I've been sitting too regularly. Did a loving kindness meditation this morning - first time for a while.
Have hit one ofthose patches where I am questioning whether I am meditating "properly" - feeling I am doing it superficially and remaining on the surface ... am hoping this is part of the ebb and flow of the whole process and nothing to worry about - and it is linked to a certain restlessness and impatience in the rest of my life. On the verge of big changes but not there yet.
I will persevere though. There's no turning back - in meditation as in other things - I know that.
Apologies (again) that I've been absent (again). I've had my head down with end-term work: I'm trying to look at this next week and a half as being a work retreat of sorts rather than feeling guilty about not finding as much meditation time as I'd like.
Re. Brenda's experience yesterday, I have no definitive wisdom to add. :-) I've never experienced anything of this sort, and my particular Zen school doesn't say much about altered states, the emphasis being on cultivating clarity & compassion rather than paying much heed to special experiences.
In my own experience, both mind & body often conjure up odd things to entertain themselves. During one retreat, for instance, I spent hours fantasizing about faces I thought I saw in the wood-grain floor, and I've known other folks to pay minute attention to subtle changes in body temperature, etc. None of this is "magic": it's just one way the brain passes time when it's bored. :-)
So rather than paying much attention to the sort of trances, visions, and other altered states (satori, etc) that many spiritual books focus on, my particular flavor of Zen focuses more on ordinary stuff. *After* sitting, how do we manage to be present to the people & situations that our ordinary life offers? That present-mindedness is more valuable than even the most spectacular satori.
Lorianne ... ditto for me in my Zen practice ... I've had the same experience of seeing/imagining images in the wood grain ... eventually I moved my cushion to another part of the room ... what lovely and wonderful distractions we cook up to avoid just being
I like a phrase that Joko Beck uses ... "nothing special"
That's the Zen approach, and it does have huge advantages. Because usually of course we are just reaching for entertainment. But it does tend to reinforce our cultural literalism and materialism, I think. It's easy to slide from believing in "just being" to believing that the world is exactly as I perceive it to be. "Nothing special" is of course meant to include our common-sense standard perceptions of the world, but it's easy to forget that. The perception of the wood as building materials made from trees is not more special, or more true, than the perception of the wood alive with faces. It's one of the strengths of the Tibetan tradition, I think, that we do a lot of deliberate perceptual inversions to drive that point home.
I just left this comment at yesterday's post, and see that it's a reponse to today's discussion (sorry to leave it twice):
You're right, Dale. I can't go back past the point of coming out of it, because that's when I recognised that I'd been outside of cognition.
At this point, a few days later, I'm accepting it as a gift.
I don't have any teleologies. Not seeking satori, enlightenment or anything else (I see them as tradition specific, and don't want to align with any tradition too much). It's all just an exploration. As is. Meaning if someone was so ludicrous as to say that I was enlightened, for instance, I'd just laugh at them. That's not the point at all.
For me in my little world it's just about making one decision after another about what to do next. Discovering the self as I go.
Though I suppose I am a consistent and regular meditator and things are bound to happen from time to time on this path.
I am so grateful you are helping me through this latest experience.
As I integrate it, it's not feeling so radical or strange.
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Devon: nice to get your news.
I've been sitting too regularly. Did a loving kindness meditation this morning - first time for a while.
Have hit one ofthose patches where I am questioning whether I am meditating "properly" - feeling I am doing it superficially and remaining on the surface ... am hoping this is part of the ebb and flow of the whole process and nothing to worry about - and it is linked to a certain restlessness and impatience in the rest of my life. On the verge of big changes but not there yet.
I will persevere though. There's no turning back - in meditation as in other things - I know that.
Good thoughts to all.
Hey there, everyone...
Apologies (again) that I've been absent (again). I've had my head down with end-term work: I'm trying to look at this next week and a half as being a work retreat of sorts rather than feeling guilty about not finding as much meditation time as I'd like.
Re. Brenda's experience yesterday, I have no definitive wisdom to add. :-) I've never experienced anything of this sort, and my particular Zen school doesn't say much about altered states, the emphasis being on cultivating clarity & compassion rather than paying much heed to special experiences.
In my own experience, both mind & body often conjure up odd things to entertain themselves. During one retreat, for instance, I spent hours fantasizing about faces I thought I saw in the wood-grain floor, and I've known other folks to pay minute attention to subtle changes in body temperature, etc. None of this is "magic": it's just one way the brain passes time when it's bored. :-)
So rather than paying much attention to the sort of trances, visions, and other altered states (satori, etc) that many spiritual books focus on, my particular flavor of Zen focuses more on ordinary stuff. *After* sitting, how do we manage to be present to the people & situations that our ordinary life offers? That present-mindedness is more valuable than even the most spectacular satori.
Lorianne ... ditto for me in my Zen practice ... I've had the same experience of seeing/imagining images in the wood grain ... eventually I moved my cushion to another part of the room ... what lovely and wonderful distractions we cook up to avoid just being
I like a phrase that Joko Beck uses ... "nothing special"
That's the Zen approach, and it does have huge advantages. Because usually of course we are just reaching for entertainment. But it does tend to reinforce our cultural literalism and materialism, I think. It's easy to slide from believing in "just being" to believing that the world is exactly as I perceive it to be. "Nothing special" is of course meant to include our common-sense standard perceptions of the world, but it's easy to forget that. The perception of the wood as building materials made from trees is not more special, or more true, than the perception of the wood alive with faces. It's one of the strengths of the Tibetan tradition, I think, that we do a lot of deliberate perceptual inversions to drive that point home.
I just left this comment at yesterday's post, and see that it's a reponse to today's discussion (sorry to leave it twice):
You're right, Dale. I can't go back past the point of coming out of it, because that's when I recognised that I'd been outside of cognition.
At this point, a few days later, I'm accepting it as a gift.
I don't have any teleologies. Not seeking satori, enlightenment or anything else (I see them as tradition specific, and don't want to align with any tradition too much). It's all just an exploration. As is. Meaning if someone was so ludicrous as to say that I was enlightened, for instance, I'd just laugh at them. That's not the point at all.
For me in my little world it's just about making one decision after another about what to do next. Discovering the self as I go.
Though I suppose I am a consistent and regular meditator and things are bound to happen from time to time on this path.
I am so grateful you are helping me through this latest experience.
As I integrate it, it's not feeling so radical or strange.
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