Practice question(s)

[BruceS]

This is a really great thread. Didn't think I really had anything to add, but I think maybe I've "felt" Don's resistance to sitting at times, and think maybe now I know why I felt that way.

Thinking back on earlier times, I made way too big a deal out of zazen. At times it was more work than just sitting, but it was just my attitude toward it. I thought I had to be perfect at sitting (which I now realize as a big part of my unhappiness in life - it had to be perfect or I wasn't happy, and we all know it never will be).

The environment will never be perfect, unless you're in a monastery. My posture may never be traditionally perfect (feet perfectly placed high on the thigh(s) in full lotus), but so long as my spine is erect that's fine too. My mind will wander when it wanders, and if I cough all the way through zazen because I have a killer cold, like now, then that's what I do. I just don't have to sit there and think I'm screwing up my zazen because I'm coughing. I'm just coughing!

It's a lot easier to want to sit when you stop thinking about it and just sit. It ceases to be work and becomes, well, nice

Just up from zazen round 2 this afternoon and thought of something else I would like to add. My zazen used to be full of tension, both physical and mental. It was if I was sat there in anticipation of something. That tension or anticipation is duality - this vs that - I'm in this state but want or anticipate some other state. That's just the opposite of what we're supposed to be doing!

When I dropped all expectation (anticipation) the tension left. When the tension left my breathing slowed dramatically. It was if my breathing was mechanical before. The entire experience is so much more pleasant now. It's just sitting. I realize that before I was working at sitting. That creates resistance! Sometimes little insights come in serene reflection. With tension, there's just no room for them to enter.
Cheers,
Bruce

[Jundo]

Hi Don

My sitting has become ragged to non-existant.

So too many questions, but...

Is there a way to kindle a desire to sit? Are there tricks, rewards that you use? Do I need to create a rigid routine?

It is a pleasant experience, a restful part of the day, but it is one of those pleasures felt sometimes only when you actually do it (hard to drag yourself away from the TV or whatever many days). So, yes, a rigid routine helps. Just commit to sit daily (e.g., before bed and at the start of the day), twice a day if possible. Even for 5 minutes (although I bet you will go longer than 5 minutes once you start. But, 5 minutes is a good 'minimum'). One sitting can be substituted by 'mini-sittings' during the day ... in a crowded elevator or train, waiting in the grocery checkout line, in a traffic jam, during lunch at work, etc.

One good way to make sure you sit each day is put a camera on yourself and broadcast it to the world for 9 years. ;-)


I'm recovering; am I addicted to active-mind?

I don't understand this one.


Is there something more than 'just sit'?

NO!

Does your sitting discipline wax and wane? (Is this a phase?)

Yes. Not now so much, but over the years. Nishijima Roshi might disagree, but I think it good to sometimes stop ... even for weeks or months. One reason is that you will miss sitting, you will miss the balance and notice the difference in your life. Also, it is as important to incorporate 'Zen Mind' and balance into the rest of your life, as it is not only when you are sitting in the lotus position. I mean, I really need Zen Mind in long bank lines and traffic jams! You will notice how you approach bank lines and traffic jams differently if you get away from the Zen thing for awhile ...

... but only awhile. The idea is not to quit long term.

Hope that helps, and I will be interested in what others offer you for advise.

Gassho, Jundo

[will]

One finger Gassho. :lol: LOL .

[Don Niederfrank]

My sitting has become ragged to non-existant.

So too many questions, but...

Is there a way to kindle a desire to sit?
I'm recovering; am I addicted to active-mind?
Are there tricks, rewards that you use?
Do I need to create a rigid routine?
Is there something more than 'just sit'?
Does your sitting discipline wax and wane? (Is this a phase?)

Thank you, in advance, for your teaching.

[will]

Hi,


But then, another American teacher (I do not know)< Jinmyo Renge Oshso, wrote this:

[Osho]: Yes. Sometimes people will say, “Well, I am left-handed, so I should be able to sit with the left hand on the bottom and the right hand on top.”



Well no, because when you are sitting you don't need one hand to lead. Being left handed or right handed is about which hand leads when you are doing things. But when you are sitting you are not actually doing anything. You are just sitting with one hand on top of the other. So we all sit with the right hand on the bottom and the left on top. If someone is left handed and we are doing oryoki then they do all of the forms of oryoki in reverse. It's all backwards (from the perspective of someone who is right handed) and that's fine. It all works out.

Hi jundo. Jinmyo Renge Osho is part of the White Wind Zen Community in Ottawa, Canada. Just thought I'd point that out. :-)

[Don Niederfrank]

I grabbed a big rock out in the yard. Hauled it in and scratched up the table. Lit some incense and looked at the rock, then opened the door and threw it back into the yard.

This has me rolling on the floor with laughter. What a comical picture I have of the events you describe.

:lol: Me too! Maybe "Throw the rock"="Kill the Buddha"!

[wills]

I grabbed a big rock out in the yard. Hauled it in and scratched up the table. Lit some incense and looked at the rock, then opened the door and threw it back into the yard.

This has me rolling on the floor with laughter. What a comical picture I have of the events you describe.

With the whole universe sacred, how can that fit on our table? Of course, with a discriminating mind, this or that is more or less to our liking. Who was it who said, the way is perfectly easy, only give up making distinctions? Grandfatherly advice.

[Blind Ox]

I really thought I needed the whole altar thing until I started looking for something sacred. I looked around the house, outside the house, out in the little storage buildings on the farm like a maniac for something "sacred." Everything just looks so ordinary. So grey. It's harder than I thought to find something. I grabbed a big rock out in the yard. Hauled it in and scratched up the table. Lit some incense and looked at the rock, then opened the door and threw it back into the yard.

It's like one day everything is sacred and then the next it's all the same hum drum crap. I'll look again tomorrow, for tonight it's just the incense, the scratched table and me.

[Jun]

Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi advocated placing a sign in a prominent place that can be read at most times that says - 死 - "death."

Zen butsudan here - http://www.galleryzen-zushi.com/main.html

[Jundo]

Hi Greg,

As far as I know, there is no 'official' altar layout. And even if there was, that would be one of the first rules I'd encourage you to break.

Since everything in the universe is sacred (and as much 'Buddha' as anything else), you just do it as your little heart guides you.

If it is sacred, it is sacred. There is nothing that is not. I think.

A stone, a mickey mouse doll or a picture of Farrah Fawcett (I show my age) ... anything can serve as your Buddha.

HOWEVER, I found this for you, rules from the head office (really intended for Japanese ancestor worship, even if they say not) ...

http://global.sotozen-net.or.jp/eng/how ... uddha.html

Follow them at your own risk.


Gassho, Jundo

[Gregor]

Altar questions.

What is the role and proper set-up and maintenance of an altar for home practice in the Soto tradition?

I understand that there is no requirement or real need to maintain an altar for Zen practice, I enjoy doing so. Its a pretty simple set up, small statue, water bowl, candle, flower, and incense --- nothing expensive most of it make shift.

I don't do this as a form of worship -- more of a mindfulness practice and I try to be fully present when maintaining the space - filling the water, cleaning the incense residue, arranging the items, ect.

[Don Niederfrank]

This is more of a practice answer than question, but fwiw, putting a stone were I see it is calming. Not inspiring exactly but re-minding sort of? Anyway, fwiw.

[Don Niederfrank]

Thank you.

[Jundo]

Hi Don,

Anyway, another couple of questions. I prepare for sitting by lighting insense and then bowing toward my cushion, bowing toward the world, sitting down, rotating toward the wall and sitting.

Is there any 'right' way and reason? Somehow just walking in and sitting down doesn't seem right. Sitting seems important enough to have some sort of preparatory ritual.

Yes, Zen practice is filled with rituals. There are many reasons for that. As Wills said it, "it takes away one more thing that I have to invest my ego in. When bowing just bow. When turning just turn. When taking my seat just take my seat. These practices also have a way of separating my busy lay life from a more formal zazen period." It is a practice of mindfulness.

For that reason, I always tell my students that one of the most important things to do when entering the Zendo is to place one's shoes with balance and care. All of us sometimes just toss our shoes without attention. However, I often take a moment to place them as if making a small ceremony (just for a second). I line up the toes with balance, pause to take a breath while observing them, and even give them a Gassho. It is a practice of mindfulness in an ordinary action, and gratitude for having been carried this far in those shoes.

By the way, here are a couple of insider tips about Zen rituals: As was said, the Zendo is filled with choreography, and temple X will never do things exactly the same as temple Y of the same lineage, even though they both say that they are doing it "the way it has been done for thousands of years." Second, many of the reasons things are done are "lost to history," or have gradually evolved beyond recognition, such that nobody remembers the reason things are done that way.

But the nicest thing about Zen rituals (I think ... there are many nice things) is that they demand great attention and care, and one must strive to do them "right" and "perfectly." However, one can NEVER do them right and perfectly, and even the most experienced Roshi will always flub it once in awhile. In fact, no two times are really ever quite the same. The only way to even have a chance to do them "right" and "perfectly", as a matter of fact," is to RELAX and give up all the stress of striving to do them "right" and "perfectly".

Now, isn't that a good lesson for life?

(When I have a chance I will make a video of traditional ritual in a Japanese Zendo, e.g., the proper leg to use for entering, proper directions to turn for bowing [yes, clockwise], proper elbow angle for Gassho [elbows not drooping, tips of middle fingers at nose level], how to fluff the Zafu [with 3 fingers ... thumb and next two ... in a tripod position] etc.)

Also, is there any other purpose to the flute music following the timer other than its a nice accompaniment to getting up again?

No other purpose.

Gassho, Jundo (the Zendo Klutz*)

- Klutz (Definition) - To be clumsy and accident prone

[Don Niederfrank]

Regarding a stone instead of incense

My wife sent me this today. And offered a stone that her father had.

From Charles Simic, U.S. poet laureate--
STONE


Go inside a stone
That would be my way.
Let somebody else become a dove
Or gnash with a tiger's tooth.
I am happy to be a stone.

From the outside the stone is a riddle:
No one knows how to answer it.
Yet within, it must be cool and quiet
Even though a cow steps on it full weight,
Even though a child throws it in a river;
The stone sinks, slow, unperturbed
To the river bottom
Where the fishes come to knock on it
And listen.

I have seen sparks fly out
When two stones are rubbed,
So perhaps it is not dark inside after all;
Perhaps there is a moon shining
From somewhere, as though behind a hill--
Just enough light to make out
The strange writings, the star-charts
On the inner walls.