Best Of
Re: Cushion or stool?
Seiza happens to be my go to position. A medium zafu filled with kapok is my favourite steed. I favour it with a little plumping after every sit. We both sit upon a zabuton with my feet slightly trailing off its back edge to take a little pressure off my ankles.
This zafu of mine usually canters well for about 30 minutes at a time before begging off for another 5 minutes of walking meditation. Repeat whenever you have nothing better to do.
Whatever time length of zafu ride you choose for yourself, try to stick with it. Getting prematurely bucked off your zafu mid stride often just makes your zafu all the more skittish for the next ride.
Making and sticking to an arranged scheduling with your formal meditation might also offer a wider range of personal insights beyond what you might find if you only sit when you happen to feel like it.
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As I have not found my existence to be practically accessible outside of this one fleeting solitary moment, a meditation proficiency for that one moment is all that can really be asked for.
Cheers
With your ride.
how
Having the world as a teacher
It occurred to me that it might be worth exploring the buddha’s last words, be a light unto yourself, in a bit more detail. I think this is advanced practice, beyond what most people find with gurus or spiritual friends. The question is really how you can let the entire world be your teacher?
You can learn from a cloud, a tree, a cat, an aboriginal man, a banker... all things and all people have things to teach. But how best to learn what they teach us? And can they teach you things about your mind and your no-mind?
Kerome
Re: Funny Stuff
Three pets sadly die. One is an Alsatian, the second is a poodle, the third is a Persian Blue cat.
They cross the Rainbow Bridge and come before God, seated on his heavenly throne.
He turns to the Alsatian.
"why should i let you enter?" He asks.
"Because I am fiercely loyal to my owner, I guard him with my life, I am dedicated, trustworthy, friendly and obedient."
"Indeed, then come in!" Gestures God.
He then turns to the poodle.
"And why should I let you in?" He asks.
"Because I am intelligent, loyal, companionable, and very useful. I can be trained to provide different services, and am attentive and loving."
God invites the poodle in.
Then he turns to the cat.
"And you, why should you enter?"
The cat, licking its chest, quietly replies,
"I think you'll find you're in my chair...."
federica
Re: What women want out of a man
Reminds me of the joke:
A woman has 6 needs:
She needs a man who is amusing, good for a laugh, and can bring her up with humour when she's feeling down;
She needs a man who is spiritually-connected and who will listen, sympathise, support and help her, in her ventures, through all he hardships and the triumphs and who will always lend the helpful, sympathetic and understanding ear;
She needs a man who is Romantic, will wine and dine her, woo her with roses and an impromptu trip to Paris in the Spring;
She needs a man who can use a washing machine, a dishwasher a lawnmower and be a great mechanic, and has no qualms about using any of these machines
She needs a man who is a sensitive, considerate, attentive and expert lover, who can make her feel a million dollars;
But above all, she needs to make sure these 5 men never meet.
federica
Re: Considering Buddhism and money
This kind of relates to a personal decision I made this week, when I was first ill with Schizophrenia I was in a right state, my CMHT and support workers got me high rate disability living allowance which was worth about an extra £700 a month on top of standard social security rates, I was given it for life. After a few years due to a change in meds and cutting out most of my boozing I got better, the money was still coming in and I did nothing to change that - mainly spent most of it on video games, dharma books and computer hardware. I had a welfare review this week, I could have not showered, shaved or changed my clothes for a month and gone in pretending I'm to paranoid to go out and spend all day staring at the wall and got the extra money easily - a lot of people do, I didn't go to the review so they will cut the extra moneyand felt really happy afterwards and my meditation has improved no end.
When I was involved in drugs, all my stoner friends faked mental illness so they didn't have to work and got disability, I didn't and ended up with a mental illness. My conclusion I'd rather be poor and honest when it came down to it. I feel better for not violating the precepts by blagging.
Zenshin
Re: Difficulty Going to Classes
OP, IMO, everyone, for mental and physical health purposes, needs one day/week when they can stop the planet and get off. An empty day all to oneself, with no obligations, nothing on the schedule, so you can do whatever strikes your fancy. Read a book by a sunny window, take a walk, enjoy some soothing music, enjoy tea with a friend, whatever. Not a care in the world, on that day!
You owe yourself this. You deserve this, just for being human. 
It sounds like you were lucky, and got a good teacher, but it sounds unusual to me, to have classes on both weekend days. It adds up to 4 hours/week, which is quite a bit. Is this part of a long-term curriculum he's teaching, or are you studying a particular text? I wonder if the 2 hrs. x 2 days could be condensed into one 3-hr. session. Though I think you need more of a break than even what that would provide.
Maybe it's time to practice non-attachment to your studies? I think you need some carefree time, as well as some normal daily/weekly living time, for errands and tasks at home. Your schedule doesn't give you an opportunity to de-stress and rejuvenate. Your health comes first. You seem to feel happier, when you don't have the classes to go to. You should heed that signal, that your body-mind is sending you.
I'm also curious as to your "not feeling well most of the time" statement. I hope you're not developing a fatigue condition. OP, for starters, take a weekend off from class, and get a massage. You'll feel so much better, afterwards! You'll have a more positive outlook, and the "struggling" feeling will melt away, at least for the weekend. Massages can be healing, in that they stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, shutting off the stress hormones, and bathing you in mellow endorphins. You desperately need this!
Best wishes! And remember, Buddhist practice is about letting go: of guilt, of the need for chronic busy-ness, of those things we think we "should" be doing. Perhaps you'll be able to pick up the course a year from now, when he starts a new beginner group, or something. In the meantime, take a LO-O-O-ONG time out. You have my permission. Enjoy!
Dakini
Re: Moving from acknowledgment of impermanence to acceptance of it
This is a deep question that you ask, and I do not know if I can answer in any helpful way. I can only answer in terms of how I try to work with it.
Impermanence ... last night I was in the bathroom for hours, very sick. I reminded myself that this situation was impermanent, and then I just tried to relax about it and observe it ... more like, to observe how I was reacting to it. To try to treat it as an opportunity to learn, from observation, how my aversions "hook" me. I saw self-pity flit across my awareness, then fade away. I saw impatience, aversion. And interspersed, I saw relaxation and acceptance and ... patience (for lack of a better word). And then impatience. I mean .. these things take awareness and ongoing effort.
Mind you, I still didn't LIKE being sick, it didn't make he happy, and I had to work constantly at relaxing with it.
And .. today I am not sick. Tired (only 3 hours of sleep), but not sick.
I really really like this quote:
“Everything is always changing. If you relax into this truth, that is Enlightenment. If you resist, this is samsara (suffering).”
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, “What Makes You (Not) a Buddhist”
Re: Meditating with a cold
From https://buddhawithin.org.uk/2020/01/11/pain-as-practice/
If you can relate to your present suffering with some kind of sense of it being your path, then the suffering itself becomes your practice. Just being able to let go of negative thinking and struggling with the pain and being more simple about it, that already means you are making the suffering into the path.
Gradually as you learn to not add to your suffering by negative thinking, you will find the pain itself has a kind of quality of awareness to it that can sometimes feel strangely ok… and that it is the thinking of ‘I cannot stand this’‚ that is the real suffering – the struggle, the remembering how long it has gone on and dreading how long it might last.
Jeffrey
Re: The Buddha Pill
Having partially listened to the video it sounds like much of their personal conclusions are more about the way popularized meditation may not hold as much promise as meditation within the context of a spiritual or psychological path. And that this is what many of the traditional spiritual paths have been saying all along.
person