Repression and Letting Go

[Myozan Kodo]

Hi,
It struck me this morning how subtle the difference is between repressing things and letting them go. This is a subtle and fine art, our Zazen.
Gassho
Myozan

[Jinyo]

So very true.

Gassho

Willow

[KellyRok]

Yes, very true indeed! Unfortunately, I've learned that I have a tendency to repress more than I truly let go...a good lesson.

Thank you for this,
Kelly/Jinmei

[RichardH]

I have always failed miserably at letting go. My brain is smarter than me, and it is only when things slip off it like shale that they are gone. Until then letting go has just been another kind of continuation. Things have to work through. A friend once said I could try "letting be" rather than "letting go". Can I sit with a difficult mind state as if it will never go away, and be whole and at peace with that?

Gassho
Daizan

[Mp]

Diddo here ... repression is more the common theme then letting go, but this practice has allowed me to see that fine line light a blinking airport runway.

Gassho
Shingen

[Dosho]

I was actually about to start a new thread thanking everyone in the sangha for their contribution to my practice, but I think it fits here just as well. There was something I was able to let go this morning that, if not for them, I would have buried my head in a pillow of dukkha!

Deep bows to all.

Gassho,
Dosho

[Rich]

I Can I sit with a difficult mind state as if it will never go away, and be whole and at peace with that?

Gassho
Daizan

Sometimes maybe. Our reactions to certain situations is so habitual
And our need for approval so ingrained that it is difficult to see the line between repression and letting go.
After acknowledgment and what am I going to do might come the letting go but it is a repetitive function.

I love the idealized zen stories of not moving mind but for me they are just ideals and motivation to practice.

[Kyonin]

Learning to let go is a way we must walk slowly, for the distractions are many.

Thank you for this teaching.

Gassho,

Kyonin

[Seizan]

I find that I repress and don't let go more often than not. Zazen has become quite intimate for that reason in the last few months- when I first began "just sitting" it felt contrived. Now it feels much natural but... it is showing me my natural obstacles I am not walking that delicate line well.

Thank you so much for sharing this thought

Gassho

[Heisoku]

I have found that repression is an easier option for our ego to take, mainly as it prevents us from facing difficult issues which can involve painful feelings. But repression also empowers the ego....An I am bigger than this issue kind of thing.
I have found that letting go evokes these powerful feelings, but that when awareness has truly been focused on the origin, the reverberating habits the mind seems to produce through repression dissolve and release. Why this is so hard to do I have no idea and I have wasted so much of my life with my head in this state.

I am now left with an amazement that I let my mind carry on like this for so long! Why didn't anyone tell me about this sooner! Can I sue myself?

[alan.r]

I have found that repression is an easier option for our ego to take, mainly as it prevents us from facing difficult issues which can involve painful feelings. But repression also empowers the ego....An I am bigger than this issue kind of thing.
I have found that letting go evokes these powerful feelings, but that when awareness has truly been focused on the origin, the reverberating habits the mind seems to produce through repression dissolve and release. Why this is so hard to do I have no idea and I have wasted so much of my life with my head in this state.

I am now left with an amazement that I let my mind carry on like this for so long! Why didn't anyone tell me about this sooner! Can I sue myself?

I agree. Repression confirms the ego. Letting go is the realization that one isn't the ego. Repression is just a form of control, but it's also a trap, a prison. Repression is delusion and often an unhealthy way of dealing with difficult and sometimes really awful and frightening things. I'm pretty expert at it and don't even know the amazement that I let myself carry on for so long. Still carrying on.

Also, as a side note, sometimes apathy can be mistakenly considered letting go, which is just as stupid, etc.

Gassho

[Risho]

Sometimes maybe. Our reactions to certain situations is so habitual
And our need for approval so ingrained that it is difficult to see the line between repression and letting go.
After acknowledgment and what am I going to do might come the letting go but it is a repetitive function.

I love the idealized zen stories of not moving mind but for me they are just ideals and motivation to practice.

Gassho,

Risho

[Jundo]

Let me just add that sometimes "letting things go" means "letting them go away", "letting other things go one coming", letting some things "be ongoing" ... all while letting things go ...

Gassho, J

[RichardH]

Sometimes maybe. Our reactions to certain situations is so habitual
And our need for approval so ingrained that it is difficult to see the line between repression and letting go.
After acknowledgment and what am I going to do might come the letting go but it is a repetitive function.

I love the idealized zen stories of not moving mind but for me they are just ideals and motivation to practice.

Hi Rich. Sorry for not being clear. .. the question was rhetorical. My own definite answer is yes, there has been no choice, that is my practice. Until I could sit with/as that I did not really open out. This is just my own experience and view.. and I am happy to be seen as wrong about it...it doesn't need others to agree.

BTW, I'm not talking about self imposed suffering.. sitting rigid and tough. I'm just talking about my actual experience as it is.

Gassho
Daizan

[Rich]

Daizan, thx for that question. My response was about me.