Mark Your Calendar: ROHATSU/JUKAI RETREAT in DECEMBER!!

[Shugen]

Re: Mark Your Calendar: ROHATSU/JUKAI RETREAT in DECEMBER!!

Jundo,
For those of us unable to do the full retreat at the same time it is "Live", may we still sit with the group during some of the zazen periods?

Ron

[Jundo]

Re: Mark Your Calendar: ROHATSU/JUKAI RETREAT in DECEMBER!!

Jundo,
For those of us unable to do the full retreat at the same time it is "Live", may we still sit with the group during some of the zazen periods?

Ron

Hi Ron,

Of course, folks can drop in and out, and sit with the group during just some periods. I look forward to that. You can just stop in to show (and sit) your support!

But at some point, folks should attempt the Retreat straight through, non-stop, for the full two days. The "on demand" version will let everyone do that.

Gassho, J

[Shugen]

Re: Mark Your Calendar: ROHATSU/JUKAI RETREAT in DECEMBER!!

OK. Thanks

Ron

[Gregor]

Re: Mark Your Calendar: ROHATSU/JUKAI RETREAT in DECEMBER!!

Hello,

I've penciled it in, I think it'll work out just fine. I like the fact that we are bundling this into Rohatsu, good thinking Jundo!

Hopefully, we'll all be able to work out a time to do this.

[Shugen]

Re: Mark Your Calendar: ROHATSU/JUKAI RETREAT in DECEMBER!!

My wife said she would take the boys to the in-laws in early January and give me a couple of days to do the retreat. Now all I have to do is work it into my work schedule.

Ron

[Shindo]

Re: Mark Your Calendar: ROHATSU/JUKAI RETREAT in DECEMBER!!

Ok Jundo - thank you for the opportunity to be involved in something as daunting as this.
I have had a long chat with my wife and we have agreed that with some preparation the week before & me taking over the spare bedroom this should be doable. I have asked her & the children to just go about their normal routine - I couldn't bear for them to have their weekend dominated by me & to have to tip-toe about.
Anyway, count me in & I look forward to the challenge. If anything unexpected comes up I will let you know.
Kind regards & thanks again
Jools

[Gregor]

Re: Mark Your Calendar: ROHATSU/JUKAI RETREAT in DECEMBER!!

This is going to seem like a silly question . . . I don't mean it to be, just curious that's all.

What is the point of a long/extended time for meditation ? Obviously, it's tradition and that may be a good enough answer itself --- I don't think it's because we are pushing for Kensho or the like. Perhaps it's merely because without practicing a lot Zazen we cannot know what it is about.

Maybe we'll answer this question for ourselves this December?

[Eika]

Re: Mark Your Calendar: ROHATSU/JUKAI RETREAT in DECEMBER!!

This is going to seem like a silly question . . . I don't mean it to be, just curious that's all.

What is the point of a long/extended time for meditation ? Obviously, it's tradition and that may be a good enough answer itself --- I don't think it's because we are pushing for Kensho or the like. Perhaps it's merely because without practicing a lot Zazen we cannot know what it is about.

Maybe we'll answer this question for ourselves this December?

My 2 cents:
My little three day retreat last summer showed me the value of immersive practice. I wouldn't say it is a better or worse way to practice, but it is more intense and challenging. The challenge for me was simply resistance. Learning to simply sit, hour after hour was really hard for me to do. The first part of the first day was great and I thought "This is going to be sooo cool." But then the resistance started and for several zazen periods it was all I could do not to focus on the thoughts in my head telling me to get up. Those thoughts went away after a while . . . the leg pain didn't. So each obstacle that was removed revealed another obstacle that my clever brain could use against me. It was actually quite funny at times. By the third day, most of that was gone . . . almost like I had to give up on "winning" those battles. After that, there was for several days after a really different vibe about my experience with the world. Not really clearer, just more OK with things in general. So, part of me really dreads the retreat because I know that resistance will come back in full force, but another part of me will be glad to have the excuse to sit long enough to let that stuff burn itself out. To use a really strange analogy, it seems a bit like being nauseous. I always really dread and resist the urge to vomit when I am sick, but once I finally give in and go through it, I feel so much better. I kind of give up and let my body fix itself the way it knows how to and then the world and me are back on speaking terms . . . I know, that's weird.

Anyway, I got a great deal out of the 3 days in July and I am looking forward to our 2 days in December.

Gassho,
Bill

[Jundo]

Re: Mark Your Calendar: ROHATSU/JUKAI RETREAT in DECEMBER!!

Thank you, Bill.

So well said. Yes!

Yes, Zazen is a chance to vomit up all the garbage in our heads! That is great! Really so!

A long retreat is a qualitatively different experience. I wish ours were a week or so, not just two days. Okay, here is my silly analogy of the moment:

Zen Practice is like learning to sail the sloop on the mind ocean (I guess I have moved on from canoes and rivers! :wink: )

One can take out one's boat for an hour here and there to putter around the harbor, and read lots of sailing magazines ... but one does not truly know sailing until one spends a few days and nights alone on the wide and stormy inner seas, just you and you alone.

Gassho and Good Sailing, J

[Gregor]

Re: Mark Your Calendar: ROHATSU/JUKAI RETREAT in DECEMBER!!

Yes, what you both have said about Zazen needing time to burn out the garbage in our head -- makes a lot of sense, I've experienced this myself when sitting for more extended times.

And -- then there was my last sit, where all I thought about for twenty minutes was wanting a glass of water . . . I suppose salty "chinese" takout is not a good pre-zazen meal.

take care guys,

Greg

[roky]

Re: Mark Your Calendar: ROHATSU/JUKAI RETREAT in DECEMBER!!

ok, here's my ad for retreats:

32 years ago i did my first retreat, a 2 week one -- on the fourth day of the retreat, my life was changed, in a very profound way -- i doubt that this could have happened with just my daily sitting, or at least would have taken many years to occur

many folks who've sat retreats come to feel that once a year an intensive period of mediation is very helpful -- i definitely agree -- just to get away from thinking about life, and instead, for a while, experiencing it, is good

gassho, bob

[jcsuperstar]

Re: Mark Your Calendar: ROHATSU/JUKAI RETREAT in DECEMBER!!

One can take out one's boat for an hour here and there to putter around the harbor, and read lots of sailing magazines ... but one does not truly know sailing until one spends a few days and nights alone on the wide and stormy inner seas, just you and you alone.

Gassho and Good Sailing, J

this is so true. i know from experence living in thai temples that living a life of meditation for hours a day ,day after day ,ones meditation is quite different from when one just sits at home once a day. it's very hard sometimes to be that alone with yourself. there's nowhere to run!