eyes

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  • Omoi Otoshi
    Member
    • Dec 2010
    • 801

    #31
    Re: eyes

    Originally posted by disastermouse
    I can't easily read for awhile. I've tried sitting with glasses and without - it doesn't make a difference. It only lasts a few minutes.
    But if you'd look out the window it would look less blurry? And during those minutes it doesn't help if you really try to focus on the text? I wonder if this has something to do with the muscles in the eyes that are involved in focusing, if it's dry corneas because of less blinking or if it's a phenomena of the brain, like I sometimes see colors more vividly, patterns more clearly, depth more prominently etc after sitting.

    /Pontus
    In a spring outside time, flowers bloom on a withered tree;
    you ride a jade elephant backwards, chasing the winged dragon-deer;
    now as you hide far beyond innumerable peaks--
    the white moon, a cool breeze, the dawn of a fortunate day

    Comment

    • disastermouse

      #32
      Re: eyes

      Originally posted by Omoi Otoshi
      Originally posted by disastermouse
      I can't easily read for awhile. I've tried sitting with glasses and without - it doesn't make a difference. It only lasts a few minutes.
      But if you'd look out the window it would look less blurry? And during those minutes it doesn't help if you really try to focus on the text? I wonder if this has something to do with the muscles in the eyes that are involved in focusing, if it's dry corneas because of less blinking or if it's a phenomena of the brain, like I sometimes see colors more vividly, patterns more clearly, depth more prominently etc after sitting.

      /Pontus
      I don't blink much when I sit (I blink a lot otherwise) - I think it's just dryness - I have a hard time with contacts because of dryness.

      Comment

      • Omoi Otoshi
        Member
        • Dec 2010
        • 801

        #33
        Re: eyes

        Originally posted by disastermouse
        I don't blink much when I sit (I blink a lot otherwise) - I think it's just dryness - I have a hard time with contacts because of dryness.
        Yes, I would guess so too. Thanks for the patience with my questions.

        /Pontus
        In a spring outside time, flowers bloom on a withered tree;
        you ride a jade elephant backwards, chasing the winged dragon-deer;
        now as you hide far beyond innumerable peaks--
        the white moon, a cool breeze, the dawn of a fortunate day

        Comment

        • Dosho
          Member
          • Jun 2008
          • 5784

          #34
          Re: eyes

          Originally posted by disastermouse
          I'm actually shocked at how many people admit to sitting zazen with closed eyes.
          Why are you shocked?

          Comment

          • Hoyu
            Member
            • Nov 2010
            • 2020

            #35
            Re: eyes

            Before every Karate lesson the whole class does Mokuso(meditation). It is instructed to be done eyes closed with focus on the breath. So i must also admit that i sometimes do meditation eyes closed

            Gassho,
            John
            Ho (Dharma)
            Yu (Hot Water)

            Comment

            • Kyonin
              Dharma Transmitted Priest
              • Oct 2010
              • 6748

              #36
              Re: eyes

              Originally posted by JRBrisson
              Before every Karate lesson the whole class does Mokuso(meditation). It is instructed to be done eyes closed with focus on the breath. So i must also admit that i sometimes do meditation eyes closed
              I too come from years and years of martial arts and Mokuso is always a closed eyes activity. When I started practicing Buddhism I started with closed eyes, but my Master back then told me to open them only if I was falling asleep.

              However, with all this pointers, tomorrow morning will be an eyes open meditation. :wink:
              Hondō Kyōnin
              奔道 協忍

              Comment

              • sandworm
                Member
                • Nov 2012
                • 14

                #37
                When I sit zazen, I occasionally experience an involuntary eye twitching, usually during the "inner and outer" hallucinations. It's as if my eyes are trying to find a place to focus. Does anyone else get this? It can be quite distracting.

                Comment

                • Omoi Otoshi
                  Member
                  • Dec 2010
                  • 801

                  #38
                  Sounds perfectly normal to me! If your attention is drawn to your eyes, it's OK. There's nothing wrong with that. It's not as if you were doing something terribly important that you were distracted from.

                  When you just sit with what is, without a specific focus, the search light of the mind will jump from here to there. Usually that settles down spontaneously, so there's no need to do something special about it. But if you get trapped in a circle of thoughts and emotions regarding your eyes and what to do with them, just stop that, let go and return to just sitting.

                  Gassho,
                  Pontus
                  In a spring outside time, flowers bloom on a withered tree;
                  you ride a jade elephant backwards, chasing the winged dragon-deer;
                  now as you hide far beyond innumerable peaks--
                  the white moon, a cool breeze, the dawn of a fortunate day

                  Comment

                  • threethirty
                    Member
                    • Dec 2011
                    • 170

                    #39
                    I do as I feel lead, I do open, 1/2, or closed. I don't have a preference...
                    --Washu
                    和 Harmony
                    秀 Excellence

                    "Trying to be happy by accumulating possessions is like trying to satisfy hunger by taping sandwiches all over your body" George Carlin Roshi

                    Comment

                    • Taigu
                      Blue Mountain White Clouds Hermitage Priest
                      • Aug 2008
                      • 2710

                      #40
                      Hi threethirty,

                      We sit Zen with half closed eyes for a very good reason, wide open you run the risk to be pulled outside or over tense, closed you may become dreamy. You write: 'I do as I feel lead' , this is not our practice. We do follow a precise form.

                      Gassho

                      Taigu

                      Comment

                      • Neika
                        Member
                        • Dec 2008
                        • 230

                        #41
                        Eyes open, always, but never forced. Never fixed. Relaxed, yet alert. I have found that if I fix my gaze on a point my eyes tend to get tired, which of course, rapidly ruins my zazen.
                        Neika / Ian Adams

                        寧 Nei - Peaceful/Courteous
                        火 Ka - Fire

                        Look for Buddha outside your own mind, and Buddha becomes the devil. --Dogen

                        Comment

                        • sandworm
                          Member
                          • Nov 2012
                          • 14

                          #42
                          Originally posted by Taigu
                          Hi threethirty,

                          We sit Zen with half closed eyes for a very good reason, wide open you run the risk to be pulled outside or over tense, closed you may become dreamy. You write: 'I do as I feel lead' , this is not our practice. We do follow a precise form.

                          Gassho

                          Taigu
                          Sometimes I "lose focus" in the eyes, and it seems to me that I'm not particularly looking at anything, as if I have lost connection with my visual processors. Other times I seem to focus on a single point. Usually I sort of fade between these two states quite automatically. Which is correct?

                          Duane

                          Comment

                          • Taigu
                            Blue Mountain White Clouds Hermitage Priest
                            • Aug 2008
                            • 2710

                            #43
                            Duane,

                            Don't focus on a particular point. Rather let your eyes gently rest in space, not focusing, just embracing everything and yet nothing.

                            Gassho


                            Taigu

                            Comment

                            • sandworm
                              Member
                              • Nov 2012
                              • 14

                              #44
                              Thank you Taigu. You are an inspiration to me

                              Comment

                              • Mp

                                #45
                                Originally posted by Taigu
                                Duane,

                                Don't focus on a particular point. Rather let your eyes gently rest in space, not focusing, just embracing everything and yet nothing.

                                Gassho


                                Taigu
                                I agree ... Focusing on one specific point or thing, for me, just creates fatigue.

                                Gassho
                                Michael

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