Practicing with noisy neighbor

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  • Amelia
    Member
    • Jan 2010
    • 4980

    #16
    I do not have advice, but I do have an experience:

    When I was in my twenties I was living with some roommates in a condo complex. We followed the rules. We would have parties sometimes that might accidentally go on to midnight on a Friday, but that's about the worst that we could do. However, our neighbors would call the cops at 10 PM if we had one person visiting who happened to laugh too much.

    These same, noise-obsessed neighbors had a young child with drum lessons at full volume, three times a week, at 8 AM.

    Twenty-five year-olds do not like waking up to drums at 8 AM on their days off.

    I was also a musician and I understood that this probably couldn't be helped. Practice needs to happen a lot if you're serious about it. I was mostly upset that this private teacher would dare to offer a slot to a drum student that started at 8 AM!

    We never complained about it because it was technically not against the rules, but it did sour us quite a bit considering that they began harassing our landlords for things as simple as a movie that was on too loud during daylight hours. It got to a point where our landlord was getting upset because they technically had to speak with us at every reported incident, but there was nothing they could do beyond that, because neither party was really breaking the rules and each condo was privately owned.

    We knew better than to start making it personal by confronting them or being petty, because then it would probably get worse. Our solution was to basically ignore them. Sometimes there are no winners. Apartment situations are tough, and I know how awfully annoying it is to have your natural sleeping time consistently interrupted, whether you're a night-owl or a morning person-- or sleep during the day for night shifts!

    Gassho
    Sat, lah
    求道芸化 Kyūdō Geika
    I am just a priest-in-training, please do not take anything I say as a teaching.

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    • Kenku
      Member
      • Mar 2020
      • 124

      #17
      I’m usually meditating in noisy places. My home is beside a busy road, busy even in early morning when I get up to meditate. I’ve been through the phases, anger, frustration, trying to block it out, trying to ignore it but you know that even the trying-to-ignore-it is noisier than the sound. Any mental engagement with the sound is noisier than the sound. Being fully open to the sound, listening to the sound, its quality, without even identifying it.


      sat and lah

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      • Jundo
        Treeleaf Founder and Priest
        • Apr 2006
        • 40772

        #18
        Originally posted by Kenku
        I’m usually meditating in noisy places. My home is beside a busy road, busy even in early morning when I get up to meditate. I’ve been through the phases, anger, frustration, trying to block it out, trying to ignore it but you know that even the trying-to-ignore-it is noisier than the sound. Any mental engagement with the sound is noisier than the sound. Being fully open to the sound, listening to the sound, its quality, without even identifying it.


        sat and lah
        Yes, I recommend INTENTIONALLY sitting Zazen in noisy, busy, smelly or otherwise disturbing places quite frequently, maybe each week or so or any time. It is excellent practice in learning the it takes "two to tangle" in "disturbance," and while external circumstances are just a "situation," the reaction of "disturbance" and "problem" is largely right between our two ears.

        — A Quiet Room.

        Most days, we’d best sit Zazen in a quiet room, with little noise and few distractions. The reason is simply that a peaceful, still, quiet environment helps us allow the mind to become peaceful, still and quiet, with thoughts and emotions drifting away as the mind settles down.

        But once in awhile, maybe every couple of weeks or so, I recommend that you sit Zazen in a truly disturbing place.

        Today, I am sitting Zazen in one of the busiest, brightest, noisiest parts of downtown Tokyo — to make the point that the true quiet room is within us as much as out. In fact, if we always need a calm and tranquil environment in order to reach the balance, stillness, ease, and freedom of this practice, then I believe Zazen loses much of its power. It is right at the eye of the storm that one can know stillness, and in the middle of chaos that we can taste peace.

        MORE HERE: Sit-a-Long with Jundo: Zazen for Beginners (21)
        https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...nners-%2821%29
        Gassho, J

        STLah
        ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

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        • Kaisho
          Member
          • Nov 2016
          • 190

          #19
          Oh wow yeah I know that struggle. We live in a rural area where everyone likes to fire their guns and that can be obnoxious especially on holidays.

          But, and i am not trying to be pedantic here, what a great time to appreciate that we have ears to hear! It's definitely an opportunity to practice and I empathize with you a great deal. But it reminds us that we have these faculties to use. (No ear. Haha)

          On a serious note yeah I think you'll have to have a Convo with your neighbor and see if you can't find a resolution someway. Failing that you might wanna invest in some good technology to mitigate the sound

          Anywho pardon the length. And I hope your situation improves.

          Gassho

          Stlah

          Sent from my moto g stylus 5G using Tapatalk
          Last edited by Kaisho; 07-21-2022, 08:57 PM.

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