sitting with anger (or sick, or hungry..)

[bayamo]

when one is upset, angry, or in a just plain foul mood, should one sit, or wait for the moment to pass? what about other emotions? sick? hungry? is there a state where one should not sit?
gassho

[Jundo]

Re: sitting with anger (or sick, or hungry..)

when one is upset, angry, or in a just plain foul mood, should one sit, or wait for the moment to pass? what about other emotions? sick? hungry? is there a state where one should not sit?
gassho

Hmmm ... intereresting question. I would say not to sit when intoxicated or truly overly tired. I would try not to eat too close to sitting (it makes one sleepy), and would try to eat in moderation ... but if I was not able to eat or drink, and was hungry or thirsty, I would sit with the hunger or thirst.

I would, however, "sit" when sick ... even if that involved tossing and turning in bed moaning.

http://blog.beliefnet.com/treeleafzen/2 ... ckbed.html

Yes, I would sit when upset, angry or in foul mood. I wrote something yesterday that is my philosophy on that (in this case, sitting with a broken heart) ...

We live with "what is". Strange as it sounds, our suffering in life is often compounded because we push it away, rather than allow the pain. There is a difference between the pain of loss, and the pain of punishing oneself further by wishing to be free of the pain of loss. That is much like being burned by a flame, then fanning and burning oneself again with a flame in protest of the first. Sitting fully and completely with "what is" means sitting with "our feeling of rejecting what is" ... for that feeling of rejecting is, itself, "just what is" in that moment.

And in so doing ... the fire remains, but much of its fuel and fanning is removed.

The same with anger or upset ... when we just let them be, they lose their fuel. The anger fire dies down.

Also, as we continue to sit ...

There is that taste with never any loss, no death, no separation ... no time, thus never a time to be apart. There were never two of you. It is much like the leaves of the tree, some of which wither and fall away in the autumn ... yet the tree remains, and is what the leaves truly were all along. Where that tree goes and grows is our very going and growth. There is no loss, for never can that be taken away. All feeling of separation between life as-it-is, and life as-I-may-wish-it-to-be dropped away ... and 'I' too.

There is also that taste by which there is nothing to be angry about, no one to be the object of anger.

So, the best way to put out fires is ... to sit with them and let them burn out.

Gassho, J

[Jundo]

Re: sitting with anger (or sick, or hungry..)

Oh, and we had this other related topic awhile back ... when to sit with little pains and other annoyances, when to move and try to fix it ...

viewtopic.php?p=10701#p10701

[Hoko Steve]

Re: sitting with anger (or sick, or hungry..)

thank you for posting this! this was a question that i had also been thinking of. also, i apoligize i havent been in for a while. there has been a lot going on and i havent posted since early in the year, though i have been in and read some of the posts from time to time. i hope this finds everyone well.

steve

[bayamo]

Re: sitting with anger (or sick, or hungry..)

gassho, Jundo..