I need your advice

[Fâtih]

Dear Noble Sangha,

I'm an alone person on dharma path. I practice by myself without any friends. Even my family don't know I'm a Buddhist, they are conservative and religious Muslims and if they learn I converted to Buddhism they would disown and can harm me . So I must hide myself.

In my city, Istanbul, there is not any Zen center. Actually I need a guidance in my practice that is why I'm here.

Now I will ask you some questions:

- I work 14 hours a day and after arriving home I sit for fourty minutes for once. Is it enough?

- In addition, I daily recite Amitabha Buddha's name, is it permissible in Zen way?

- I am curious about learning Zen. Which book do you advice me to read first to help my practice ?

- Is masturbation a sexual misconduct and breaking precepts?

- And please give me some advice whatever you want.

Many thanks from heart...

[Juki]

I'm going to leave the Zen advice to Jundo or the Priests and Unsui. But 40 minutes of sitting is great. Otherwise, I just want to ask you to take care of yourself. Much metta to you in your difficult situation.

Gassho,
Juki

sat today and lah

[Jundo]

Dear Noble Sangha,

I'm an alone person on dharma path. I practice by myself without any friends. Even my family don't know I'm a Buddhist, they are conservative and religious Muslims and if they learn I converted to Buddhism they would disown and can harm me . So I must hide myself.

In my city, Istanbul, there is not any Zen center. Actually I need a guidance in my practice that is why I'm here.

Now I will ask you some questions:

- I work 14 hours a day and after arriving home I sit for fourty minutes for once. Is it enough?

- In addition, I daily recite Amitabha Buddha's name, is it permissible in Zen way?

- I am curious about learning Zen. Which book do you advice me to read first to help my practice ?

- Is masturbation a sexual misconduct and breaking precepts?

- And please give me some advice whatever you want.

Many thanks from heart...

Dear Tozan,

I would suggest that you practice quietly in your own heart. No need to tell others. Your own heart is enough. Many times in history, people have had to practice quietly because other people would not understand.

40 minutes is wonderful, IF it feels right, healthy and balanced in your life. HOWEVER, Zazen is not about "enough" or measuring or time quantity. In fact, it is sitting in completion in which each moment is all time. Human beings always measure, seek achievements, want to be better ... while Zazen is the dropping of all measures into the completeness of Just Sitting Zazen. Read this:

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?13634-SIT-A-LONG-with-Jundo-Why-Zen-Folks-FAIL%21%21-%285%29-Watching-The-Clock-Rackin-Up-Points

If you wish to recite Amida's name, and it feels right in your heart, then please do. You can pray to Allah too, no problem. All the same. We say that thinking of "outside power," or the Zazen of "inside power," is all the same, because no inside or outside. Outside is just the inside out there, and outside is just the inside in here.

It is fine to masturbate. You are not celibate. Maybe it would be bad if you had sex addiction (e.g., to masturbate 5 times each day! ). But, no, masturbation is healthy, natural and fine.

Just keep sitting. Have you sat with our Beginners' videos and talks?

https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?121-A-SERIES-OF-TALKS-FOR-NEW-FOLKS

Gassho, Jundo

SatTodayLAH

[Fâtih]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank You Jundo Abi I will read and watch videos .

[Stewart]

Sending you uplifting thoughts - take care of yourself.

Amitabha.

Stewart
Sat

[Jishin]

Sounds like you are doing great Tozan!

[emoji106]

Gassho, Jishin, __/stlah\__

[Amelia]

What Jundo said. And be kind to yourself.

Gassho
Sat, lah

[Inshin]

Does your workplace allow for daily prayers? From what I recall Muslims pray 5 times a day and the form is very similar to full Zen prostration. Perhaps you could use this to incorporate full bowing into your practice.
Also there's a lot on Internet to read, so you don't need to hide actual books.

Good luck in your practice.

Gassho
Inshin

[Tom A.]

Tozan AN

Gassho,
Tom
SatLah

[floke]

Just make sure you don't masturbate while doing Zazen. That could cause a few problems.

In seriousness, it sounds like you're in a tricky situation so please take care of yourself. Make sure you use a privacy oriented browser, or at least use incognito mode or a search engine like DuckDuckGo whenever your reading this stuff on the web, so nobody can trace your history.

Gassho

Steve

sat:today

[Tai Shi]

I need your advice

Dear Noble Sangha,

I'm an alone person on dharma path. I practice by myself without any friends. Even my family don't know I'm a Buddhist, they are conservative and religious Muslims and if they learn I converted to Buddhism they would disown and can harm me . So I must hide myself.

In my city, Istanbul, there is not any Zen center. Actually I need a guidance in my practice that is why I'm here.

Now I will ask you some questions:

- I work 14 hours a day and after arriving home I sit for fourty minutes for once. Is it enough?

- In addition, I daily recite Amitabha Buddha's name, is it permissible in Zen way?

- I am curious about learning Zen. Which book do you advice me to read first to help my practice ?

- Is masturbation a sexual misconduct and breaking precepts?

- And please give me some advice whatever you want.

Many thanks from heart...

For you it’s not necessary to take away your belief for you may be both Buddhist and Muslim with no difficulty. Jundo has told me it’s okay to be be both Christian and Buddhist and I am retired so my situation is very different because I can sit with our Sangha. Okay my father finally discovered my beautiful Treeleaf posts on Facebook. He suspects. I began attending the Unitarian Universalist Church. My father will speak with me on the phone but I can’t visit him. I’m honest and open but my wife and I are self sufficient and this is okay. For you I advise you to be quiet at this point about your Buddhism. This is not dishonest but just quiet. I am married and my situation is very different and my wife and I celebrate 39 years of marriage on next Sunday the 12th. Jundo is so wise. Listen to him. Jundo please allow a post only a little longer. Thanks.
Gassho
sat/ lah
Tai Shi


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[GrasshopperMan17]

Welcome Tozan yes there are many resources online, and i can send you a pdf of a Buddhist text entitled Words of the Buddha, which outlines the basic points of Buddhism. While I'd not necessarily Zen, it is quite universal and can start you off on the right foot. I agree that there's no need to hide physical books if that could put you in danger if they're found. Perhaps even a PDF isn't the best option for that situation noW that i think of it. But yes, Jundo is the guy to listen to whey it comes to this stuff - he knows what he's talking about. Also everyone else here has good insights as well. Just stay safe and stay discreet about your practice if it will cause you harm to be out in the open about it. I care about you even though I've never met you, and I'm sure others here can say the same. Sorry for going over the word limit.

Gassho, John
ST/LAH