Very good point Kyotai ... even though we may have been practicing for many years, we are all still human. =)
We all have these feelings, it is a part of being human, but over time this practice helps us be less tramped by these conditions and allowing us to just be in each and every moment just as it is.
Gassho
Shingen
s@today
Sent from my mobile, cause I am out & about! =)
-
Guest replied -
Guest repliedI am sometimes surprised when I experience anger boiling over, after years of zazen. Often judging my self and those thoughts when they rise. But, I will say, I am much better at letting those emotions evaporate then I once was.
Gassho, Kyotai
STLeave a comment:
-
Thank you all for this thread. Although I have little to add, I can say that simmering feelings of anger, or more often anxiety in my case, are often revealed during zazen.
Jakuden - I smiled at your mention of ox herding. For me, this is one of the most powerful images that I can relate to in Buddhism. I often look at the pictures.
Thank you everyone for your comments and openness.
Gassho,
Sat,
AlexLeave a comment:
-
Jundo, just wanted to say - thank you, thank you, thank you - for this. I read this last night, been thinking on it, will practice it. Loved the video, needed that, so even monks have their moments.
This really helps. Many bows.
Gassho
Kim
Sat today
Sent from my SM-G900P using TapatalkLeave a comment:
-
Jundo that video is quite entertaining. I'm especially enjoying the older monk who stands there undisturbed throughout the video
Gassho
Ongen
Sat todayLeave a comment:
-
-
Guest repliedJundo and Kim.....thank you for everything that you said here.
Gassho,
Joyo
sat todayLeave a comment:
-
This is the way. Don't buy into it, don't get suckered. It is just changing theatre, and 20 minutes later the world will likely appear very different as our mood and passing emotions change. All just hormones flowing away in the blood chemistry.
I sometimes experience a roller coaster of emotions during zazen, usually during high stress times when a confluence of events leads to a lack of necessary quiet downtime. This is a powder keg for me, but Jundo's "mind theatre" phrase and "observe and let it go" instructions have been instrumental in my surviving these times, and in navigating the panic this tends to cause within me. Simply put - I remember they are illusion, not reality or truth, and I loosen my grip and watch them fly by.
Makes the temporary chaos of my life easier to manage
Also, Shikantaza the experience as best one can by not grabbing on, letting it be, just breathing as needed. This is Shikantaza that does not require a Zafu cushion, but which can be done standing, walking, in the office or at home, just upright and in life.
Introducing Insta-Zazen! ©
Also, consider to offer Metta for the person or persons who may be a trigger to the anger.
RECOMMENDED DAILY Metta PRACTICE
Also, play with planting Nurturing Seeds to replace the seeds of anger.
RECOMMENDED DAILY Nurturing Seeds PRACTICE
Also, besides thinking of it as "mind theatre", think of such moods as just changing weather, observe and allow the emotion just as one would accept and allow the stormy rain to fall and thunder to rumble. Immediately, it will lose much of its power.
Finally, remember that thinking anger is not speaking anger, and it is certainly not an act of violence. Cut yourself some slack. Even monks lose it sometimes.In “Just Sitting” Zazen Practice, we learn to take life like the weather … Whatever comes, comes.
http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...28Part-XIII%29
These guys are either debating theories of "Emptiness" ... or Hillary vs. Bernie vs. The Donald ...
Gassho, JLast edited by Jundo; 09-03-2016, 07:32 PM.Leave a comment:
-
Guest repliedWhen we sit zazen we face ourselves, which includes anger, sadness, tears of joy and everything in between. It has happened many times to me.
Gassho,
Joyo
sat today (at 1 am this morning, as I was up and upset about some stupid mistakes I had done at work yesterday)Leave a comment:
-
First, Kliff, thank you for raising this topic.
Jundo, thank you for your post. It explained some things.
I sometimes experience a roller coaster of emotions during zazen, usually during high stress times when a confluence of events leads to a lack of necessary quiet downtime. This is a powder keg for me, but Jundo's "mind theatre" phrase and "observe and let it go" instructions have been instrumental in my surviving these times, and in navigating the panic this tends to cause within me. Simply put - I remember they are illusion, not reality or truth, and I loosen my grip and watch them fly by.
Makes the temporary chaos of my life easier to manage
Grateful for TreeLeaf and everyone here.
Gassho
Kim
Sat today
Sent from my SM-G900P using TapatalkLeave a comment:
-
Dogen? That old grump!? One does not have to look so hard in some of his writings to find him having gotten up on the wrong side of the Zafu! In one famous story, perhaps apocryphal, Dogen once became so engraged that "monk named Genmyo and his companions were permanently expelled from Eiheiji. According to the standard story, Dogen went so far as to cut Genmyo's seat out of the meditation platform in the monks' hall to eliminate his contamination."
At this time in my life, I sometimes find anger arising and sometimes (few and far between, thank you) I boil. As the married man and father of a teenage boy, I still have my moments ... my wife will be happy to tell you about the door I punched and put a dent in (worse for my hand, which I would never raise to a person by the way). Sometimes I have sat in Zazen flooded with some angry feeling or resentment (not so often, if I may say, and that is rare). I would say I rarely get very angry, but I do get angry and annoyed at things sometimes. However, compared to years ago, before all this Zen Practice, it is a very different situation. When it happens, I catch it faster, do not as easily become its prisoner, and turn the boil down to cool faster. Years ago, I would fall in and boil away, stewing in my juices or erupting. Now, it drops away so much more quickly, like turning down the flames on the stove.
Anger arises in the most primitive parts of our animal brains. I believe that even the historical Buddha probably felt anger arising sometimes, because he was human (sorry, I am not one to believe that the Buddha was beyond all ordinary human emotions). The difference is what we do with the fire when it arises, for we are not made of ice. I believe that the Buddha, and many modern Buddhists (the Dalai Lama comes to mind) are just much better at not becoming caught up in anger.
The Dalai Lama even said so ... at 1:40 mark here ...
He is also reported as saying ...
Gassho, JAppearance is something absolute, but reality is not that way – everything is interdependent, not absolute. So that view is very helpful to maintain a peace of mind because the main destroyer of a peaceful mind is anger.” But he hasn’t quite mastered this himself, he concedes. He gets angry “quite often” with “advisers, secretaries, other people around me when they make some little, little mistake, then sometimes I burst. Oh yes! Anger and I shout! And some harsh words. But that remains for a few minutes, then it’s finished.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...rsh-words.html
PS - Here is an old post on the subject ...
Playing With Fire
Last edited by Jundo; 09-03-2016, 12:17 PM.Leave a comment:
-
Hi,
I been so pissed off after Zazen I could punch a wall. But after I get to work and get settled its all better. You are not the only one. [emoji3]
Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_Leave a comment:
-
-
Leave a comment: