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Sit Still
One thing that I was taken aback by, when I first ventured into a zen center near my home town, was the way people seemed to act.
Most of them were nice.
Some of them were completely neutral.
And one was I found to be rude.
Now you have to understand that this happened to me just as I was first getting interested in Buddhism so my reaction may have been "unskillful". Not trying to make an excuse for myself just trying to explain.
I was sitting in the zen center, meditating and I felt an incredible pain somewhere in the lower part of my body. I impulsively shifted in my seat and one of the people meditating said very loudly "sit still"
Two things about this:
1. I felt angry and very embarrassed that this person would say this. I felt as if it was not my fault that I had a pain.
2. I didn't understand how what I did wasn't more disruptive then what she said and how she said it.
For awhile I didn't go back to the zen center.
Thinking back on this experience, I wonder was this common or was this a rare occasion. If it's common, I think that this is very unskillful because it takes people away from learning. I would imagine that the idea of introducing buddhism to new comers, whatever sect of buddhism it is, would be to not scare them away.
What does NB think about this issue I had at this particular zen center?
Most of them were nice.
Some of them were completely neutral.
And one was I found to be rude.
Now you have to understand that this happened to me just as I was first getting interested in Buddhism so my reaction may have been "unskillful". Not trying to make an excuse for myself just trying to explain.
I was sitting in the zen center, meditating and I felt an incredible pain somewhere in the lower part of my body. I impulsively shifted in my seat and one of the people meditating said very loudly "sit still"
Two things about this:
1. I felt angry and very embarrassed that this person would say this. I felt as if it was not my fault that I had a pain.
2. I didn't understand how what I did wasn't more disruptive then what she said and how she said it.
For awhile I didn't go back to the zen center.
Thinking back on this experience, I wonder was this common or was this a rare occasion. If it's common, I think that this is very unskillful because it takes people away from learning. I would imagine that the idea of introducing buddhism to new comers, whatever sect of buddhism it is, would be to not scare them away.
What does NB think about this issue I had at this particular zen center?
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Comments
I don't know either way, but one of the biggest problems is that there isn't anything close to me save that particular center. I live in New York on Long Island. The city does have a lot of options though. Maybe I'll just make a weekly trip out there.
Never been to a center. If zen is "intense" in the sense that it's less warm and friendly than other sects of buddhism than it's not for me. At least the zen community. Loving-kindness is the most important thing there is, imo.
It is indeed unskillful for that person to tell you off in such a manner. But then there are so masters in korea and japan that whack their students with some sort of cane (dun worry, its not painful) whenever the student tends to stray away from sitting still while meditating.
Next time when you start to feel some sort of pain in your body while you are meditating. Do ask yourself who is telling you that you are feeling pain.:)
Consider yourself fortunate they didn't bring out "the stick."
I am not a Zen practitioner so cannot say if this is normal behaviour or not,but I would like to say this.If the lady was in fact being rude and a little out of order,she too is on the path.Maybe she is also new.It doesn't matter.We can all make mistakes as we go along.What you need to do is investigate your own reaction to the situation.These things can all help us to grow.
With metta
I'm quite certain someone will chime in here with an explanation of the stick - probably not all that common of a practice.
See this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pllQ_-ZxEA 3 minutes in you will see what I described in action. Which is much easier than trying to understand my description
However, at the same time, such centers really have no control over the occasional mentally ill person (unbeknownst to them) that may wander in and sit down.
You just have to get to know a place —and that can take some time. My first experience in a Greek Orthodox Church was very unpleasant and hurtful to me because of what someone did, but my interest was stronger than any aversion my reaction was able to generate within me.
Crazies! You just gotta love them! They do the derndest things!
You'll be laughing this off some years from now, BF, if you stick with it.
May the Force Be Always With You!
There must be some other explanation.
Keisaku, a Zen wakefulness stick: translated as "warning stick"(Rinzai Zen)"Encouragement stick"(Soto Zen), used by a Zen priest to strike an inattentive Zazen sitter
- For use during periods of meditation to remedy sleepiness or lapses of concentration(The stick with which a Zen master alerts meditators)
I'm not Zen, my Mother is Japanese and she's told me about this. ;-)
The hitting people with a stick is common practice in all the Zen centers I have ever been to. The purpose of it is to wake you up, both physically and mentally. If you are sitting there dozing off or being lazy, the stick brings you right back. If you are sitting there daydreaming about your vacation last summer, the stick brings you right back. Where I practice, they hit you on the 2 muscles on the sides of your upper back and they hit you hard! Which feels good on those muscles. But they do go easier on people who are very beginner and on women. You also have to request to be hit so they just don't hit everyone.
Some centers are very strict with regards to the form of practice. Think of it as "tough love". They push you hard to practice hard, which is born out of compassion for you to "wake up to reality" right now! The hard pushing that is done in Zen is a compassionate act.
However, the strictness of the teachers varies greatly from center to center. Some are like "Hi how are you doing, nice to see you then give you a cushy, lovvy girly hug" Others are like "Stop being such a fool, you idiot, and start practicing for real! You might die tomorrow, this is serious business, stop screwing around!". Both approaches are born out of compassion. Some people don't like the 2nd approach, some prefer it.
Any such treatment of the uninitiated is simply uncalled for and unhelpful for furthering of real understanding.
I think the guy who called you out was wrong.
as for the stick; It's meant to shock people who are falling asleep while practicing in the early morning. It's separated in the center, so it doesn't actually hurt when someone is struck, it's just incredibly shocking.
I hope you find a place to practice where you feel comfortable and can help all the grumpy people of the world.
_/|\_
Being offended by it is the ego trip. Zen has a way of showing you parts of yourself that are unpleasant, but we don't like those parts so we attribute them to someone or something else when in fact the problem is with ourselves, not someone else. If you have a problem with someone else, for whatever reason, that means you have a problem with yourself. This type of teaching takes this problem and brings it right out into the open so you can see it. Zen challenges you to let go of the thing that is being offended. Some people think it is hurtful. Hurtful to what? It's hurtful to your ego. Let go of your ego then it won't be a problem. This is the challenge.
But then, I've never liked craziness. My ego, I assure you, would not be the problem. My body/mind complex just thrives in a calm, peaceful atmosphere when I am emptying myself. For me, an unhurried and unhassled atmosphere works best. However, instruction is always welcome by a qualified teacher whose authority I have accepted.
It all boils down to proper authority. The word author literally means "source." With no knowledge of the source of something, how can we progress?
In my younger days I used to join some Zen meditation groups and nothing like this ever occurred. Maybe the people were just nicer?
Of course, we all know that the Zen Master acts in ways that are not expected to be strictly conventional, to say the least.
Well usually the teacher, or the teachers assistant, of a particular group is also one of the people meditating, who has the authority and given the responsibility to lead the group by the teacher. I personally have never seen another regular member do something like this and I would doubt that the person who did was just some regular member. Some other meditatior could easily be one of the groups leaders because the leaders also sit and practice with the group. Like I said, I have never seen just "some guy" do something like this. It has always been the teacher or teachers assistant, etc. so I doubt it was just some guy blurting it out.
I think that the OP stated it wasn't just some guy, but another "meditator."