Yes. I misread your; 'the "great matter of birth and death."' I am heartened that you do not believe in reincarnation or life after death. I apologise to you, clearly I mistook my audience.
You say 'I should hope I don't ever feel that I have reached a "place" in my understanding'. And I am minded that I have found many a "place" in my understanding but none I could rest on my laurels in. I took rest as I had to and while I may have tried to superimpose meaning on that I found meaning despite doing so. If you should wish to discuss meditative technique? I myself have found a reflective awareness the most usefull. --- In [email protected], "mattmodrow" <fourforsure@...> wrote: > > With all respect to you, rewisk, you have made a lot of assumptions about me > without knowing me. I do not believe in reincarnation, or life after death. > These are things I cannot know, because I have not died. And as far as how > long it "should" take for a practitioner to "attain" anything, who is to say? > I should hope I don't ever feel that I have reached a "place" in my > understanding, I wish to just experience my life in the present moment with > the growing of my understanding of Emptiness. > > --- In [email protected], "rewrisk" <rewrisk@> wrote: > > > > Sorry to have to tell you this Matt but you will not survive your death. > > Some people seem to think that life could only be fair if we are > > reincarnated but they fail to recognise that if life was fair you would > > have to pay for your advantages and not just your sins. If life is fair > > then it can't be a gift. > > Six years huh? > > It only took me three and less than a year after I got serious about it. I > > do not say this to boast only I wonder about you meditative technique? I > > suppose if I include the time of my initial curiosity maybe four or so. > > I felt great need though, likely this is the difference. > > Still I would expect any person who regularly practised an effective form > > of meditation to atleast have attained a sense of thier personal illusion. > > > > --- In [email protected], "mattmodrow" <fourforsure@> wrote: > > > > > > Myself, I do not feel that it is a matter of salvation. The matter, is > > > the "great matter of birth and death." One of my favorite authors, > > > Stephen Batchelor, in his book -Alone with others- says that the "aim" is > > > for "the optimum mode of being." To me what this says is, that the aim > > > of life would be living in awareness, as you grow and age through the > > > years, hopefully you will become wiser. I recently had Dokusan with one > > > of my teachers, and she said that Zen practice and enlightenment is kind > > > of like in those old cartoons, when someone is about to receive a gift > > > and they are told NOT to look. In the cartoons, we always see them > > > peeking with one eye at the gift before it is given to them. So, I have > > > been practicing since 2006, I have never had an "awakening experience," > > > and that is fine with me. Zazen has taught me many things, and I know > > > not to "peek," or in other words, to conceptualize what I think > > > enlightenment is and then strive for it. Rather, I just live my daily > > > life, always, constantly coming back to direct experience. > > > > > > ------------------------------------ Current Book Discussion: any Zen book that you recently have read or are reading! Talk about it today!Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zen_Forum/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
