Help please

jb0ssman

[FONT=&quot]I am hoping to find an active Buddhist that would be interested in answering a few questions about their personal practice for a college paper I am writing, if anyone is interested please respond. Your name may remain confidential, just will need a little bit of info like age, education, status, experiences/length of practice of Buddhism, any other opinion you may like to add, etc. Again, this is not looking for the doctrine, but more so your [/FONT]personal involvement/understanding[FONT=&quot] of each:

- Meditation
- Yoga
(for these two, just your personal practice of each, how often you use them, your goal from using them, any particular style?)
- Usage/application of scripture
(What do you read, how often, particular importance of any/each?)

Thank you
[/FONT]

Jeffrey

- Meditation
- Yoga
(for these two, just your personal practice of each, how often you use them, your goal from using them, any particular style?)
- Usage/application of scripture
(What do you read, how often, particular importance of any/each?)

Meditation - Its called formless meditation. It was the meditation taught by Trungpa Rinpoche in the west. Pema Chodron describes it on chapter four of When Things Fall Apart. My teacher is Lama Shenpen Hookham and she has her own description of how to practice this but it I recognized it as the same in Pema's book which makes sense since my teacher was at one time a student of Trungpa Rinpoche (I believe).

I practice meditation each morning. I decide how long. Either walking or sitting or both.

Yoga- At this time I don't practice yoga. I have read a pop book on Yoga but its not connected to my awareness practice at this time. I was intrigued by the theory of the chakras and I even tried to activate certain chakras based on the books instructions...some kinds of new age ideas like colors aromas mantras vowel sounds. I haven't done that in awhile.

Scripture- I don't read any scriptures but I do read a course book put together by my teacher. It is her teaching which I am sure was influenced by her reading in buddhist scriptures.

I read when I want to explore new material. But sometimes I am just absorbing current material and I don't want anything new to think about. I am doing a course that takes some people 1 year and it is taking me like 4.

Quiet_witness

jb0ssman wrote: »

- Meditation
- Yoga
(for these two, just your personal practice of each, how often you use them, your goal from using them, any particular style?)
- Usage/application of scripture
(What do you read, how often, particular importance of any/each?)

-I practice Zazen meditation. Which is common in the Zen tradition. I try to meditate everyday for as long as is neccessary (I don't keep a watch or pay attention to time outside of the hours 8 - 5 so I would say it ranges from 20-90 minutes depending on the day. I meditate with the purpose of clearing my mind and attaining awarness.

-I do Yoga most days as well with a variety of different styles. I enjoy Bikram most Tuesdays 1.5 hours (Bikram produces body heat and is a cleansing or detoxing yoga), Ananda Wednesday, Friday, Sunday 1 hour more or less (this is a meditative yoga with gentle positions), I do Ashtanga Monday and Thursday 1.5 hours (this is what is considered a power yoga). I use these yoga styles to build strength, stamina, increased flexibility, patience, awarness, and breath control.

- I do not read a lot of scripture but spend more time reading materials, essays, and books from teachers and gurus. ( I tend to avoid new age garbage). I use them to help me with my meditation, understanding of the different schools of Buddhism, and out of general curiosity.

FYI-I have not recieved any ordination yet and do not claim an association with any Buddhist school but I seem to resonate best with Zen Buddhism.


-QW

PietroPumokin

- i don't have a very systematized form of meditation, basically just experimenting things in the mind and trying different methods that run through the current of buddhist practice, and any other religious traditions if any, but i don't think i've seen or been looking for any. mostly zazen, as quiet_witness said. the time varies, i try to meditate every day for anywhere between a half an hour to three hours, but it is hard to say sometimes because everything is technically meditation. sitting, lying, walking meditation, basically just contemplating and trying to integrate experience, letting things flow naturally, sort of like taoism. my goal is i think a natural reflex of the mind to want to pacify itself, but since i've been familiar wit hbuddhism to realize nirvana, but since i've been with zen to just be myself.
-yoga: i dont know a lot about yoga but am interested in getting into it. i once went to a public yoga session in the middle of downtown portland and liked it, and i sometimes practice stretching my body, but i don't know if it's exactly yoga, same things apply to first question.
- i read some scripture, i have a "Buddhist Bible" by dwight goddard, and it has some sutras in it, but i don't place a lot of emphasis on them because i generally adhere to zen buddhism, but i am reading the lankavatara sutra right now and a sutra by the sixth zen patriarch hui-neng. i am interested in reading sutras and i like reading them but sometimes they feel outdated and irrelevant to my cultural understanding . i mostly read modern texts, or more recent. since i am a zen practictioner, meditation is the most important to me, and study of scripture and anything else comes second place because meditation is the primary and ultimate method of practice, according to my tradition, which posits that meditation is studying of scripture itself.


also as quiet_witness said "FYI-I have not recieved any ordination yet and do not claim an association with any Buddhist school but I seem to resonate best with Zen Buddhism."

and i am almost 22, college drop-out, unemployed & depressed, i have been practicising for one year or more or so in this life, and uh UH IM BISEXUAL ahahahahahahaha

jb0ssman

Thank you all for your help, that is more than enough.... however I would also like to ask someone about your reactions to a Hindu. As a Buddhist, are you suppose to practice meditation or yoga with them? What would the reaction be? What is the thought about Hindu scriptures?

Jeffrey

I sent you a PM let me know if you don't get it. For some reason I don't get any items in my 'sent folder' on this site though I have had confirmation that people are getting my PMs.

Valtiel

Jeff- user cp > edit options > save copy of sent PMs by default.