Experiencing Ango - PLEASE SHARE YOUR ANGO EXPERIENCES HERE

[berrykat]

Re: Experiencing Ango - PLEASE SHARE YOUR ANGO EXPERIENCES HERE

I am commitiing to 25 min. zazen daily with 10 min mette zazen in evening. Meal chant, giving up chocolate and working on being a better wife and Mom. -Andrea

[Shonin]

Re: Experiencing Ango - PLEASE SHARE YOUR ANGO EXPERIENCES HERE

OMG@ cat and soma. I had to take those as well as vicodin by prescription for about a around 3 years. Soma would flatten me ( or if i stayed awake i would spout absolute gibberish that sounded completely like sane conversation until someone in the family suggested it was bed time). I couldn't begin to imagine how it would be for kitties. On the plus side, it's non-narcotic.

[CinnamonGal]

Re: Experiencing Ango - PLEASE SHARE YOUR ANGO EXPERIENCES HERE

Hi Nadi,

Thank YOU for sharing. About food and "taking more than I need". I enjoy making food but eat very fast at work and at home which means I seldom get a chance to realise the moment when I am full. Mindful eating helps to create some space for actually asessing the hunger and also appreciating the food itself and the work of the people who made it possible for me to enjoy it. But it also means I have to make some space for the eating itself. Just eating.

Good luck and let's see how our inquieries go. :-)

Greetz,

Irina

Hi Irena,
This is muchly appreciated, and from what I read I imagine a good help in bringing awareness into, and automatism out of eating.
I had already committed to eating no more then I 'need', useing the point where automatic urges pull me towards 'more' to discover what's behind. I'm starting with one week of eating only fruit and slowly including other foodstufs .... it's going well. So thank you! this gives a kick start and plenty of food for enquiry.

While I'm here .. my further commitments are, to;
Sit daily
Sit live on Saturday (if humanly possible)
Read and study 'Mind of Clover' with this seasons Jukai folk.
Not despair at my ignorance of computer and internet stuff and make effort in that direction till my (virtual) contact with the Sangha is optimal.

Wishing you all strength and foreberance in your undertakings.
Gassho
Nadi

[CinnamonGal]

Re: Experiencing Ango - PLEASE SHARE YOUR ANGO EXPERIENCES HERE

Hi Bryan,

Definately! I cannot really afford luxury items this months so this is not my first priority but I noticed that having a limited amount of money was also a relief as you wrote because it made life simpler. Yet nothing changed :-).

I noticed that it is easier for me to think of these commitments not as goals (then I feel there is some tension arising) but rather as results.
CVongratulation on not having to do so much stuff! What are you going to use that energy and time for instead if you don't mind my asking?

Gassho,

Irina

Hello everyone,

This has been a big relief. I now have a full 100 days of not "working" towards a big purchase. No more comparing reviews on the internet, trying to find the best price or trying to figure out where I am going to get the extra cash. At first I thought this was going to be a sacrifice, but it's quite the opposit

Anybody else feel the same?

gassho,

Bryan

[shogyo]

Re: Experiencing Ango - PLEASE SHARE YOUR ANGO EXPERIENCES HERE

Hi Everyone,

Very happy to be sitting with you on this Ango.

I commit to:
sitting 25 minutes every day
reciting the meal gatha
undertaking the metta practice
participating in jukai
sewing a rakusu
participating in the weekly retreat
using resources wisely
participate in the forums

Gassho
Brian

[agata]

Re: Experiencing Ango - PLEASE SHARE YOUR ANGO EXPERIENCES HERE

Hello everyone,

Good to hear about your experiences. Here is a few points from me so far.

* The whole giving up stuff things (coffee and alcoholfor me which was an occasional glass of good wine to go with a fantastic meal that i really enjoyed) I choose to see in terms of what I get instead of what I don't get. When it comes to coffee I get positive health effects and do not pollute the system. Instead I use green teas and enjoy a cup much longer than I enjoy a cup of espresso. This is a plus!

I miss wine more than I thought I would. It is so much about sharing a good meal with friends, the amazing smell and the memories of the warm and distant places wine awokes...

*I find the motivation to sit much stronger these days even though my dream of shared sitting with someone in the Zen hall has not come true - the time difference is an obsticle. :roll: I know I sit with all of you. Sometimes cats sit with me, too.

*Found a little article in Trycycle magazine on how to tune up the meditation practice:
http://www.tricycle.com/feature/meditators-toolbox


Gassho,

Irina

Irina, I would love to sit in the meditation hall together with you. Denmark & Sweden - same time! What do you think?

Gassho,
Agata

[Tb]

Re: Experiencing Ango - PLEASE SHARE YOUR ANGO EXPERIENCES HERE

Irina, I would love to sit in the meditation hall together with you. Denmark & Sweden - same time! What do you think?

Gassho,
Agata

Hi.

We're all on the same time.
Just let me know and we will try...

Mtfbwy
Fugen

[agata]

Re: Experiencing Ango - PLEASE SHARE YOUR ANGO EXPERIENCES HERE

Irina, I would love to sit in the meditation hall together with you. Denmark & Sweden - same time! What do you think?

Gassho,
Agata

Hi.

We're all on the same time.
Just let me know and we will try...

Mtfbwy
Fugen

That would be great!

Let's try to arrange someting.

Agata

[Bids]

Re: Experiencing Ango - PLEASE SHARE YOUR ANGO EXPERIENCES HERE

Hi Irina, Agata, Fugen

I'm also in Central Europian Time here in the Netherlands and would love to join in sitting with you guys. I will be leaving Sunday for Massive Central (France) for a couple of weeks, limited internect connection there might limit my participation for that period, but I'll join in when possible. I'll watch out for your time schedule.

Gassho
Nadi

[CinnamonGal]

Re: Experiencing Ango - PLEASE SHARE YOUR ANGO EXPERIENCES HERE

Hey Agata, Fugen and Nadi (and everyone else!)

The more - the merrier. I will PM you guys! Will try to sit both morning and evening during the week ends.
Even if we cannot all sit at the same time maybe we can be close enough to sit one after another and "inhabit" the Zen Hall, make it warmer .
Nadi, look out for the time in the schedule and have a great time in France! A bientôt, j'espère! Tot ziens!

Gassho,

Irina

[Shugen]

Re: Experiencing Ango - PLEASE SHARE YOUR ANGO EXPERIENCES HERE

Sitting is going fine.

I keep forgetting the meal chant but I am getting a little more comfortable with the metta.

I never realized how much time I waste on the internet (I'm kind of driving my wife crazy with all my "free" time, she's probably going to come up with a chore list to keep me from pestering her )

Haven't missed the beer - have missed the coffee.

Ron

[Kevin]

Re: Experiencing Ango - PLEASE SHARE YOUR ANGO EXPERIENCES HERE

Sitting everyday is going well. Keep forgetting to eat mindfully, as I'm usually either eating at my desk during work or eating standing up after making sure my kids are fed.

I gave up unnecessary consumer purchases, but find myself looking for justifications. For example, buying an upgrade to the newest Mac operating system is a necessity, right? :lol:

My biggest problem has come from my "other" religion. While Jundo has said in the past that Zen allows for a practitioner to also practice other faiths, my "other" faith is not so understanding. I've been drifting away, but, because I live in a community so saturated with this faith, because my beloved father-in-law was (he just passed away a few weeks ago) an ardent practitioner, and because there's a fair amount of guilt and fear involved with the religion (similar to my experiences growing up Roman Catholic), I haven't been willing to just cut the ties. Recently, a good friend of mine was given a position of local authority in the church and asked me to participate more actively by being in charge of all the teaching, and presenting the teaching myself. This happens to be the one thing I like doing the most in that church. Because of this, and because he's my friend, after much anxious deliberation, I agreed.

That was Sunday. Since then, all week, I've been completely off-kilter. Dukkha, dukkha, dukkha, whereas for the two weeks or so prior, as my Zazen practice was solidifying into a steady "routine", I had been feeling very centered, very present. Now, all week, I've been irritable, confused, tired, sleeping poorly, etc.

This other religion is very judgmental, considering itself the "one true faith" and all others, by implication, false (though it somewhat condescendingly allows that there is "some truth" in most other faiths). I have always found that position untenable, if only because we humans so often get things wrong. And, besides, Christ himself said not to judge (Matt 7:1). I have found myself, since joining this church, supporting all of the points of doctrine (there are a lot of them, surprisingly) that agree with basic Buddhist principles (non-judgment, compassion, focusing on the present, etc) and urging others to do the same, while the way the religion is practiced around me focuses more on judging others, looking pious, and all of the stuff, it seems to me, that Christ was so upset about.

Anyway, enough of my rant. That's how my Ango has been this week. I think I may up my daily sit from 20 mins to 30 mins, just to try to get more practice, as well as trying harder to stay present amidst all this internal turmoil.

Gassho,
Kevin

[Shohei]

Re: Experiencing Ango - PLEASE SHARE YOUR ANGO EXPERIENCES HERE

Quick (as im on a short lunch break - and i said i would be focusing more on the duty/task at hand so this is typing time :P)
Sitting is okay, tv and some other stuffs is okay but like Ron and Kevin said im forgetting the meal gatha as im ramming food in to my mouth while feeding our son and prodding our girl to "eat up hun" with a half fulll mouth. I remembered half way through supper last night and just dropped my food and did the deal then continued - i do not think better late than never really applies in this case. Squeezing in the reading i set out for myself has been tough but im doing it. For dana ive doubled my giving -pinches the pockets but hey - i used to smoke 2 packs a day... and i always managed to scrape up the dough. Sewing Im fixing some thing on my kesa and aim to be starting on a new one, from pure scraps, once i have the house sided and deck back on in 2 weeks.

Gassho
Shohei

[Shohei]

Re: Experiencing Ango - PLEASE SHARE YOUR ANGO EXPERIENCES HERE

I never realized how much time I waste on the internet (I'm kind of driving my wife crazy with all my "free" time, she's probably going to come up with a chore list to keep me from pestering her )

Ron

:lol:
Gassho!

[Jundo]

Re: Experiencing Ango - PLEASE SHARE YOUR ANGO EXPERIENCES HERE

I never realized how much time I waste on the internet (I'm kind of driving my wife crazy with all my "free" time, she's probably going to come up with a chore list to keep me from pestering her )

Ah, more chances for Samu! 8)