Search found 149 matches
- Mon Oct 12, 2020 9:16 pm
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: All for what?
- Replies: 21
- Views: 9990
Re: All for what?
We moved house recently. The stress was untenable. The inadequacy of the whole process in this country left me with no sleep, tense during the day, unable to sit as I was obsessed with finding somewhere for my family to live. It was without doubt an experience I will NEVER willingly partake of agai...
- Thu Oct 08, 2020 9:51 am
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: All for what?
- Replies: 21
- Views: 9990
Re: All for what?
Just meditation won’t get the results you want usually, you need study and reflection, as well as some way of transforming your thoughts in daily life if your goal is to change your reactions. If you over emphasize a given part, you get diminishing returns, and eventually disappointment. :namaste: ...
- Thu Oct 08, 2020 9:40 am
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: All for what?
- Replies: 21
- Views: 9990
Re: All for what?
Have you considered exploring a different Buddhist path? Zen is not for everyone. The pure land traditions, Vajrayana, analyticial sutra study like the Madhyamika and Yogacara traditions? Visionary sutra reading, as with absorption in the Hua Yan Sutra? There is more to Buddhism than "just sit...
- Thu Oct 08, 2020 9:34 am
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: All for what?
- Replies: 21
- Views: 9990
- Thu Oct 08, 2020 8:56 am
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: All for what?
- Replies: 21
- Views: 9990
Re: All for what?
Have you considered exploring a different Buddhist path? Zen is not for everyone. The pure land traditions, Vajrayana, analyticial sutra study like the Madhyamika and Yogacara traditions? Visionary sutra reading, as with absorption in the Hua Yan Sutra? There is more to Buddhism than "just sit...
- Thu Oct 08, 2020 7:05 am
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: All for what?
- Replies: 21
- Views: 9990
All for what?
We moved house recently. The stress was untenable. The inadequacy of the whole process in this country left me with no sleep, tense during the day, unable to sit as I was obsessed with finding somewhere for my family to live. It was without doubt an experience I will NEVER willingly partake of again...
- Thu Oct 08, 2020 7:05 am
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
- Replies: 36
- Views: 18910
Re: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
I really am not trying to be provocative, but I am finding the lack of a coherent and rationale explanation to this without ambiguity hugely frustrating, to the extent that I am on the verge of abandoning this practice altogether. Thanks for your time all clarification welcomed! :namaste: The probl...
- Fri Sep 11, 2020 1:31 pm
- Forum: Nyingma
- Topic: Practice advice please
- Replies: 39
- Views: 6962
Re: Practice advice please
No. I don't.GrapeLover wrote: ↑Fri Sep 11, 2020 1:23 pmDo you not think so?
- Fri Sep 11, 2020 1:06 pm
- Forum: Nyingma
- Topic: Practice advice please
- Replies: 39
- Views: 6962
- Thu Sep 10, 2020 3:15 pm
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
- Replies: 36
- Views: 18910
Re: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
In case you actually follow through on this, you can skip the first 3 chapters. The material about Buddha Nature really starts witH ch.4. The first 3 chapters are about the 3 Jewels. They are worth reading, but if you’re looking for Buddha Nature teachings you could get disappointed and put the boo...
- Thu Sep 10, 2020 3:14 pm
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
- Replies: 36
- Views: 18910
Re: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
Not Zen (although he had some Zen influence), and perhaps controversial, but Trungpa used to say that meditation is experiencing "the ape ego" as it is, which accords with the above explanation. The main point of any spiritual practice is to step out of the bureaucracy of ego. This means ...
- Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:15 pm
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
- Replies: 36
- Views: 18910
- Wed Sep 09, 2020 8:03 pm
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
- Replies: 36
- Views: 18910
Re: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
Thanks for your our replies everyone. Sometimes, just sometimes it's really clear. There's nothing separate from anything else....no duality, so striving for something outside of 'just this' is futile and delusional. It feels like Enlightenment is here.....right now, but hidden, like looking for wat...
- Wed Sep 09, 2020 7:57 pm
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
- Replies: 36
- Views: 18910
Re: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
So--what is it that's missing? Clarity and an unambiguous rationale for sitting on the cushion if there's nothing to gain and nowhere to go. Regarding this concern about rationale and destination, What is your motivation? It can be helpful, before doing any practice, to remind oneself of the purpos...
- Wed Sep 09, 2020 6:49 am
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
- Replies: 36
- Views: 18910
Re: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
Clarity and an unambiguous rationale for sitting on the cushion if there's nothing to gain and nowhere to go.
- Wed Sep 09, 2020 6:45 am
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
- Replies: 36
- Views: 18910
Re: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
Enlightenment is retroactive. Once achieved you can look back and see it was there the entire time. Until then it is present, but inaccessible. It’s frustrating to hear the following: "...you are already enlightened but just ignorant to the fact. There is nowhere to go and nothing to do but eq...
- Tue Sep 08, 2020 7:12 pm
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
- Replies: 36
- Views: 18910
Re: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
Do YOU expect ME to answer that?PadmaVonSamba wrote: ↑Tue Sep 08, 2020 4:47 pm Are you asking,
“Why hasn’t enlightenment happened to ME yet?”
- Tue Sep 08, 2020 3:11 pm
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
- Replies: 36
- Views: 18910
Re: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
Plus, drinking heavily, or taking drugs and anti-depressants can also make some people feel better.....they could 'resonate' with that - doesn't mean its right or helpful?
- Tue Sep 08, 2020 12:47 pm
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
- Replies: 36
- Views: 18910
Re: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
I would avoid tying myself in knots. If the teaching doesn't resonate with you, why do you keep hacking at it? Thanks Dan, because if he is right then I am missing something fundamental that means I need help reconciling it....Aeons before another opportunity (or so I am told?) provokes an anxiety ...
- Tue Sep 08, 2020 12:29 pm
- Forum: Soto
- Topic: This simply doesn't make any sense.....
- Replies: 36
- Views: 18910
This simply doesn't make any sense.....
The fact remains that no matter what Dogen says or anyone else propagating original enlightenment, I experience the banality, normal anxieties and concerns that someone who had never even come across the word Buddha does, even when on the Zafu. So whats the difference between me (unenlightened) and ...