In life we grow to be more alive, understanding and sensitive. Our goal in meditation is to settle down, center/recover our self and to improve our self. Life will teach you eventually, and we will be more wakeful (appamado = not pamada = not lax or negligent). “don’t be lazy” -sensei. “only a lazy man can not do yoga” – guru-ji. Also see TaoTeCHing #15. How train our self? focus awareness makes it easier. Smaller circle of awareness is easier. Learn how to wake up.
11/23/22
“Happy and strong” comes from sukkha & sthira. Sukkha is the opposite of dukkha = suffering, pain, dissatisfaction. So maybe sukha is “content”. Sthira is steady or strong. You are here for a purpose. What is your purpose? Stay true to it. Clarify it. Believe it is possible. An optimistic wise person questions their beliefs. A fearful person doubles down. Don’t be afraid, be good.
11/9/22
How do you get enlightened? Buddha said to follow the 8-fold path which is in short form Chapel’s 3 R’s. Right effort and right Sati are directed to overcoming the 5 hindrances and using the 5 powers. Right samadhi is 2nd jhana or deeper. 4th is enough. To help us deal with the 4 noble truths and our craving attachments to the 10 fetters, we apply ourselves to the 4 tetrads of mindfulness which each are: clear perception, observation, rationalization, and liberation. Finally you feel your craving and don’t fear it (anger, shame, anxiety like the Enneagram describes). Instead identify it, pause before fulfilling it, and consider what if you didn’t?
11/2/22
Do you create or allow your life to happen? control is not the issue, attachment is what causes suffering. So be happy with your effort and understand that the result will be what it will be, though usually correlated with our effort. Allowing: being sick is like meditating. you arrange and maintain your circumstances (rest and fluids) and trust your body to heal. For meditation you maintain yourself calm and focused and trust your mind to awaken and be present with jhana. be steady and trust. Controlling: choose your circle of awareness with your attention. consciousness is like being asleep, alert, dreamy, agitated, worried, afraid, happy, loving, content and is affected by your attitude and degree of alertness. Energy maybe controlled with coffee, and you need enough to maintain effort, but too much doesn’t help. Practice is effort overcoming obstacles, not just being free of them.
10/26/22
What is mindfullness? 1979 JKZ at UMass apply Zen practice for patients to handle pain. Attentive, aware, careful, mindful of___, bearing in mind. Knowing WHAT you are doing. aware of motive, consequences, CONTEXT — the wy of what you are doing. knowing yourself is even deeper. Sattipathana sutta and Wakeful: 4 foundations of mindfulness: apply 4 stages to 4 things (koshas) body, feelings, thoughts, truths. perceive clearly, observe over time, make yourself tranquil, librate yourself.
10/19/22
When I met Sensei he asked me “what is effort?”. rejected my answer: “no, it’s sweat!” He’d written One Inch Buddha: commentary on Hashimoto Roshi’s commentary on Dogen’s Right Effort essay. Years later he told me “Khanti paramam tapo titikkha” patience/perseverance/persistence is the greatest paramita/virtue. 10 paramitas. Meditation: calm yourself > center yourself > unify yourself. That’s more than just knowing yourself (observe and learn), it’s an active transformation. It requires persistence. All will grow in time.
10/5/22
What are the qualities of mind when you are on vacation? settled, serene, present, wholehearted, playful, energetic, calm, alert, feeling at home, beauty, relief. Let’s be able to do that as needed without coffee/etc. overcoming our obstacles to that develops our ability: self-control, will power, maturity. basic training. Short cut to jhana is remembering that such perfect stillness is possible and recreate it. Allow it to form without constraining it to match the previous experience. Each of us has a superpower and a weakness in meditation. maybe not falling asleep, sensitive to sounds, etc. Appreciate yours and grow. Tao Te Ching 15.