off the coushin

Gives the expression "Let's sit with that" a new flavor somehow.
And no, please don't add a consonant here...

Cheers,

Timo

Nice one ... yes, one of those practices where no explanation is required.

[Daitetsu]

Ahhh the toilet ... My second zafu.

Gives the expression "Let's sit with that" a new flavor somehow.
And no, please don't add a consonant here...

Cheers,

Timo

[Shokai]

One other hot tip:

As when one sings the "Star Spangled Banner" and automatically thinks to oneself, "Play Ball!"
When saying the Toilet Gatha, silently add, "Put the seat down!"

Ahhh the toilet ... My second zafu.

Gassho
Shingen

[MyoHo]

[Shokai]

Just don't forget to wash your hands after ...

[MyoHo]

Thank's Jundo,

My point exactly! The toilet or the floor are not dirty, the mind is dirty! So let's clean it!

Gassho

Enkyo

[jus]

If you go to a Zen Temple in Japan for a Zazenkai, one of the most prized jobs during the work period is cleaning the toilets, because it is considered this excellent Practice of dropping all thought of "clean vs. dirty" even as we diligently clean what is dirty ... all at once. Then a funny thing happens ... and one can even come to taste a certain "Pristine Wholeness" whereby, even the filth is a jewe

hah, a few years ago I was doing zen without really knowing it, while doing community service at a homeless shelter. most disguisting bathrooms there. but id clean them every morning. just dropping thought and staying focused on the job at hand. id even tell my buddy I enjoyed doing it, he thought I was nuts..

jundo, when you clean toilet around your house, just clean toilet around your house..
gassho,
justin

[Jundo]

Enkyo, I wish I would have known this when I was a janitor at Wal-Mart a few years ago. There were many times that I became so frustrated, not because of the cleaning, but because of my mindset about the cleaning.

Gassho,
John

This is so true. A "problem" or "disturbance" in life takes "two to tangle" ... an outside situation that "just is what it is", and you internally to impose a value judgment on it. The dirty toilet is just the toilet ... until you impose your inner value of "yuck" "I hate this" "I don't want to do this" on it. Even "clean and dirty" are, in a sense, ultimately human judgments imposed upon "just what is" (the toilet does not think of itself as "clean" or "dirty" or even "toilet", and only people do that!) ... and in Zen Practice, we often learn to clean the dirty while simultaneously dropping all thought of "clean vs. dirty".

If you go to a Zen Temple in Japan for a Zazenkai, one of the most prized jobs during the work period is cleaning the toilets, because it is considered this excellent Practice of dropping all thought of "clean vs. dirty" even as we diligently clean what is dirty ... all at once. Then a funny thing happens ... and one can even come to taste a certain "Pristine Wholeness" whereby, even the filth is a jewel in its own way! Even a filthy toilet suddenly seems like a Sacred Altar!

Now that being said ... my wife Mina often reminds me that I talk a good game! She sometimes says, "Hey Zen Guy, you tell folks all about how wonderful it is to clean the toilets, and you run to clean the toilet at Sesshin, so why can't I get you to take that job around our house more? And why don't you remember to put the seat down?"

So, I am just a big hypocrite.

Here is a nice little blog entry I found on cleaning toilets at a Zen temple.

http://miahansson.com/cleaning-the-toilet/

Gassho, J

[Nameless]

That is great, John. Thich Nhat Hanh suggests we use certain daily cues to bring ourself back to the moment at hand such as the telephone ringing, car horns and such like. it seems like pouring works for you!

That's a great idea Andy! Cues that just let you stop, and be.

Take the focus from the inside to the reality of the outside world. A dirty toilet needs no explanation, identification or reasoning.

Enkyo, I wish I would have known this when I was a janitor at Wal-Mart a few years ago. There were many times that I became so frustrated, not because of the cleaning, but because of my mindset about the cleaning.

Gassho,
John

[jus]

One thing I am finding helpful at the moment is Dogen's idea of Being Time (Uji)

wow!

A word of advice for the overactive minds (like me): As we know body and mind are not two. Try doing some physical work when thoughts you can’t shake off bother you. Find something you would consider boring and then do it with your full attention as slowly as possible! Take the focus from the inside to the reality of the outside world. A dirty toilet needs no explanation, identification or reasoning. Never mind Buddha or no Buddha, coins, mouths or whatever things that may or may not be two sided. No Dogen, Hui Neng or even Jundo and Taigu! It all won’t get any cleaner by thinking, so let's get busy with a zen attitude! No mind, just doing only that. Really get sweating and then sit zazen. Works for me anyway!

this makes a lot of sense. ive been pretty inactive lately, partly circumstance, but shouldn't be an excuse. inactivity breeds inactivity which breeds more active mind.

gassho
justin

[MyoHo]

Thanks Jundo,

Great stuff here again! Insta Zazen! Works very well for me! Lost time turned into practice opportunity, beautiful. You again show how to have zen on your mind all the time and not only on the zafu? Not theoretical but practical. Really living it!

A word of advice for the overactive minds (like me): As we know body and mind are not two. Try doing some physical work when thoughts you can’t shake off bother you. Find something you would consider boring and then do it with your full attention as slowly as possible! Take the focus from the inside to the reality of the outside world. A dirty toilet needs no explanation, identification or reasoning. Never mind Buddha or no Buddha, coins, mouths or whatever things that may or may not be two sided. No Dogen, Hui Neng or even Jundo and Taigu! It all won’t get any cleaner by thinking, so let's get busy with a zen attitude! No mind, just doing only that. Really get sweating and then sit zazen. Works for me anyway!

Gassho

Enkyo

[Kokuu]

I wonder if there are other ways oneself can get a hint that we are out of the present? I tend to catch myself these days when I'm performing an action. Especially pouring things for some reason. Making tea has become a whole new experience now.

That is great, John. Thich Nhat Hanh suggests we use certain daily cues to bring ourself back to the moment at hand such as the telephone ringing, car horns and such like. it seems like pouring works for you!

As Jundo would doubtless say, we are always in the present moment but I guess we can be thinking about something different which is the point of bringing attention back to now and letting mind and body fall away.


Gassho
Andy

[Nameless]

One thing I am finding helpful at the moment is Dogen's idea of Being Time (Uji). Thinking of being time itself helps me to drop into the present moment.

Karasu,

That's preeeetty mind blowing actually, and it makes complete sense. I get the same taste from it as you, that we are the flowing.

I also have a 'mindfulness bell' installed on my phone which goes off randomly through the day.

That's a great idea! I think my phone only has the standard alarm clock. I wonder if there are other ways oneself can get a hint that we are out of the present? I tend to catch myself these days when I'm performing an action. Especially pouring things for some reason. Making tea has become a whole new experience now.

Gassho,
John

[Kokuu]

This is something I have struggled with too, Justin, as one of the symptoms of my illness is adrenal dysfunction which can often mean a whizzing mind like being constantly caffeinated.

One thing I am finding helpful at the moment is Dogen's idea of Being Time (Uji). Thinking of being time itself helps me to drop into the present moment. I may be misunderstanding his meaning but it seems very like instead of 'going with the flow' to be the flow itself.

The way the self arrays itself is the form of the entire world. See each thing in this entire world as a moment of time.
Things do not hinder one another, just as moments do not hinder one another. The way-seeking mind arises in this moment. A way-seeking moment arises in this mind. It is the same with practice and with attaining the way. Thus the self setting itself out in array sees itself. This is the understanding that the self is time.


I also have a 'mindfulness bell' installed on my phone which goes off randomly through the day. This just allows me to pause, take three breaths and re-centre. If I notice myself completely disconnected from the present moment during the day I also breathe a few times and focus on the hara. Of course we are always in the present but our thoughts can be all over the place.

Gassho
Andy