Daily meditation changes you
Kotishka
Veteran
Hi all,
I know in Zen practice you are not supposed to search or grasp for achievements or materialising any sort of path of development. However, I cannot but notice how restraint, discipline and awareness to my daily habits are becoming fruits born from my practice.
I feel a less impulsive and a calmer, better person in general. This does not mean I consider myself a Zen master that has dropped body and mind and can strive under all circumstances with the patience of a Saint..but I start to see benefits which make me reconsider carefully any diversion away from this lifestyle which Zen Buddhism implicitly has.
I can only wish you all have the same experiences from engaging in your practice, study and sangha. I am currently sitting with Treeleaf. Maybe see you around!
Also....please check this small video and meditation. 5minutes only. For me it was truly refreshing!
Gassho,
K
Comments
I like the quotation in the video very much, from Master Ma’s Ordinary Mind by Fumio Yamada:
“Keep yourself unstained. There is no need to trouble yourself with mastering the Way. It’s enough if you just take care to keep yourself unstained. We become stained by being overindulgent in life, fearing death, striving and chasing after goals. If you want to grasp the Way directly, it is none other than your ordinary mind.”
I might have to get the book.
Hmm.
“If you want to directly know the Way, then know that ordinary mind is the Way. What is ordinary mind? It means no intentional creation and action, no right or wrong, no grasping or rejecting, no ending or permanent, no profane or sacred.”
(From https://www.stonewaterzen.org/2019/06/mazu-daoyis-ordinary-mind-alasdair-taisen-gordon-finlayson/ )
The Unstained, pristine awareness, Buddha Mind, Beginner Mind etc is where we are all the same.
Remember when the Buddha touched the ground?
We were all there...
It's interesting you should mention this @Kotishka . Thus have I heard: the calmness you're experiencing is actually just a by-product of Dharma practice. It's not the ultimate goal, but it often serves as a meaningful incentive to continue with daily practice. 🙏🙏🙏
Are you part of the MIB? [asking for a lunatic... well OK K me...]
L
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_K
https://newbuddhist.com/uploads/editor/oz/8di4dk7wkauy.jpeg
I had my suspicions @Kotishka
Must be time to mediate, if only I could spell meditate...
T
Listening to an interview today the teacher Matthew Brensilver said something that I thought shed some light on the idea to not get hung up on meditation progress. He said your meditation practice is none of your business. It was a kind of Zenny clever way of putting it, but he explained its kind of like doing bicep curls and constantly checking to see if your muscles are getting bigger. It happens slowly and almost imperceptibly, with exercise we see enough examples to have confidence that it will work. At the moment meditation is still fairly new in the West and its harder to have faith that our efforts will bear fruit, so we keep looking for affirmation.
He also shared something from his own teacher, can't remember her name, about not getting hung up on success or having good meditations. Her advice was along the lines of treat it like a job, just show up, punch in, punch out, and do the work.
Believe it or not I am meditation.
Of course I would never say that because it is unbelievable.
https://newbuddhist.com/discussion/comment/395877/#Comment_395877
https://mettaray.com/Religion/
OM YA HA HUM