I Quit

[Joyo]

Oh, this is so so so vital!

For Shikantaza to really be "Right" (strange as it sounds) it must be "right just as it is" even on those many days when it feels all wrong! If it is only "Right" when feeling "right", it is not truly transcendent and encompassing of "right or wrong" on an off the cushion.

More here ...

Right Zazen and Wrong Zazen

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?7573-SPECIAL-REPOST-Right-Zazen-and-Wrong-Zazen

It is crazy-sane that way ... and very much unlike most of life which we constant worry about "measuring up" and "getting right". We "get it right" by sitting beyong "getting right", and we "get it wrong" when we try too hard to "measure up and get it just right"

Gassho, J

Jundo, thank you very much for this and all the other videos and posts you have here about zazen. I am still very much a beginner, but I can tell I've changed. I had a very challenging day today. Normally I would have felt completely overwhelmed and unable to handle my anxiety. Today, it was still difficult, definitely a rainy day, but with the help of your posts and with practicing zazen, I have been able to just let it be. Tonight, I can go to bed and be at peace, without the worry and anxiety that used to control me so much of the time. Rainy days are just rainy, sunny days are just sunny, right. And I sat, for 20 min tonight, and the racing mind was just no longer there like it used to be. Big, big thanks!!

Gassho,
Treena

[Ed]

5 am

Ed, 5am, wow that is fantastic!! And yeah, best meditation advice--just dump the crap and breath

Gassho,
Treena

I am up at 5 no matter what.
I, maybe read, streach, etc and sit.
But not on weekends .

[Joyo]

I am up at 5 no matter what.
I, maybe read, streach, etc and sit.
But not on weekends .

My son was up at 5am this morning and I now feel like I have a hangover. I do get up early, usually around 6:30, but wow, 5 is early, applause to you!!

[Ed]

Nomatter

My son was up at 5am this morning and I now feel like I have a hangover. I do get up early, usually around 6:30, but wow, 5 is early, applause to you!!

Sit whenever however. Dump the crap and sit, just sit.
It is best to do it at the same time daily or every other day. You decide.
At 70, I wake up early and then read this or that, or have tried to stay abreast of new books, etc. Always a goal, trying to become....?
The hell with that. No more. I just sit. 20 m is perfect for me now. Tonite I go to sangha and we sit 40, if that turns into another goal, the hell with it. I wil probaly get up slowly and do kinhin or just leave.
I'm free.
This way what is happening is that I am actually looking forward to stuff: sit, read, prepare some tea. The cats love it.
The practice is doing me.

[Jundo]

Sit whenever however. Dump the crap and sit, just sit.
It is best to do it at the same time daily or every other day. You decide.
At 70, I wake up early and then read this or that, or have tried to stay abreast of new books, etc. Always a goal, trying to become....?
The hell with that. No more. I just sit. 20 m is perfect for me now. Tonite I go to sangha and we sit 40, if that turns into another goal, the hell with it. I wil probaly get up slowly and do kinhin or just leave.
I'm free.
This way what is happening is that I am actually looking forward to stuff: sit, read, prepare some tea. The cats love it.
The practice is doing me.

Lovely.

[Ekai]

Thank you Treena for your beautiful post.

Gassho,
Ekai

[Joyo]

Sit whenever however. Dump the crap and sit, just sit.
It is best to do it at the same time daily or every other day. You decide.
At 70, I wake up early and then read this or that, or have tried to stay abreast of new books, etc. Always a goal, trying to become....?
The hell with that. No more. I just sit. 20 m is perfect for me now. Tonite I go to sangha and we sit 40, if that turns into another goal, the hell with it. I wil probaly get up slowly and do kinhin or just leave.
I'm free.
This way what is happening is that I am actually looking forward to stuff: sit, read, prepare some tea. The cats love it.
The practice is doing me.

Thanks, Ed. That is awesome!! I think the biggest hurdle I have to overcome in regards to sitting is to not turn it into a dogmatic religious-type thing. I grew up that way, very, very religious. In breaking away from my childhood religion, the last thing I want to do is create another tradition, for myself, that has the same sort of attitude.

Gassho,
Treena

[Joe]

Sit whenever however. Dump the crap and sit, just sit.
It is best to do it at the same time daily or every other day. You decide.
At 70, I wake up early and then read this or that, or have tried to stay abreast of new books, etc. Always a goal, trying to become....?
The hell with that. No more. I just sit. 20 m is perfect for me now. Tonite I go to sangha and we sit 40, if that turns into another goal, the hell with it. I wil probaly get up slowly and do kinhin or just leave.
I'm free.
This way what is happening is that I am actually looking forward to stuff: sit, read, prepare some tea. The cats love it.
The practice is doing me.

Thank you Ed.

Thank you to everyone who has shared on this thread.

Gassho,

Joe

[Ed]

Treena look, create yor own tradition.
Constancy in zazen, some studying you look forward to, settles your practice in intimacy. Allow it in, soon it is a part of you.
Even in the fog of daily turmoil my pracitce is me and I it, not two.
I go to mass often, my old tradition, because of my zazen I get so deeply into the liturgy it's ...well, personal, intimate. It owns me.
Trying to have no goals is a goal in itself.
You are free. Declare it to yourself.

In gassho to all.