Best Of

Zazen is good

....for nothing !

Thanks for inspiring me, @Kotishka.
Keep up the great work.

It took a few years and a few big whacks from life to be able to let go of some very bad habits. I sometimes appreciate the Dharma as a great friend during my adult development.

It reminds me of the day I stopped biting my nails. I was gnawing my bleeding fingertips and nails until I noticed a pop followed by something hard and sharp around my tongue and gums. I had broken the middle part of one of my front teeth! I stopped immediately, I became really self-conscious of my poor habit. Well, it seems spiritual practice tries to warn you before you end up in these situations.

Another analogy I like is how you might be run over a few hedgehogs while driving carelessly and without any lights but, once you realise that the poor creatures are there, you start driving a bit more carefully and using your lights as well. If you keep driving in that manner even though you are aware of the harm behind your actions....sigh Been there.

PD: No hedgehogs were harmed (I don't drive! )

@Jeroen said:
I find that the last few months I have been worrying about selling my dad’s apartment, and I haven’t created as much space for the breath. I had kind of forgotten about it while getting caught up in the day to day.

Then i came across a question on another forum, do you meditate? And in answering that I remembered my year of the breath, and I just picked it back up again. It feels wonderful, so soft.

I have been trying to put some space between feeling and acting in recent times.

When frustration or irritability overtake me, rather than expressing it verbally, go for a walk or come back to the breath.

Have been able to maintain this for the most part

It is true that Buddhism appears to go against the grain, but it only looks that way. Often it is a result of trying to move too quickly along the path.

When you wait for the right moment to let things go, you will find a certain ripeness within. And then discarding bad habits becomes easy.

I have experienced the same thing with Osho’s teachings. A little more patience, gratitude, kindness, openness… and things begin to happen by themselves.

It reminds me of this Zen joke:

A young man approached a Zen master and asked “Master, how long will it take for me to learn Zen?” The master replied, “Ten years.” The young man then asked, “And if I really apply myself, how long then?” The master replied, “Twenty years.”

I would say, learn to float downstream and gradually absorb the Dhamma. Surround yourself with good influences and let them work on you. Eliminate bad influences, a little at a time.

As my practice becomes deeper and more dedicated -two daily 30 minute sittings; maintaining contact with Treeleaf Zen sangha & NB forum- I have noticed that so many of my issues were demands due to preferences, none of which vital or essential for me to pursue a healthy and kind life. For example, not having internet in my room and simply accepting I had to go to another room to use my iPad. Also, noticing how many hours I spend on the internet / behind screens, absorbed in idle chatter. I sometimes feel that I've joined the Path a bit late because of how slow my progress has been. I know progress and improvement are conflicting terms in Zen, but I cannot deny (and I doubt anyone could) that zazen and Buddhist study has provided a lot of peace to me, my loved ones and my community. It has taken though a few years of starting, abandoning and repeating for it to really start to flourish.

Isn't Right view realising of this blessed opportunity, to do good and be kind, to not accumulate for garbage -materially, mentally, behaviourally- and to notice how the 4NT permeate this existence. It seems Buddhism sometimes is going a bit against your usual current: against what your biology has provided you to begin with (temperament & pre-conditioned preferences), our impulses, our self-satisfaction via self-indulgence, against the mass psychosis implemented by the news, ideologies, market, etc.

This without rejecting certain technology and pleasant treats (eating dark chocolate with sea salt as I write).

Good day to all!