zazen
imagine yourself committed to sitting in a position, unmoving. in this time, the alarm may start to ring, someone may be at the door, the phone may ring, the heater may overheat, milk on the stove may be on boil, there may be an ambulance outdoors, your head may begin to itch, your nose to run. you get the picture. through it all, can you keep sitting and not succumb to these varied temptations?
the exercise of meditation is exactly analogous. these waves of disturbance, however, are all within the mind instead. the task is to 'keep sitting', to keep the mind calm and steady, regardless of these waves. some waves are larger than others, and cause a greater impulse to 'get up and act', i.e. to succumb to the thought process they beckon. yet, through it all, can we keep our mind finding its way back to that state of calm? as i reread the dhammapada verses on the mind (that i posted), i decided to practise 30 minutes of zazen, to see how challenging it was to just 'keep sitting'.
zazen is at the heart of zen buddhist practice, and involves meditation through sitting. one of its forms is called shikantaza, which does not use a specific object of meditation, but the power developed in concentration to remain completely aware of all phenomena that arise and pass in the present moment.
all this is naught but preparation and practice. to understand how one can be calm and resilient through the unsteadying forces in life. sometimes, we are not prepared to receive a phonecall or a visitor. just as we are not prepared, nor gladdened, to find ourselves in situations we had not expected nor planned for. but these can be used as training wheels to steady ourselves; for achieving the peace and calm we know we are capable of. believing is half the battle already.
the exercise of meditation is exactly analogous. these waves of disturbance, however, are all within the mind instead. the task is to 'keep sitting', to keep the mind calm and steady, regardless of these waves. some waves are larger than others, and cause a greater impulse to 'get up and act', i.e. to succumb to the thought process they beckon. yet, through it all, can we keep our mind finding its way back to that state of calm? as i reread the dhammapada verses on the mind (that i posted), i decided to practise 30 minutes of zazen, to see how challenging it was to just 'keep sitting'.
zazen is at the heart of zen buddhist practice, and involves meditation through sitting. one of its forms is called shikantaza, which does not use a specific object of meditation, but the power developed in concentration to remain completely aware of all phenomena that arise and pass in the present moment.
all this is naught but preparation and practice. to understand how one can be calm and resilient through the unsteadying forces in life. sometimes, we are not prepared to receive a phonecall or a visitor. just as we are not prepared, nor gladdened, to find ourselves in situations we had not expected nor planned for. but these can be used as training wheels to steady ourselves; for achieving the peace and calm we know we are capable of. believing is half the battle already.
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