Over-promising Meditation: Not A Cure for Everything

[Dogukan]

While my Zen practice has had a profoundly positive impact on my entire life but it annoys me when places like my employer insist we try the mindfulness sessions they put on for us so we can work longer and harder. Apart from anything it does nothing to address the underlying issues of any stress or suffering we might be experiencing.

Gassho,

Heiso

StLah

I don't know whether it'll be an example of rightful speech but I really loathe how the companies have started to exploit concepts like mindfulness in recent years. "Be peaceful, so you can work harder." What an ironic approach.

Apart from that, personally speaking, I feel so nervous when I am trying to listen to guided meditations. "Oh, I have to be calm now! I have to feel the relaxation on my shoulders! That's what he/she said!" I know that -a hundred per cent- is caused by my wrong approach. Yet, it may be taken as an example of the bad consequences of "over-promising" meditation. As I mistakenly approach those meditations as if they are flawless recipes to get some peace, they become increasingly uncomfortable for me. Whereas Zazen always helps me in some indescribable way. If I am frustrated by what has happened recently, Zazen cannot change the past. If I am devastated by a breakup, Zazen cannot fix my ex-relationship. And obviously, Zazen cannot tidy up my house. Yet it can help in his own way. It can quiet the noise of the past, it can remind the impermanence of relationships, and it can give me a satori that I really need to tidy the house.

Sorry for running long.

Gassho, Doğukan.
Sat.

[Koriki]

Unfortunately, Zazen alone is unlikely to be the cure for most medical or psychiatric disorders. However, it may well be the answer to the distress they can cause.

Gassho,
Mark
sat today

[Chikyou]

I don't know whether it'll be an example of rightful speech but I really loathe how the companies have started to exploit concepts like mindfulness in recent years. "Be peaceful, so you can work harder." What an ironic approach.

Apart from that, personally speaking, I feel so nervous when I am trying to listen to guided meditations. "Oh, I have to be calm now! I have to feel the relaxation on my shoulders! That's what he/she said!" I know that -a hundred per cent- is caused by my wrong approach. Yet, it may be taken as an example of the bad consequences of "over-promising" meditation. As I mistakenly approach those meditations as if they are flawless recipes to get some peace, they become increasingly uncomfortable for me. Whereas Zazen always helps me in some indescribable way. If I am frustrated by what has happened recently, Zazen cannot change the past. If I am devastated by a breakup, Zazen cannot fix my ex-relationship. And obviously, Zazen cannot tidy up my house. Yet it can help in his own way. It can quiet the noise of the past, it can remind the impermanence of relationships, and it can give me a satori that I really need to tidy the house.

Sorry for running long.

Gassho, Doğukan.
Sat.

This is exactly how I feel.

Gassho,
SatLah
Kelly

[Jundo]

But again, in other ways, let us not undersell what Zen Practice can offer.

It does resolve some great mysteries and big questions about life. Allowing one to soften or fully drop the separation and division between oneself and all the rest of reality, dropping away time measures, birth and death, all resulting life frictions requiring two or more things to "frict," and much more ...

... well, that ain't nothing!

Hard to have as much angst about "who am I in the universe, what is the meaning of it all, and where will I when I die" when one --is-- (in most intimate and thorough sense) the universe (and likewise for everything in it, and each other), the meaning is to live in the universe well, and that universe keeps on keepin' on unbounded by clocks and calendars.

No, it may not cure a headache, change a flat tire, or help you get better sales figures at the office (well, it might have some good effect on all that too sometimes).

But it will help you see your face as the trees and stars.

Gassho, J

STLah

Sorry to run long

[Chikyou]

But again, in other ways, let us not undersell what Zen Practice can offer.

It does resolve some great mysteries and big questions about life. Allowing one to soften or fully drop the separation and division between oneself and all the rest of reality, dropping away time measures, birth and death, all resulting life frictions requiring two or more things to "frict," and much more ...

... well, that ain't nothing!

Hard to have as much angst about "who am I in the universe, what is the meaning of it all, and where will I when I die" when one --is-- (in most intimate and thorough sense) the universe (and likewise for everything in it, and each other), the meaning is to live in the universe well, and that universe keeps on keepin' on unbounded by clocks and calendars.

No, it may not cure a headache, change a flat tire, or help you get better sales figures at the office (well, it might have some good effect on all that too sometimes).

But it will help you see your face as the trees and stars.

Gassho, J

STLah

Sorry to run long

Gassho,
SatLah
Kelly

[Tom A.]

But again, in other ways, let us not undersell what Zen Practice can offer.

It does resolve some great mysteries and big questions about life. Allowing one to soften or fully drop the separation and division between oneself and all the rest of reality, dropping away time measures, birth and death, all resulting life frictions requiring two or more things to "frict," and much more ...

... well, that ain't nothing!

Hard to have as much angst about "who am I in the universe, what is the meaning of it all, and where will I when I die" when one --is-- (in most intimate and thorough sense) the universe (and likewise for everything in it, and each other), the meaning is to live in the universe well, and that universe keeps on keepin' on unbounded by clocks and calendars.

No, it may not cure a headache, change a flat tire, or help you get better sales figures at the office (well, it might have some good effect on all that too sometimes).

But it will help you see your face as the trees and stars.

Gassho, J

STLah

Sorry to run long

(I hate to seem like the guy endorsing whatever the leader suggests…. But if you go deep into Soto Zen, it’s there!)

Gassho,

Tom

Sat

[Kaye]

Yes. I sat today.
Thank you all for this discussion. I was one of those people who lived on an ashram. I often came out of a meditation feeling higher anxiety and with a hyper-ruminating mind. The emphasis on sticking with mantras, following this, focusing on that, created such goal-oriented meditations and frustration with unmet expectations. Thank you for this discussion. Gassho. kaye

[Guest]

No, it may not cure a headache, change a flat tire, or help you get better sales figures at the office (well, it might have some good effect on all that too sometimes).

But it will help you see your face as the trees and stars.

Gassho, J

Deepest bows.

Gassho
Bobby
SatTodayLAH


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