What keeps you going?

[Seiryu]

This is meant for introspection rather than advice, just to put a frame around it

From where do you draw your motivation for ongoing practice? I know as a Mahayana we'll say bodhicitta and as a Vajrayana practitioner we'll say the guru. But I mean aside from that, what keeps you going with your practice and what keeps you interested in Buddhism as a whole? Habit? Devotion? Love? Academic interest? Healthy attachment?

Please share your thoughts.


*Deep Bow*


Seiryu

[Ankai]

Re: What keeps you going?

For me, it's simply devotion. I'm a Buddhist. This is what I do. I was drawn to the faith by the practice, and I genuinely enjoy the way we express our faith. There are days I don't feel like sitting. But there hasn't ever been a time I wished I hadn't sat after the fact. That, to me, says I'm on the right path for me, and following the right practice.

[Kaishin]

Re: What keeps you going?

Simply wanting to be a positive presence during the short time I have in this world. And a bit of academic interest doesn't hurt :wink:

[Keishin]

Re: What keeps you going?

Sometimes nothing keeps me going
Sometimes, car battery dead, at a standstill I keep going
Sometimes night stars from my bedroom window: their movement: beautiful eloquent 'proof' that 'going' is going on even while snuggled in my comforter.

[Taylor]

Re: What keeps you going?

Sometimes nothing keeps me going
Sometimes, car battery dead, at a standstill I keep going
Sometimes night stars from my bedroom window: their movement: beautiful eloquent 'proof' that 'going' is going on even while snuggled in my comforter.

Deep gassho.

For me, something like this:

Sometimes nothing, sometimes everything. Sometimes the sound of the train cutting through the morning saying "Are you here or aren't you?" Sometimes a poem, sometimes a passage, sometimes a phrase.

But always Life.

Taylor (Myoken)

[Risho]

Re: What keeps you going?

The four noble truths... every day I experience their truth, which drives my practice. There are also academic reasons; I really enjoy the reading aspect of practice. This Sangha is a big support for my practice as well; it helps keep me sane. I'm the only zen buddhist I know in my personal day to day life, so to have a group of fellow practitioners is very rewarding. Being a part of the sangha, and taking the precepts also keeps me going. To actually be born sentient, and to have experienced the dharma (which I forgot who said this) is a very, very fortunate thing. It's a gift, and being part of this sangha helps me to not forsake that gift.

Also just experience in general... and sort of letting the teachings soak in, even if they don't make sense at first. I mean there came a point where it started making sense, and now I want to see it through. There is no end, so gotta keep going.

Finally, compassion. I guess that sort of wraps it all up.. true compassion.. getting out of my own way, non-doing. I have a big ego (which is painfully apparent to me, especially in light of the four noble truths and other buddhist teachings). I feel the heat of anger or the ice cold fear of failure. And my gut reaction is to fix myself. But the self can't fix the self... and on and on it goes It's like a perpetual discovery of life.

Gassho,

Risho

[Dokan]

Re: What keeps you going?

Quite simply the fact that it Buddhism is life. It's not something special or separate. Not something I must obtain or lose. It doesn't rely upon my action nor my non-action. It may mean something completely different for others, but this is what it is, at this moment, to me, and why I continue my practice.

Gassho,

Shawn

[Ankai]

Re: What keeps you going?

Sometimes nothing keeps me going
Sometimes, car battery dead, at a standstill I keep going
Sometimes night stars from my bedroom window: their movement: beautiful eloquent 'proof' that 'going' is going on even while snuggled in my comforter.

you are an amazing poet, Keishin. Thank you. With your permission, I'd like to save this one.

[natezenmaster]

Re: What keeps you going?

Gripped by fear men go to sacred mountains...

With a past chocked full of what one would describe as dysfunctional and painful (and perhaps unbelievable), and a mind that tends toward dreams of the future, fears of the past and wishes of changes and an assortment of delusions in between including strong dualities.. the practice is one of necessity. Having a family with a tendency for suicide (5 people within one degree of relation in 8 years), it becomes a necessity.. being grounded, mindful.. and having a mind that runs wild, like a doped-up thoroughbred, I get easily lost in my mind, thoughts and concepts of what should be, could've been and will be.. and in so doing become miserable.. So again I need being grounded, mindful and to see clearly.. whether that is a 'right' motivation or a 'wrong' motivation.. it is a motivation. I love the idea of bodhicitta and I would love and do love to help others but when I look deep down, many times.. my kindness and my desire to help is often borne of self-interest and preservation of a desire to be seen as 'good' or to feel that I am 'good'.. so if we are to cut through dishonesty or deception, it is fear and self-interest that are motivations and the motivation to get beyond being motivated by fear and self-interest. Perhaps, with a true heart of altruism, I will be able to say otherwise one day.. and that too is my motivation.

_/_ Nate

We believe our thoughts and don't look to the thinker.. he's looking at the thinker

[JohnsonCM]

Re: What keeps you going?

What keeps me going is life. Life and coffee. But seriously, for the longest I felt life was missing something important, and when I began to study and practice, I found that it was only my understanding that was incomplete. That kind of closed the circle for me. I cannot imagine how I could be anything other than completely devoted to this Path, because this Path is reality, Truth, Life Itself.

[Kaishin]

Re: What keeps you going?

so if we are to cut through dishonesty or deception, it is fear and self-interest that are motivations and the motivation to get beyond being motivated by fear and self-interest. Perhaps, with a true heart of altruism, I will be able to say otherwise one day.. and that too is my motivation.

Beautifully said... I think there is definitely some element of that in my own practice that maybe I don't want to admit. I've noticed your comments and thoughts are always very forthright, pragmatic, and ego-challenging; that's a perspective I really appreciate as a contrast to so much idealism and ego-stroking that I often encounter on Buddhist forums. So...thanks

[aikoku tora]

Re: What keeps you going?

What keeps me going?...because I have no reason to stop, and making someone laugh or smile along the way. that's the short, and in my mind most honest answer.

practicing is in all things, and really I don't think you can " not" practice once you become aware of what practicing IS, so therefore...

my family, my strive for never ending learning in anything that I can find, my love of drinking in everything about who, and what we are as a culture, society, and more over a species, what drives us, what defines us, etc etc... these are all what fills up much of the above said things that make up my drive, because these are the facets of my day to day life, and in there is my practice ^_^

okay and alittle bit of family influence and Jedi fan-boyism too that played a part in sparking it

[Rich]

Re: What keeps you going?

Hunger- food satisfies one, practice the other but as jundo says one not two. I don't know something like that. Its some kind of wonderful- sometimes and when not - trying is the best you can do.

[Onshin]

Re: What keeps you going?

I just do! :wink:

[Genkai]

Re: What keeps you going?

Air in lungs, blood in veins. Practice is just life. Better some days, worse others, but never good or bad. What motivation do you need to open your eyes in the morning? It's the same.

If an extra kick in the pants is needed, to remind or re-invigorate... I think of the confused, self-absorbed, miserable, angry person I once was. Or more importantly, what effect that confused, self-absorbed, miserable, angry person had on everyone around him, from loved ones to complete strangers.

Then I remember that person is long gone, a distant memory from the past. Then I remember that person is right here, typing these words.

Then, back to it.

*gassho*