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my practice
Hello all,
I'm very impressed by the depth and variety of spiritual experiences that I've read on this board - and by how well everyone gets along! I'd love to hear more about people's personal practice - what tradition(s) they follow, daily/ weekly/ etc routine, what's important to them...
I guess I might as well start:
I would call my particular Buddhist practice Rinzai Zen (or Lin-chi Chan, it's written the same!) but that's not the same answer my teachers would give! I'm a regular attendee of a Chinese Buddhist temple - Chan and sitting meditation is a large part of their tradition, but they also incorporate a lot of Pureland practice and some Hua Yen (Avatamsaka sutra) teaching. Apparently this is quite common for Chinese Buddhism. My other teacher is a university professor who calls himself a Mahayanist - with reason, as he's received transmission from Rinzai masters in both Taiwan and Japan, and when I first met him, was serving as a minister at a Jodo Shinshu temple!
My daily practice is meditation - I used to be fairly consistent at sitting twice a day, but have let slip my morning meditation for far too long now. I do get in one 30-45 minute zazen period a day. I've made it over a month without missing a day, so that's progress from where I was last year at least (ok, some days I only sat 20 min - I had an ear infection!). I also only do the bare minimum of ritual allowed by my teacher - reciting the 3 refuges and 4 vows before zazen, dedicating merit after. So I have a lot of room for improvement! I do a little bit of study every day as well, slowly but not so surely reading the Avatamsaka sutra.
I attend weekly meditation classes at the Chinese temple - 20 min walking meditation, 60 min sitting, 10 min walking, 10 min chanting "Om Mane Pad Me Hum," 30 min instruction\ discussion by the resident nuns. I also attend a weekly Tai Chi class there, and go to some dharma talks (the ones in English!), special events and volunteer commitments. My other teacher has left his interim post at the Shin temple, where I used to attend his meditation and sutra-study classes. At the moment, he's holding Sunday morning classes at his home. He's good friends with the abbot of the Vietnamese temple and the two of them are trying to come up with a kind of Mahayana Buddhist essentials course for Westerners. We do some scripture study, and have classes on stuff like how to bow, how to string a mala, and how to recognise different Buddhas and Bodhisattvas from quite a long way away. I'm not sure what Sensei's long-term plans are, for now our group is quite cosy and informal.
Well, that was a lot of words, and not much said! I know many people here are much more interesting than I am, looking forward to hearing from you!
I'm very impressed by the depth and variety of spiritual experiences that I've read on this board - and by how well everyone gets along! I'd love to hear more about people's personal practice - what tradition(s) they follow, daily/ weekly/ etc routine, what's important to them...
I guess I might as well start:
I would call my particular Buddhist practice Rinzai Zen (or Lin-chi Chan, it's written the same!) but that's not the same answer my teachers would give! I'm a regular attendee of a Chinese Buddhist temple - Chan and sitting meditation is a large part of their tradition, but they also incorporate a lot of Pureland practice and some Hua Yen (Avatamsaka sutra) teaching. Apparently this is quite common for Chinese Buddhism. My other teacher is a university professor who calls himself a Mahayanist - with reason, as he's received transmission from Rinzai masters in both Taiwan and Japan, and when I first met him, was serving as a minister at a Jodo Shinshu temple!
My daily practice is meditation - I used to be fairly consistent at sitting twice a day, but have let slip my morning meditation for far too long now. I do get in one 30-45 minute zazen period a day. I've made it over a month without missing a day, so that's progress from where I was last year at least (ok, some days I only sat 20 min - I had an ear infection!). I also only do the bare minimum of ritual allowed by my teacher - reciting the 3 refuges and 4 vows before zazen, dedicating merit after. So I have a lot of room for improvement! I do a little bit of study every day as well, slowly but not so surely reading the Avatamsaka sutra.
I attend weekly meditation classes at the Chinese temple - 20 min walking meditation, 60 min sitting, 10 min walking, 10 min chanting "Om Mane Pad Me Hum," 30 min instruction\ discussion by the resident nuns. I also attend a weekly Tai Chi class there, and go to some dharma talks (the ones in English!), special events and volunteer commitments. My other teacher has left his interim post at the Shin temple, where I used to attend his meditation and sutra-study classes. At the moment, he's holding Sunday morning classes at his home. He's good friends with the abbot of the Vietnamese temple and the two of them are trying to come up with a kind of Mahayana Buddhist essentials course for Westerners. We do some scripture study, and have classes on stuff like how to bow, how to string a mala, and how to recognise different Buddhas and Bodhisattvas from quite a long way away. I'm not sure what Sensei's long-term plans are, for now our group is quite cosy and informal.
Well, that was a lot of words, and not much said! I know many people here are much more interesting than I am, looking forward to hearing from you!
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Comments
I light a candle and incense every day (usually in the morning to bring myself into the Light for the day) and pray for all my friends and relatives and whatever awful situations are going on in the world - recently I've been praying a lot for Tibet and Zimbabwe.
I meditate (sitting or lying down) whenever I can but practice a "repetitive work" meditation more often which is rather like reciting the rosary or mala. When I am doing a repetitive but not mind- consuming job, I bring into my mind all the people and situations who need my prayers and bring them into the Light.
Every week when I know my Friends in Glasgow are gathered together, I go away and keep the Meeting with them, one hour of silence, waiting for Spirit to speak to me and guide me.
Twice a month, I know when the Healing Group are meeting and I go away and sit with them, lighting a candle and directing my energies with theirs, reading out any names I know of people who need healing and aiding when I know they will be reading out their list.
Before each meal I observe a moment's silence to give thanks for the food in front of me and the labours of the people who have made it possible for me to eat. It is my version of eating mindfully.
Most of my practice is practical .... who is in need of what, and what can I do to help and is my help needed or am I just poking my nose in where it is not wanted? In these cases I meditate on the Quaker phrase "What does Love require of me?"
I try to consume as little as possible - I never buy anything new until I know I can't recycle something I already have, get one from a friend who is throwing one away, buy it second hand or make it myself. I usually only eat once a day and never waste food.
That's it.
Of course I'm interested, if we all practised in the same way then we wouldn't have nearly as much to talk about!
My mom and sister are both Christian (not Quaker), but my own childhood experience with the Church was one long series of misunderstandings and unintentional insults (going both ways!). I'd like to gain a better appreciation for Christianity now, my mom's given me one of Henri Nouwen's books to read, and I quite like it.
Of course, reading anything that's not the Avatamsaka Sutra is like a nice vacation to me right now!
I also contemplate and work on specific aspects of the Path as they arise, sometimes for the day, sometimes for days or weeks at a time. For example, I'm looking at anatta a lot these days, falling back on it, trying to make it an understanding in my life etc. Equanimity comes up often, too, and I spend a lot of time with it because it's one of the aspects I need a lot of work in. (Bad grammar. Sorry...:))
I love to mull over and examine all the teachings and how to make them work in my life every day and an hour doesn't go by when something doesn't pop into my head, something to chew on, think about, look at, find ways to put into practice and try to make it indelible in my mind and life. I often imagine I'm soaking in a warm tub of the teachings, surrounded by them, warmed and comforted by them, challenged by them, always
renewed, and energized by them.
In short, I meditate, do some mantra work that Palzang got me hooked on with my beautiful mala that Frizby made for me, read and study, and do everything I can to live the teachings everyday. I find it much easier to think about them than to actually practice them
I'm also very fortunate to have the physical disability with pain which is the best teacher a lazy person like me could ever have because it forces me to practice things like patience, compassion, mindfulness, single pointed concentration and so on because the alternative is misery and I decided a few years ago that I wasn't going to do the misery thing any more. Life's way too short.
Having just reread what I wrote it occurs to me that the mulling over and contemplating I do about the teachings may not actually fall under the category of 'practice' because it's not something I make myself do. It's just something we all do when confronted with new ways of looking at things. It's more of an automatic response, the mind just goes there by itself, you know? So it's probably unfair to consider it to be practice.
Oh, another one that comes up a LOT with me is developing a flexible mind. I've always been highly opinionated and tended to view some things in terms of black and white. So I think about the letting go of my opinions a lot these days and a really big one for me right now is the whole not believing everything you think because I've always put way too much store and trust in what I thought. But now, knowing what I do about being a deluded, unenlightened being, I'm understanding more and more how little and how rarely I can actually trust my thoughts to be reflections of reality, especially because I've always tended toward 'magical thinking', superstitious stuff and so on.
Wow! This is long. I can write about me, me, me for hours, can't it? Another thing to work on...:)
Oh I wouldn't say that Boo - contemplation isn't always everyone's reaction to adversity or other opinions. In my experience most people rail against the first and immediately shut down their mind to the other. In my very humble opinion, contemplation and flexibility of mind fall very much within the realm of practice.
You don't have to light a candle to pray!
I don't 'do', I un-do! That's why I don't fit in anywhere and followers of 'systems' dislike what I say.
Don't do any ritual, unless it's a spontaneous offering of the mandala (don't need to though). Don't visualise or recite mantra. Don't have any preconceived object that I need to fix on, in order for it to be a "success". Don't need it to be a success.
I just relax and drop everything. Anything which appears; sounds, feelings, the sky can be an object if it wishes, I'm not fussy. Awareness goes into it with clarity. Is there tension? Awareness, then relax out.
Stillness and movement - movement and stillness. Just finding what's there and not there is a journey in itself.
This is the way the path has opened up as I have walked it. It teaches me. I, myself, have nothing to offer it.
Very interesting. What do you mean by prerequisites, because I'm not sure I understand you?
I've found, for myself, that even though I try to meditate without goals, I do make some kinds of progress if I'm diligent in my practice. Also that other people are better than I am at recognising any positive changes in myself!
I think anyone beginning meditation, and not being used to such strictures, would be distinctly put off by it all.
The first thing I read was that if you didn't sit Zazen in exactly the right position, you were wasting your time. So, gritting my teeth and battling with my bad back ..... I failed.
It rather struck me that The Compassionate one might just,at a long stretch of the imagination, have some compassion for a jiggered back and look beyond it to the intention of the owner of said back and accept their strivings.
But there - I know better now.
That's just the sort of thing I mean Knitwitch. My point was general but in my journey I have either been told (or read) that I need to "do", "think" and "be" many things, a handful of which:
Thousands of prostrations.
Thousands of mantras.
Visualise correctly.
Possess pure motivation and cultivate pure compassion.
Own a mala made of bodhi beads, of the correct type.
Feel devotion towards my guru, such that tears well up in my eyes at the thought of him.
Have overcome lustful or angry thoughts.
Possess a correctly made earth kasina.
Never engage in any gossip or idle talk.
...and a whole load more stuff I can't even be bothered to remember.
Well, I figured if I had all that already I wouldn't need any spiritual practice, as I'd already be nigh on perfect - which (you may have gathered) I'm not.
I'm rather glad that I have such identifiable imperfections, as it makes my progress easier to chart.
Regarding Zen, I recently received an open invitation from a Zen group (for all Buddhists) "as long as they are willing to respect the tradition of the group and do zazen in their style". I don't even know what zazen is, so that put me off for a start. It's the sort of proprietorial air of such groups that I find claustrophobic and inhibiting.
So jacx, that's what I mean. You wrote "I do make some kinds of progress if I'm diligent in my practice." Sounds good to me. Stick with it, if you are getting results. It's what I do, although I'm not averse to trying out other things now and again to see what happens.
namaste
kris
Perfect isn't happening here ... and it's OK.
I find perfect people so difficult to live with anyway!
Yes, they bring out the worst in me.
I started meditation when I was quite young, and didn't have a bad time at all with the posture. My teacher had me sit 1/2 lotus at first, but I complained that my bottom leg always fell asleep. So he said "OK, try full-lotus instead." It worked much better for me right away. I didn't even know it was supposed to be difficult. (sorry!)
I have heard of some Japanese-style zendos being very picky about their students employing only shikan taza or only koan study, with no mixing. I can kind of see where they're coming from, but I'm not sure it's my style. The everything, including the kitchen sink approach of Chinese Mahayana has its own frustrations, but I think it suits me better.
Yep, I don't mind saying that I've made progress in my spiritual practice. I'm neither patient nor altruistic, so I wouldn't keep on doing something if it didn't at least make me happier!
Same here. I enjoy meditation and get interesting results. I treat it more like a fun hobby that a mission to save mankind and the universe.
That's, perhaps, totally wrong but at least it's honest.