Said Ian: > Sometimes it is very difficult to sit with > unpleasant sensations. I want to get up and do *anything* but sit > there. But if I can put up with it, I think there are very important > lessons to be learned there.
In my experience, the key isn't sitting for a long time, it's sitting consistently, every day, even for only five minutes a day. Everyone has five minutes that can be sacrificed from the beginning of a TV watching session, or after showering, or before opening the mail, etc. IMHO, I would suggest to you that you take the five minutes, not as a limit, but set the time aside before you sit and say to yourself, "These next five minutes are for zazen. After I am done, there will still be PLENTY of time left for other things." If you sit at 4:40, when you get up at 4:45, there is pretty much no difference in the daylight, the taste in your mouth, activities other people in the house are doing, or the current price of the utility bills on the table. Try to consider the five minutes that you set aside for zazen "as good as already spent" before you even sit. Again, I am not a zazen instructor by any means, but this works for me in several areas of daily routine including zazen, so I humbly suggest it to you. Commit before you sit! Even when I drive, I consider the half hour that it takes to get to and from work "as good as already spent" before I get in the car, and I never feel like speeding and never feel rushed. I find that I get to work and back in the same amount of time when I take it easy than if I were to push that extra 10 or 15MPH. Yes, I admit it, I am the one in that car that everyone is almost wrecking into each other trying to pass. (only for them to end up one space ahead of me at the red light.) I always get the idea that the people behind me are shouting, "What's wrong with this guy?! He's BARELY driving over the speed limit!!" :P Mindfulness doesn't hurt at all while driving. > >"While the ball is going up, while the ball is going down, and when the > >ball is bouncing" > > What does this mean? > > Ian It means that I forgot to turn my cheesy signature off. It's kinda vague, but I'm interested for some reason in the difference between the bounce on the ground back up, and the "bounce" in the air back down, where one goes faster towards the ground and the other slows toward the sky and for a moment is suspended, how the ball falls the way it rose... it's just a meaningless thing that could be forced into the form of some kind of principle if someone really tried to and tinkered with the analogy, but it would probably be as much effort and as unnecessary as trying to roll up one of those camping sleeping bags vacuum-tight in order to get it back into the impossibly small factory case, when it could just be rolled up and put back into the van as-is. Nobody on this list will ever have to endure that worthless signature ever again after this post, I PROMISE! lol ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease? Network for Good is THE place to support health awareness efforts! http://us.click.yahoo.com/UwRTUD/UOnJAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Current Book Discussion: Appreciate Your Life by Taizan Maezumi Roshi Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/ <*> 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/
