meditate daily

with teacherDairyu Michael Wenger from the San Francisco Zen Center

Think of the zendo as the the womb of the Buddha. With each sitting, you recreate yourself. After each sitting period, you are reborn.

I have been practicing zazen in ten-minute increments in the AM and PM, when I first wake up and before I go to bed.

I do my daily gassho practice first, and then go into my zazen practice. It is a nice ritual bracketing my day, and it centers me.

I have been using a timed sitting on my ipod that starts and ends with gongs.

My posture is improving, and I can go a bit longer without feeling crazy to fidget. The fidgeting is usually spawned by my legs falling asleep.

The legs situation is improving with practice and my legs are becoming more comfortable. Also, my state of mind is improving, “Yes, my legs are feeling numb. I acknowledge that.” If I can’t take it anymore, and it’s cutting into my meditation, I will mindfully resettle myself.

My sitting with the Meditative Inquiry group last night was much easier for me than it has been because of these changes. I intend to sit with the Zen group again on Wednesday.

I like going to a formal sitting because I like the designated area and time for meditation and others who have the same intention. It centers me.

Last night was a long sit.

I got the hiccups at one point, which was mortifying.

Then I got really hungry, and my belly started growling.

And then I got distracted by thinking of food bring the mind back then I started thinking about the food that my friend and I plan to serve for the premier of Alan Ball’s True Blood on HBObring the mind back then I started thinking about how awesome True Blood is going to be bring the mind back

!!!

It was a bit of a rough sitting.

I have been sitting with a Meditative Inquiry group on Sundays, and it is easier for me to meditate in a designated space and timeframe with the group.

I am looking forward to going to the Zen sitting tonight, both for the meditation and to study Buddhism further.

My individual sittings have been short, ten to fifteen minutes, but the sittings at the Sangha are thirty minute increments.

Someone in my sitting on Sunday was talking about how difficult it is to come to meditation, that it is not an easy thing.

She is a retired talk therapist and long-time meditator who recommended meditation to her clients: her clients would very often be frustrated because meditation did not come easily.

She said that she found that people were frustrated that they could not stop the thoughts from coming, and she said that “turning off” does not happen, you simply sit back and watch the parade.

I liked that description.

I am learning so much from the company at the sangha. I am realizing that meditation does not happen in a vacuum.

It’s kind of funny, isn’t it? Meditation seems like a solitary sort of thing, but there is something about quietness and peace between people that is reassuring.

And being in physical proximity to others while meditating reminds me that I what I am doing in meditation is recalling my connection with all things.

I also really enjoy the reading and discussion and being with others who can help give me guidance on my journey.

Given out at the Sangha last night. Very helpful to me already, and I haven’t even had a chance to really absorb it yet.

What is the Right Attitude for Meditation?
by Sayadaw U Tejaniya

The most important thing when you are meditating is to have the right attitude.

1.When meditating: Don’t focus too hard
Don’t control
Don’t try to create something
Don’t force or restrict yourself

2.Don’t try to create anything But don’t reject what is happening
But as things happen or stop happening, don’t forget
Be aware of them

3.Trying to create something is lobha (greed)
Rejecting what is happening is dosa (aversion)
Not knowing if something is happening
or has stopped happening is moha (delusion)

4.Only when the observing mind has no lobha, dosa, nor soka (worry/anxiety) inside it,
then the meditating mind will arise

5.You have to double check to see what attitude you are meditating with

6.You have to accept and watch both good and bad experiences

7. You only want good experiences
You don’t want even the tiniest unpleasant experience
Is this fair? Is this the way of the Dhamma?

8. Don’t have any expectations
Don’t want anything
Don’t be anxious
Because if these attitudes are in your mind,
It becomes difficult to meditate

9. Why are you focusing so hard when you meditate?
You want something to happen?
You want something to stop happening?
It is likely that one of these attitudes is there

10. If the mind is getting tired
something is wrong with the way you are practicing

11. You cannot practice when the mind is tense

12. If the mind and body are getting tired
it is time to check the way you are meditating

13. Meditating is waiting and watching
With awareness and comprehension
Understanding
Not thinking
Not reflecting
Not judging

14. Don’t practice with a mind that wants something
or wants something to happen
The only result will be that you will tire yourself

15. The meditating mind should be relaxed and at peace

16. Both the mind and the body should be comfortable

17. A light and free mind enables you to meditate well
Do you have the right attitude?

18. Meditating is,
Whatever happens good or bad,
Accepting, relaxing and watching it

19. What is the mind doing?
Thinking? Or being aware?

20. Where is the mind now?
Inside? Or outside? (of oneself)

21. Is the watching/observing mind
properly aware?
Or only superficially aware?

22. You are not trying to make things turn out
the way you want it to happen
you are trying to know what is happening as it is

23. Don’t feel disturbed by the thinking mind
You are not practicing to prevent thinking
To recognize and acknowledge thinking whenever it arises
is what you are practicing

24. You are not supposed to reject the object
(phenomena/things that are happening/being known)
You are to know (and thus note/observe) the defilement’s
that arise because of the object and thus remove them
(the defilement’s)

25. Only when there is Saddha (Faith), Viriya (energy) will arise
Only when there is Viriya, Sati (mindfulness) will become continuous
Only when Sati is continuous, Samadhi will become established
Only when Samadhi is established, then you will know
things as they really are, Saddha then increases further

26. Just pay attention to what is exactly in the present moment
Don’t go to the past!
Don’t plan for the future!

27. The object is not important
The mind that is working in the background –
working to be aware i.e. the observing mind is more important
If the observing (mind) is done with the right attitude the
object will be the right object

Text by Sayadaw U Tejaniya, Shwe Oo Min Meditation Center, Yangon, Myanmar

I am appreciating the guidance that I am getting through the Meditative Inquiry group. Also, my reading is very helpful.

For a practice that is so intrinsically simple, it takes a lot of guidance!

I appreciate that my learning to observe, accept and put aside without judgement my thoughts while meditating is carrying over into my everyday life.

I have a tendency to have a lot of chatter in my head, a lot of negative self-talk, a lot of criticism, and I am finding that what I am learning and practicing through meditation is also becoming habit in my day-to-day, relieving me some of all that.

Additionally, it helps me to observe and acknowledge the world and not emotionally react so quickly.

It is an immense feeling of relief and calm to not be so busy in my brain.