Rate of Reality Absorption
17 02 2008OK. I fell off the practice wagon again. I’ve not been meditating or studying nor have I practiced any kind of mindfulness in any situation for weeks. I’d love to say that it’s because I’ve been horribly busy but the fact of the matter is, I’ve just been too lazy to do it. And too lazy to meditate? Now THAT’S lazy.
I do have one excuse I could feed you and this would be a fairly accurate reason – my meditation space got flooded about two weeks ago. Nothing major but with the constant, snow/rain/melt/snow cycle, getting the carpeting dry in there has been a bear. But I know that were the atmosphere in there pleasant, I still wouldn’t have done it. Lazy, lazy, lazy.
It hasn’t really gotten to me until the past couple of days. Now, I’m looking for something to jump start it. I did find something that’s a great resource. Shasta Abbey has produced a full English translation of the Shobogenzo and made it available online for free. This translation was a monumental task. Not only was the original written over 750 years ago and in Japanese but the concepts are pretty involved. Maintaining the original spirit of a document like this is hardly simple. Massive thanks to the Shasta Abbey.
Of course, someone too lazy to meditate a couple of times a day probably shouldn’t start reading the Shobogenzo.
I am going to take another stab at the Dhammapada though. I gave it what could only be described as a very cursory read a couple of years ago. That’s kind of like skimming the Bible.
I’m also going to try to make more of an effort of posting here. I just can’t deal with a breakup right now.
And of course, the big question: What have I learned?
Well, as fundamental a practice as Zen is, I (“we”, I’m sure) have been so trained all along to live another way, that these fundamentals are, well, difficult. There’s no coasting. Reality must be absorbed small, steady portions. Stop absorbing reality and you absorb, well, something else.
Ahh meditation. It’s wierd, I gave up meditation for other tasks with a view to perceiving energy directly as it flows in the universe, it’s way more fun
Also I am just starting to do dreaming, which involves being aware that you’re falling asleep and then looking for your hands in the dreams that arise. That way you have something that’s always there in front of you and you can go on to take a rational conscious approach to the irrational unconscious processes going on. It’s fun, although I am right up against the first gate, I haven’t ‘found my hands’. But knowing that it’s an obstacle to overcome is a good way of challenging myself to keep on trying.
I recently read ‘Buddhism without beliefs’ which is all about how Buddhism has become a religion and it’s message altered over the years. Siddhartha didn’t claim to be anything more than just a normal guy with a couple of tricks like a way to stop cravings, etc. Now he’s like a jesus type figure being worshipped as some sort of god. The theory in that book is that his teaching were never meant to be studying or attempting to work out deeper meanings, they were literally just advise that you should try cos it worked for him. Anyway, I’m rambling. BYe!