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I want to start a journal for my Practice. It would be a reflection diary i write in everyday..BUT..

zenmystezenmyste Veteran
edited July 2011 in Buddhism Basics
I once knew a buddhist who said every night he wrote his thoughts and his life observations down as a practice to better himself etc etc....

I really liked this idea. (always kept a diary anyway)

It would obviously contain very basic common sense essays and quotes,just as a self help guide (for me only).

But my question is: When i told someone im doing this practice, they said its not very ZEN because it will distract me from the NOW which is what zen is all about. But i dont think it will.
I actually think this is a great practice. (Even if it is very basic common sense things, as sometimes its good to go back to common sense things for us to remember)

So if it helps me become a better person, and it helps me grow, i think it is very ZEN.
I have had alot of 'satori moments' which i will also be writing about. and its good to remeber these things right???

Cheers! x

Comments

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    I personally agree with your friend.
    See this thread.....

    http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/comment/213605#Comment_213605
  • zenmystezenmyste Veteran
    thanks for the thread. i have read this couple days ago.

    correct me if im wrong but that thread is about taking notes during meditation. which is nothing like what im saying.

    my practice would be thinking about my day and seeing where i could have bettered myself. making up my own quotes and saying about life. etc etc

    (i used to video blog but prefere hand written blogs)
  • zenmystezenmyste Veteran
    edited July 2011
    i wouldnt dwell on my day. and wish i could change it. (i never do this)

    it would just be writing my thoughts about how one should act. reminding myself that kindness is good. do no evil. rember to follow the precepts. etc etc...

    just for bit of fun if anything. i just like the idea of carrying a note book around that all. :)
  • bodhipunkbodhipunk
    edited July 2011
    Its your practice. If it helps you to write things down for future reference, then it helps you.

    However, you said you wouldn't "dwell on your day", yet you also said you would see how you "could have bettered" yourself. What use is wondering how things could have been otherwise?

    Anyways, wasn't Dogen Zenji known for his prolific writing?
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    My opinion of such activities, still stands.
    I used to keep a journal. It ran into volumes....I burned the lot, because I realised I dwelt on "the good bits" as well as "the bad bits", and they affected my outlook.
    Now, I just take each day as it comes, and once it's done, it's done. if I open my eyes in the morning, that's already a bonus.
    There's no guarantee that will happen every day.... But it's nice when it does.
  • TheswingisyellowTheswingisyellow Trying to be open to existence Samsara Veteran
    edited July 2011
    I keep a journal of sorts.
    I rarely reread any of it.
    I found that when I was in school writing out topics helped solidify or question my understanding. So it is with my practice.
    It's a process that works for me, if I do it while in thought about the topic.
    It's a tool of sorts, discard it when it is no longer helpful.
    All the best,
    Todd
  • genkakugenkaku Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
    There used to be a saying that went, "How do I know what I think till I see what I say." Writing things down has a wonderful capacity to A. sharpen the focus and B. help in the realization that no matter how much you write or how well you write it, it cannot depict experience honestly.

    Writing is not bad and it's not good. It's just writing in the same way that a carrot is just a carrot.
  • zenffzenff Veteran
    Don’t hesitate to write down your thoughts.
    Don’t hesitate to burn your writings.
    Both can be so liberating! :)
  • GlowGlow Veteran
    edited July 2011
    Zen (at least the meditative aspect associated with "present-moment" centering), estranged from an ethical and personal value system, is amoral and has no instrinsic benefit. Like all meditative techniques (called, by the Buddha, "skillful means"), it's important not to mistake the finger for the moon itself. Zen can be used for great good and or great devastation. (See Brain Daizen Victoria's Zen at War for a vivid study of the latter.) My experience with Zen is those whose practice lack a contemplative aspect, one of conscious self-study and value-weighing, emerge rather nihilistic and lacking in self-awareness.

    Journaling is another such intrinsically neutral method or means. It can be used to reinforce and solidify unskillful beliefs and behaviors, or to become more conscious of such patterns and cultivate what is compassionate, wise, and skillful. I have kept a journal for a few years now and have found it profoundly helpful, though I do not write in it everyday. (For a good book on journaling, I highly recommend Tristine Rainer's The New Diary.) I started a thread in the past in which I asked if anyone else kept a journal. Federica and another poster reiterated similar points as have been brought up in this thread, though, to be honest, their negative experiences with journaling do not jive with my own.

    You'll have to follow Suzuki Roshi's advice and "live your life as an experiment." Maybe keep a journal for a few months. See whether it is a clarifying practice or one in which you simply reinforce and justify the unconscious unskillful patterns like blame, jealousy, resentment, etc.
  • tmottestmottes Veteran
    @Glow, Regarding your comment on Zen, I recall reading something in the pali cannon where the buddha said that if you reach where he did, it wouldn't matter if you were following a moral path or not. I would assume this is because the individual has transcended that barrier. The rebirths might make that difficult depending on your karma, but it would leave open the possibility that something/one could gain buddha without moral actions. He never said how difficult it might be. Do you know this sutta? Perhaps I have misunderstood it.
  • NOTaGangstaNOTaGangsta
    I used to do that, then got lazy.... :P
  • GlowGlow Veteran
    @tmottes, I don't recall reading such a sutta and it doesn't seem really consistent with the rest of what is recorded in it. That said, there's a lot in the suttas I don't really have much credence in and I no longer consider myself a Buddhist. Weigh anything you read in these ancient scriptures against your own obervations.
  • AMHAMH
    I have been journaling a long time in the style of The Artists Way. I find it very very helpful to all my practices. However most of it doesn't keep. Once a year I go through journals and skim for pieces of writing that are good and I want to follow up on. I rip those out and throw away the rest. I find that the way I journal (and I highly recommend The Artists Way as a resource) is in the immediate moment, total train of thought and it clears out the cobwebs that I need to clear out. I am much less likely to dwell on something throughout the day or produce craoppy writing because I was dwelling on some issue when I do my 3 pages, long hand, every morning.

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