Forgot the dropping likes part.

[murasaki]

The other night I posted my experience of sitting on campus for the first time, a tiny alcove with plants and rocks that were flooded for irrigation so that they looked like a little pond, and how that made a pleasantly neutral gaze point for zazen. (I was facing that spot in order to be turned away from passers-by.)

Today, I took a friend to show him the spot (he was looking for a quiet corner for Christian prayer). I looked down into the "pond" -- the irrigation water had dried, leaving a dull-looking piece of ground. Oooh my ego was so offended; how dare they take away my beautiful mini-pond! The thought flashed through my mind, "I don't want to sit here anymore."

Note to self-that-doesn't-exist: drop LIKES too.

gassho
Julia

[AlanLa]

Re: Forgot the dropping likes part.

The lesson doesn't always end just because you think it's over. Thanks for sharing.

[willjohndover]

Re: Forgot the dropping likes part.

Julia, I admire your courage for one to sit on campus. I have considered it but finding a place where I won't be interrupted is rather difficult. But maybe I should just sit with the interruptions. MMMM you've made me think about this, and my aversion to distractions and interruptions.


Gassho

Will

[murasaki]

Re: Forgot the dropping likes part.

Alan: I hope the lessons are never over. I need a million reminders afterward for lessons that appear to be "over" anyway.

Will: Actually, it's not the quietest place. There is a slow but steady stream of students passing by (producing varying levels of noise). I deliberately wanted a place that was not excessively quiet, so I could learn to be more flexible and tolerate varying activity levels around me. For a while during my sitting, two girls were near me having a deep discussion in very colourful language, and it was a challenge to tune that out and focus on my breathing. But it was ok.

I also acknowledge that one of the life lessons I need to work on is not caring about what people around me think about me so much. So I'm testing myself, in small do-able ways. There are weirder people on campus anyway, so I don't think I'm that much of a spectacle.

That having been said, I don't think I'll be trying to push too far over the limit and sit in the busiest places, either. That's just as ego-driven as the other extreme, I think.

gassho
Julia

[Jundo]

Re: Forgot the dropping likes part.

Julia, I admire your courage for one to sit on campus. I have considered it but finding a place where I won't be interrupted is rather difficult. But maybe I should just sit with the interruptions. MMMM you've made me think about this, and my aversion to distractions and interruptions.


Gassho

Will

Distractions are not distractions free of a self to be distracted. It takes two to tangle.

Sit-a-Long with Jundo: Zazen for Beginners (Part XXII) — 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 two or three weeks or so, I recommend 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.

http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=15188

[willjohndover]

Re: Forgot the dropping likes part.

Thanks for pointing that out Jundo was well as the link. I think I will sit on campus on Monday then.

Hands together
Will

[murasaki]

Re: Forgot the dropping likes part.

I'm sorry, Jundo...I didn't mean to imply that your recommendation to sit in a "truly disturbing place" was ego-driven. What I meant was that for me, since I can't handle it that well yet, deliberately seeking to overload my tolerance as if I were trying to prove I could handle it would be ego-driven. I should have been more clear.

I look forward to trying out sitting in various places, as I feel I'm able to handle it as "just another experience" rather than an act of bravado to impress my ego or other onlookers.

gassho,
Julia