I dont practice Zen anymore

[RichardH]

Can't speak for anyone else , but in my experience there is getting lulled. Sometimes things flow for while, peoples, places, relationships, health, ... "the world" is pretty stable for some years. The bumps and rises and falls, the disappointments and hurts, are all within the parameters of "My life ". Then one day the stool gets kicked out from under me, and my life falls apart.. and I realize it has been fair weather Buddhism. I'm not saying this is what's happening , I'm just reflecting, and tossing in old age, disease, and Death.

ed. I hope that doesn't come across as harsh.. It feels almost impolite now to mention old age, disease , and death. It just seems normal to bring that up in a Buddhist context.

Gassho
Daizan

[Jundo]

i dont study text, dont contemplate the precepts or the eightfold path, hell i dont even remember all of them from the top of my head. i dont do metta. i dont study sutras, i dont find the time to join the weekly zazenkai. i havent touched my kesa sawing for over a year and i am just at the beginning of it.
i barely practice anything but sitting zazen. and that too has lost all its charm and it is nothing special! i dont know why i sit anymore. i just sit because its part of me. im used to it so i keep doing it. when i dont sit i feel wrong but sitting or no sitting changes nothing. i live my life just like any other person. zen or no zen. i just live my life moment to moment. nothing special and nothing magical about it.

Lovely post Dojin. I appreciate this. Nothing-everything special.

And if and when the time comes for a bit of Dharma, Precepts, Metta, Sewing, Bowing ... all the rest ... it is waiting for you too. Also everything-nothing special. There is a time for those just as there is a time to change diapers, a time to go to the park, and time (in the future) to get the young man ready for school. Everything in its time ... when the baby cries, we pick him up and do not wait ... when the baby sleeps we let him and do not disturb the quiet.

Maybe a good time for everything in its time, a time to pick up and a time to put down, a time to hold and a time to let go ... a time to stand and a time to sit. Zazen.

Gassho, J

PS - Can we know the baby's name now?

[Dojin]

Word to that. hahahah

Dojin, I feel ya man. I'm trying to just soak it in now and practice.. just as you articulated.... less chatter more practice I guess. Didn't Elvis say "a little less talk, a lot more zazen?" lol

But practice/zazen is everything we do here... posting here to support the Sangha and share our practice (it is nice to drop a line once in a while so we know we are all here ), sewing the kesa, sitting zazenkai's, etc. I absolutely don't do as much as I should either, so I feel ya man... it's an ongoing challenge. I'm just glad to see you posting again And congratulations!

Gassho,

Risho

P.S. Congrats on becoming a dad!

as a nurse currently working in an operation room, and before that i used to work with a lot of palliative patients i saw my share of old age disease and death. had people die in my arms and am quite used to it.
had a friend that turned in to a vegetable a few years ago. so life wasnt a picnic. of-course things like that on a personal level do hurt and test you in all areas of life.
but my life hasnt been perfect. its just that i finally feel like its ok.

Gassho, Dojin.

[Dojin]

Lovely post Dojin. I appreciate this. Nothing-everything special.

And if and when the time comes for a bit of Dharma, Precepts, Metta, Sewing, Bowing ... all the rest ... it is waiting for you too. Also everything-nothing special. There is a time for those just as there is a time to change diapers, a time to go to the park, and time (in the future) to get the young man ready for school. Everything in its time ... when the baby cries, we pick him up and do not wait ... when the baby sleeps we let him and do not disturb the quiet.

Maybe a good time for everything in its time, a time to pick up and a time to put down, a time to hold and a time to let go ... a time to stand and a time to sit. Zazen.

Gassho, J

PS - Can we know the baby's name now?

actually i think the time has come. after realizing it. i decided to put more effort in to this non practice. its a never ending path... and as you said there is a time for everything. and i think its time i got more involved again.

Gassho, Dojin.

p.s.

as for the name, i will tell everyone on friday. we postponed the circumcision because he was a bit small.

[Mp]

Maybe a good time for everything in its time, a time to pick up and a time to put down, a time to hold and a time to let go ... a time to stand and a time to sit. Zazen.

Oh yes Jundo.

Gassho
Shingen

[Eika]

Great post, Dojin.

Gassho
Eika


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[Jinyo]

Wonderful thread - it all resonates.

Gassho

Willow

[Myozan Kodo]

Gassho,
Myozan

[Jundo]

If I may say, one has to ask whether Practice is too loose or too tight. Or just right ... like Goldilocks!

For example, it is fine to just put it all down, be simple, let the breeze move and the rain fall ... nothing more needed. (Fact is, I wish I could do so more, except I have this Treeleaf place to tend to each day ).

However, the above needs to be contrasted with simply being negligent, putting it off, doing things half way, avoiding what should be done etc., closing your ears to what you don't want to hear etc. .... Only the person knows which applies.

Also, in the other direction, one can be diligent, sometimes engaging in hard practice, taking care sincerely and carefully of what needs to be done like at Sesshin ...

Versus being an obsessive tight ass, rigid, compulsive. That is not good either. (I was just reading about Uchiyama Roshi who went through a period where they would sit for days 20 hours daily, sleeping only two ... and that in the Lotus Posture ... ... ... until he realized it was just too much and too greedy, which story I will post soon) Only the person knows which applies.

And, by the way, it is not particularly good too to run from one extreme to another ... like some folks I know who "commit" on Tuesday, "quit" by Thursday. Slow and steady wins this race to nowhere (in fact, a lot like parenting a child in that way, or even learning the piano! ).

Time again to tell of Sona and the Lute ...

[The Buddha said], "Sona, you were a musician and you used to play the lute. Tell me, Sona, did you produce good music when the lute string was well tuned, neither too tight nor too loose?"

"I was able to produce good music, Lord," replied Sona.

"What happened when the strings were too tightly wound up?"

"I could not produce any music, Lord," said Sona.

"What happened when the strings were too slack?"

"I could not produce any music at all, Lord," replied Sona

"Sona ... You have been straining too hard in your meditation. Do it in a relaxed way, but without being slack. Try it again and you will experience the good result."

Gassho, Jundo

[Shokai]

Oh my, some great teaching here, true wisdom; thank you all. Real glad to hear the baby was not thrown out (just a bit small )
Seriously, thank you Dojin for this thread and for your sharing. However, I have to doubt you leave out the metta, truly! Once any of us has invested so much time and energy into learning about empathy and compassion; whether you follow the liturgy to the letter or just live, you are bound to be leaning to you vows. So, you can't recall what the eighth precept is, or you forgot to repeat "together with all sentient beings"; I still recognize you as Dojin. When Lillian and I sit down before each meal we join our hands in gassho and say, "いっただきます" (ittadakimasu) which means i/we am/are thankful for the blessings we receive or in other "words":

This food we are about to receive comes to us through the efforts of all sentient beings; past and present.
It is medicine for the nourishment of our practice.
We offer this meal of its many tastes and virtues to all living beings in every realm of existence.
May all sentient beings throughout the universe be sufficiently nourished.

A kind of shorthand if you will; we do this whereever we are, in our own kitchen, in a restaurant or at a family dinner including infidels, gaijins, atheists of just unruly and suspecting Christians. We do it because we sort of lean toward the thinking of Buddhas; because it's how we feel and who we are as a result of our lives together, amen.

peace and gassho, Shokai

Shall we dance or wait for the music?

[Dojin]

Shokai i really liked the thing you and your wife do. i think that's great.
in israel its not very practical to share you are buddhist atleast not in the general public or place of work. people here tend to be a bit intolerant of other religions jewish, since its the jewish state they have no problem accepting the 3 big monotheist religions or even buddhism as long as its practiced by someone asain. i am quite open about it but i learned not to flaunt it. i once said something and was looked wierd upon. and someone even told me once i should tell people that since it will get me ostracized. anyhow i liked the idea of a watered down version of metta and giving thanks in life.

Jundo maybe we should find a shortened version so people can do without drawing too much attention and on the go. kinda like the instant zazen you patented

Gassho, D.

[Daisho]

Dojin, you began the teaching I needed to hear and to learn. Many thanks.

[Shokai]

Dojin; I hear you. I spent some time in the middle east and saw first hand the cultural sacred cows. from time to time I have family members who look at me weirdly and ask how i am I just felt I needed to mention that informal/innate intentions are as valid as structured. They're all mind constructs any way, aren't they?

thanks and gassho, Shokai

[AlanLa]

I have good days and bad days. Thanks to zen, I now have vastly more good days than bad days. Quite honestly, the other day posting on here was a bad day. But all days, good and bad, are just days, and zen has taught me how to keep a wider perspective than just good/bad day any day. Good days pass, and so do bad days. When I have a bad day, I just have a bad day, and then it passes and good days return, only to eventually have the pattern repeat in some way. In this sense, I no longer "practice" zen; I just live it. But if it weren't for all that daily practice I do then that ratio of good/bad days would be different. So I am thankful for my practice as a dropping of practice in order to just live this particular day.

Now I need to get to work or this will be a bad day, not that getting all my necessary work done will make it a good day, but it surely will help pass the day in a better than bad way.

[Daitetsu]

Jundo maybe we should find a shortened version so people can do without drawing too much attention and on the go. kinda like the instant zazen you patented

You could say a gatha silently (without uttering the words aloud) just before eating, for example.
The important thing is the intention: to pause, to be mindful of the food in front of you, and to express your appreciation/gratitude. It is not necessary to display it openly or to follow an "official ceremony" in my arrogant opinion.
Before I eat I just take a short moment and silently recite a short gatha. Does not draw any attention at all. I am not into displaying such things either...

Gassho,

Timo