Anyone ever used a meditation journal?

[Mitty-san]

Hello everyone,

Has anyone ever kept a meditation journal? From my experience and Psychology research I've seen it can be super helpful in better understanding and moving past any issues that recur during meditation, whether related to problems in life that keep clouding the mind during Zazen or issues more directly related to the meditation practice itself. However, I haven't heard of it specifically in the Soto Zen tradition. Perhaps it's one of those things some people do but it's not emphasized in Soto Zen.

Gassho _/\_

[FlamingDollar]

Hi Mitty-san,

I don't think it's really much of anything in any tradition. More something individuals do on their own basis, I believe. I can definitely see how it helps.

Gassho
Will

Sat today

[Jakuden]

I have seen journaling advised in books about meditation by Jon Kabat-Zinn and others. Never got around to doing it myself. However, along with little note cards I made with assorted gathas, chants, nurturing seeds and the like, I have made lists of reminders and sayings that help put me in a "Zenny frame of mind." I think at least for myself, journaling would actually hinder shikantaza. It seems like it would encourage following thoughts, where shikantaza is a really a doing/being rather than a thinking state. I try to let anything that "clouds the mind" just be what it is and not engage with it during Zazen. I think my little self would like to journal all those things it wants to consider important, but that would be missing the point of shikantaza.

Of course some reading and writing does help us learn and there is a place for it. That's partly why a lot of us are here, too! I know that sometimes I go to post a question on here and just in writing it I already know the answer. Writing things down can clarify thoughts. I recently wrote a post detailing the random thoughts that crossed my mind during Zazen one day, mostly because I was amused at the range from silly and trivial to sad and/or painful all in one 30 minute session. If nothing else it helped me see how my mind kept popping up tempting trails of thought, desperate for attention, a little-self having a tantrum because it wasn't getting indulged for a few minutes.

Just my rambling thoughts. I wouldn't bother writing them down... oh wait, I just did

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday

[Joyo]

I don't have what I would call a meditation journal. I just journal, a lot. I write down everything from my anxieties and fears, things I am grateful for, life lessons I learn, quotes and teachings. It's a place to retreat, and be myself without ever having to fear that what I write down is going to be judged or critiqued.

Gassho,
Joyo
sat today

[Jundo]

Hi and Welcome again.

I actually do not believe that "meditation journaling" would be fruitful in our Shikantaza way of sitting, and I believe that it could even be counter-productive. Why?

We are radical "sit with what is", "nothing to attain" and "whatever comes, do not chase after it" folks. When thoughts and emotions come, we "pay em no nevermind" letting them go without grabbing on and riding along. We don't poke em with a stick, buy into their baloney, wallow or play their game, stir them up or let them ourselves be stirred.

We do not seek unusual or special states believing that the most special state occurs, and the subject/object divide is truly dropped, in the very nature of radical non-seeking. Here is how I sometimes summarize the "payoff" to Shikantaza ...

Our small self, the body-mind, is always filled with countless desires ... the desire to be somewhere else, be getting somewhere, achieving some prize, some distant goal. Our body-mind is always judging this or that as somehow inadequate to what the body-mind wants, its likes and dislikes, needs, regrets and dreams.

Thus, when there is sat an instant of Zazen as wholeness in just sitting, the only place to be and act to do in that instant in all of reality that is required to fulfill life as life ... the Buddha and all the Ancestors just sitting in that instant of sitting, no other thing to attain or which ever can be attained ... no other place to go or in need of going ... all holes filled, whether full or empty or in between ... all lack and excess resolved in that one sitting, with not one thing to add or take away ... judgments dropped away, "likes and dislikes" put aside ... nothing missing from Zazen (even when we might feel that "something is missing", for one can be fully content with the feeling of lack!) ... the sitting of Zazen and all life experienced as complete and whole as just the sitting of Zazen ... the entire universe manifesting itself on the Zafu at that moment ...

... in other words, when the "little self" is thereby put out of a job by the experience of "just sitting" as whole and complete with nothing more to be desired or needed ... then the hard borders between the "little self" and the "not the self" (which is usually being judged and "bumped into" and divided into pieces) thus naturally soften, fully fade away ... only the wholeness of the dance remaining ...

... then "Zazen is in itself body-mind dropped off".

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?7605-A-vital-reminder-on-zazen

Other little essays on the mad-sanity of Shikantaza here:

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?66-VITAL-POINTS-of-SHIKANTAZA-ZAZEN

Keeping a journal, dealing with issues, pondering what came to mind that day and subtly hoping to reach something "deeper" ... all this can actually be a barrier to savoring the fruit of what is just here all along.

Gassho, J

SatToday

PS - Mitty, would you mind posting a human face avatar, and signing a human first name? It helps keep this place a little more human. Thank you.

[Tairin]

When I started sitting zazen I kept a journal for a short while but stopped when I realized two things

1 I started sitting thinking about sitting and what I'd say in the journal when I was done
2 I started assessing whether my sit was a "good one" or a "bad one"

It felt very counterproductive and so I dropped it

I should add that although I do make a comment in Insight Timer each day after sitting, I do that as a way of reinforcing the Sangha by saying I sat with all of you.

Gassho
Warren
Sat today

[Mitty-san]

Thanks for the comments/explanations/sharing, everyone.

It's good to see I'm not the only one who finds journaling useful for many reasons and how even just discussing (or preparing to discuss) with others can help clarify one's thoughts.

However, I'll read/watch/sit more about Shikantaza to get a better understanding of Shikantaza's purpose and why journaling does not fit with it specifically. Most likely there will be more questions forthcoming from me at some point.

The Insight Timer app looks interesting too. I'll have to look into that.

PS: Jundo, you should be able to see my name and face now.

[Myogan]

I think Joyo has has a good outlook on it. When I do put words on paper it generally isn't about the meditation but other aspects of the Dharma. I have a terrible memory for words so writing down something from a book or recorded talk allows me to retain it.

Did not sit ( neck pain) but Zazen works even on your back
Gassho

[Jishin]

Hi,

When I was a medical student and on rounds I was told to put down my notes and present the case from memory. The attending was the chairman of the neuropsychiatry department and said that I would remember what was important.

I don't like the idea of a journal. If something comes up and is important you will remember it. With time the issue will probably resolve itself. If not, seek professional help if it is disturbing.

"Don't make distinctions and he path enlightens itself." - Xin Xin Ming.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Kokuu]

Hi all

I don't have a meditation journal but have found it helpful to journal during retreat/sesshin and Ango. During more intense periods of practice I find that stuff comes up and writing it down is useful for two reasons:

1. Writing it down tends to stop me dwelling on it and worrying if I will forget something potentiall important
2. It gives me a chance to look back and reflect on the experience once that period is over.

My meditation journal would be pretty dull on a day-to-day basis with numerous entries of 'Sat. Legs hurt. Thought about what was for dinner.'

Gassho
Kokuu
#sattoday (outside, surrounded by daisies, thought about what was for breakfast)

[Koushu]

As both a student of Cognitive and Transpersonal psychology there is a benefit to meditation journaling in the context of Transpersonal Meditation and Mental Phenomology. That being said I must agree with Jundo on this subject of journalling within Zen and Zazen practice. Journaling subconsciously forces you to examine your thoughts and feeling which is in opposition to the goal of Zazen.

With most forms of Qigong meditations (both martial and medical) and Transpersonal mediation I would say yes journalling would help. But not within the parameters of Zen.

Sent from my X9 using Tapatalk

[Jishin]

As both a student of Cognitive and Transpersonal psychology there is a benefit to meditation journaling in the context of Transpersonal Meditation and Mental Phenomology. That being said I must agree with Jundo on this subject of journalling within Zen and Zazen practice. Journaling subconsciously forces you to examine your thoughts and feeling which is in opposition to the goal of Zazen.

With most forms of Qigong meditations (both martial and medical) and Transpersonal mediation I would say yes journalling would help. But not within the parameters of Zen.

Sent from my X9 using Tapatalk

Your words are big.

Gassho, Jishin, ST

[Myosha]

Your words are big.

Gassho, Jishin, ST

Gassho
Myosha
sat today

[Koushu]

Gassho Jinshin.

I am probably the most backward and blacksheepish of practitioners here, as my practice revolves around nothing and only the chaos of nature. But this has lend me down many rabbit hole. Zen being my nucleus and my grounding wire.

Many Gassho Jishin

Sent from my X9 using Tapatalk

[Jishin]

Gassho Jinshin.

I am probably the most backward and blacksheepish of practitioners here, as my practice revolves around nothing and only the chaos of nature. But this has lend me down many rabbit hole. Zen being my nucleus and my grounding wire.

Many Gassho Jishin

Sent from my X9 using Tapatalk

Hi,

I think you are perfect as you are. But that doesn't mean I want to pick up a psychology book and a dictionary to exchange ideas. I rather puff on a Cuban while chitchatting with you.

Gassho, Jishin, ST