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Meditation video
JohnMac
Veteran
in Meditation
I struggle sometimes, I don't have a room set aside, I don't have much of a home altar, it's too noisy where I live....I don't have space....then I saw this video of Gudo Nishijima....set me straight. Just sit.
2
Comments
Bravo. Just sit.
When my good friend and constant companion Mara comes with noise, non-sitting reasoning, wonderful alternatives ( sons, daughters and attractive fish for us lobsters
) I sit with Mara. When peace, euphoria and Buddha states are raised and race by for eternity, I sit. When storms pass, pain distracts, breath relaxes away, mind races to finish time, I sit. Gently. Focussed. Determined. Dedicated. Softly attentive I sit.
The world is around me. Samsara is my cushion. Buddha is my head. I sit. Everything can stop me.
Still, I sit.
Great Lobster! Love it. There such a resonance in the video, for me, Nishijima sitting amongst the jackets and trousers and noise. Just sit.
@JohnMac you might find this of interest.....
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi on "Noise"
Thank you Shoshin, that's a very good video. I was kind of trying to work out what it was in Nishijima's video that resonated so strongly, and in my original post I mentioned 'noise' ....I get it now...noise and sound. Things have just become a little clearer.....
J
The noise and the clutter is ok. But the guy with the camera jumping over him again and again must have been really annoying
Or maybe not....
That shows how attached you still are to achieving perfection before Achieving Perfection....
Failure is pretty damned important in Buddhism. Neglecting it would be foolish, but then, acknowledging it might not be a constructive use of time either. And, without disrespect, does anyone else find it slightly ludicrous to watch someone else sitting on a cushion?
I have a small statue of a man sitting on a cushion (?) on my desk and I can just look at him for hours. So, no, I don't find it ludicrous.
I'm sure the idea isn't just to 'watch' a man sitting on a cushion. That would be a rather banal interpretation. The idea is to see how one can practice amongst the jackets and trousers etc., in a very conventional domestic setting. I hoped it might encourage those who are struggling with trying to practice at home, myself included.
I don't know where ' failure' was mentioned, I have spoken about ' struggling' which isn't the same as failure. Perhaps you might clarify where, in the video, that you perceive any elements of failure.
Unless you think the entire post is a failure. Fair enough if so.
Perhaps so ... but I will add it to my hobbies:
Here to help
People do that in shrine rooms all the time.
@JohnMac -- Doesn't improvement by its nature suggest failure heretofore?
Not to me. Why do things have to be judged in terms of failure or improvement?
I didn't mention failure or improvement. I stated ' struggle' which is what I am having with some elements of home practice. Struggle doesn't imply that I am failing or that I am moving towards some kind of ' success' it means that I am struggling. I hoped the video of a well respected teacher sitting in his own apartment, surrounded by jackets and trousers, might be encouraging to those of use who have to practice in exactly the same situation.
Encouragement, I had hoped. No mention of success and failure, concepts which aren't required.
I used to meditate in a temple that was in the process of having building work going on. I sat with the noise. You can be at peace with external or internal clutter. The idea of 'distraction' from peace, is itself a distraction. Who guessed?
Initially it is true we prefer a special quiet place to sit. Maybe fragrant. Enshrined. Peace of mind is easier with the right environment, no doubt BUT if we can sit placidly amongst the noise and outer turmoil, then what ...
Picnics in Hell! Here we come ...
Book your seat now ...
Sheer luxury!