Using rational thinking

[Myosha]

Jishin (and anyone else), here's a soup recipe...

Two sweet potatoes (washed but not pealed)
Two carrots
Half a large onion
½ cup of lentils
¼ teaspoon of red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon paprika
Teaspoon of chilli pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

combine all ingredients (except spices) and add enough vegetable broth to cover the veggies and lentils. Bring to boil and cook. Puree, add spices, let it simmer for awhile.

best salad recipe...

http://veggieprimer.com/how-to-make-a-perfect-salad/

enjoy everyone =) I've been a vegetarian (more vegan) since I was 18, ahem many, many years ago. =)

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

Hello,

Thank you for the lesson.


Gassho
Myosha sat today

[Sim175]

Thank you all for your answers :-)
In short, you seem to tell me that using analytical reasoning is one fine way to understand some concepts, but that sometimes, I can come to understand those concepts without it. Also, stop overthinking and just be!

My tongue doesn't hurt anymore, but I'm afraid my head does! Every time I think I understand one facet of the practice better, it seems 3 new questions pop up about something else.


So it goes!


Sim
Sat yesterday night

[Ongen]

Hi Sim,

Thank you all for your answers :-)
In short, you seem to tell me that using analytical reasoning is one fine way to understand some concepts, but that sometimes, I can come to understand those concepts without it. Also, stop overthinking and just be!

My tongue doesn't hurt anymore, but I'm afraid my head does! Every time I think I understand one facet of the practice better, it seems 3 new questions pop up about something else.

Byokan really hit the nail on the head (that's a Dutch saying, I don't know if it works in English but you get my meaning )

In my own words; you can indeed recall- and get towards the bottom of this feeling of oneness by recreating it from logic and memory. And really I think there's nothing wrong with that, its good to feel like that, it relaxes and makes happy. Good thing, right? But always remember that's not 'it'. It's just another (quite nice) delusion And if you really do fall through and there actually is understanding, there is no understanding and no need for understanding, and also no questions.

So no reason to break your head over it What really works for me is simply to let go of the questions.

Gassho
Ongen

Sat today

[Doshin]

All,

I have followed this thread with interest because when I first meditated almost 50 years ago, no "pie in the face" arrived so I lost interest and faded away, only meditating occasionally for the next few decades, each time waiting for that light to go on. However I kept finding my solace in the wilds because no big aha moment came, but the wildlands kept me centered. 15 years or so ago I decided to start up again. My rational thinking brain (accentuated by my life in the sciences) made me start buying books and "studying" what enlightenment was so I would know it when I met it. I attended some retreats, listened to well know teachers, and looked hard. However I then read if you meet the Buddha, kill him...whatttt???Zen started resonating with me more than the other paths, I think this was because it made more sense to my rational secular mind even if it is not meant to satisfy that region of my head . I kept with the questions, the analysis, trying to think it all through. The last few years I am more consistent with my practice and interestingly, the questions have become fewer. Heard something about nothing to attain so I started taking that seriously and my questions kept becoming fewer. Same thing happened for me in the sciences, realized we would never understand it all, just more facts that sometimes fit together as a piece of the whole.mNow I am not saying my rational mind does not still work (even if not as quick and good as when I was a youngster) and I don't try to "think" it all through (even the ecology of this small planet we reside on) because I do, but just not as much. I just dwell on the observation so often stated, we are of Buddha nature and just need to realize that. So I keep the precepts in front of me, try to be in the presence of folks who feel similarly ( such as Treeleaf) practice often, and stay close to those wildlands that still provide solace. In fact I live in the middle of them.

Now having shared where I am, or was when I wrote this, any advice is appreciated. My wife and dogs think I am okay and making progress....but you never know, so I keep reading the forum to see where others are on the path and I keep sitting. And I get much from sitting with the members of this sangha. However, I don't expect the heavens to open up and a bright light shine on me....that happens everyday in the desert so I seek shade.

Hmmm...I think I am thinking to much this morning.

Gassho
Doshin
Sattoday

[Jishin]

Buddhism/Zen is perfectly rational. It just uses different logic. For example, some may say I think therefore I am. In Zen some may say I don't think, now what?

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Doshin]

Buddhism/Zen is perfectly rational. It just uses different logic. For example, some may say I think therefore I am. In Zen some may say I don't think, now what?

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

Doshin
Sattoday

[Jakuden]

Now having shared where I am, or was when I wrote this, any advice is appreciated. My wife and dogs think I am okay and making progress....but you never know, so I keep reading the forum to see where others are on the path and I keep sitting.

We are all just sitting here enjoying the wildlands with you. Nowhere to go

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday

[treebeard]

Zazen helps me arrive at a rational mindset more often than not because all the noise slowly evaporates as thoughts pass and fade. So for me I guess rational thinking is a byproduct of freeing the mind from delusions. A lot of what drew me to Buddhism in general is it's rational approach (at least in the basics) to life and ability to coexist with science rather than be threatened by it. I'm probably overgeneralizing, but at the core there don't seem to be a ton of supernatural dependencies in Zen.

Gassho,
Paul
Sat today

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