Re: Insta-Zazen recommendations?
Hey,
My plan to do an "Insta-Zazen" in the middle of the busiest part of downtown Tokyo got rained out! Not that I mind sitting in a cold rain sometimes (I mean, sitting amid whatever comes is the whole point of "Insta-Zazen"). It is that my laptop and camera rather mind getting wet, and I would rather like to avoid having to buy new ones! :?
But I will do a few "Insta-Zazens" next week as a series. It has been awhile. And I will talk about the approach I recommend.
For example, in downtown Tokyo, I hoped to sit still at the center of all the commotion, untouched by the noise, lights and thousands of passing people and cars. Aware and open to it, yet not dragged away by it. Something like that.
In fact, I will head back to Tokyo next week and do that sitting (hopefully, on a sunny day)!
And let me say ...
Skye, that is just so beautifully said ... you get the 'gold star' for the day. If you keep up like this, I will put you in charge of both Treeleaf "tech" and "Insta-Zazen"!
Gassho, Jundo
Hey,
My plan to do an "Insta-Zazen" in the middle of the busiest part of downtown Tokyo got rained out! Not that I mind sitting in a cold rain sometimes (I mean, sitting amid whatever comes is the whole point of "Insta-Zazen"). It is that my laptop and camera rather mind getting wet, and I would rather like to avoid having to buy new ones! :?
But I will do a few "Insta-Zazens" next week as a series. It has been awhile. And I will talk about the approach I recommend.
For example, in downtown Tokyo, I hoped to sit still at the center of all the commotion, untouched by the noise, lights and thousands of passing people and cars. Aware and open to it, yet not dragged away by it. Something like that.
In fact, I will head back to Tokyo next week and do that sitting (hopefully, on a sunny day)!
And let me say ...
In our practice of shikantaza or "just sitting" there is no object of concentration per se. Sometimes I will come back to breath-counting but only as a means of "cracking the whip" when my mind has wandered across the hill for too long, or when struggling with physical pain, then I return to just sitting. In a busy environment, I just try to let the noises, images, smells, other beings flow over me and through me. Every moment is perfectly still - is there anything that now does not contain? Does this moment arise and pass away? When you are in a quiet place, does the moment not contain all the noisy loud places as well? Dogen built a Buddha-hall in a single speck of dust, and within the hall, the entire world. And yet, we are also constrained by our senses and our intellect.
Everything is a potential object of meditation. "Earth, grasses and trees, fences and walls, tiles and pebbles, all things in the dharma realm in ten directions, carry out buddha work." Vending machines, turnstiles, escalators and clocks, stop lights and newspaper boxes. If letting them all in at once is too much, start with what's in front of you, or out the window, or the wheels underneath, whatever is resonating with you, and as they become familiar let the likes and dislikes of the rest of our crazy lives drop away.
Everything is a potential object of meditation. "Earth, grasses and trees, fences and walls, tiles and pebbles, all things in the dharma realm in ten directions, carry out buddha work." Vending machines, turnstiles, escalators and clocks, stop lights and newspaper boxes. If letting them all in at once is too much, start with what's in front of you, or out the window, or the wheels underneath, whatever is resonating with you, and as they become familiar let the likes and dislikes of the rest of our crazy lives drop away.
Gassho, Jundo
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