have it - we need to stop and see that. We need to taste that - and we need to taste it when it's very difficult to see that through the storms of our life. Those storms are beautiful too - we are just scared because we separate from them. We don't want to think about our death or the death of our loved ones. It can come at any time.

I can hang on with dear life - or I can bow to my coffee maker, my toilet, actually thank and care for everything in my life - and isn't that the Bodhisattva path? We care for what is in our lives - we don't leave a stone unturned. But I digress.

You know this already - so do I. It's like the story of Bird's Nest Roshi that comes up during our precepts study: doing what's right is so basic - even a child knows it - everyone knows they should eat right, not smoke or drink excessively, love their neighbor etc etc etc ---- but even, so it's difficult for a man (or woman) of 80 years.

Isn't that how it is? we all know what we need to do - yet we avoid what we need to do. I do it, you do it; that's what it means to be human. And isn't that why we suffer or experience dissatisfaction - because we run away from what we know we need to do - but zazen and this way isn't about some new fad or gizmo to keep you occupied like a fidget spinner. This practice is about stopping all that and actually taking stock of where you are here and now and doing your best with what you have here and now, knowing that you have everything you need to do that.

And even so - we have this sangha here to help us remember that we aren't alone, even though no one can do this practice for us.

In the koan that is talked about in the podcast (that I posted a link to in the beginning), there is a verse that Wuman adds to the koan to express the point of it:

The koan is Case 19 from the Wumenkuan - Everyday Mind is the Way

Spring comes with flowers,
Autumn with the moon,
Summer with the breeze,
Winter with snow,
When idle concerns no longer hang in your mind,
This is your best season.

Gassho

Risho
-stlah