From: Bill!
To: Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, 23 August 2012 10:47 AM
Subject: [Zen] Re: Monkey Mind
'When you are sitting and a thought appears don't try to force it away. Just
let it come and go. Let it just flow through you.'
Glenn,
This again parallels teachings I received from both of my Japanese Zen Buddhist
teachers. I was taught:
'When you are sitting and a thought appears don't try to force it away. Just
let it come and go. Let it just flow through you.'
The zen story (there was ALWAYS a zen story) that go
My approach to monkey mind is gentle and compassionate. Monkey mind is part of
the suchness of human existence. It is simply the thinking part of the mind.
Put another way, monkey mind is a mental formation that comes up during
meditation (and at other times). It is there to inform me of
Bill,
You have described 'monkey mind' very well, and it is just this activity that
zen mediation (shikantaza) seeks to quiesce. ('Quiesce' = 'to render
temporarily inactive or disabled'.) This 'monkey mind' is what is obscuring
Buddha Nature. When the 'monkey mind' (I often call it in my po
Bill,
Not a Zen practice.
Some other kind of retreat.
Give a Zen sesshin a chance?
--Joe
> William Rintala wrote:
>
> Thank you for the response. Â I did go on a 7 day retreat years ago. We sat
> for
> hours in pairs, about 50 of us. We gazed at the person across from us and
> repeated
…and do it!
From: Joe
To: Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Mon, August 20, 2012 6:07:44 PM
Subject: [Zen] Re: Monkey Mind
Bill,
By all means, go on retreat. Don't settle for less than 7 days, because it
takes
most folks at least three days simply to settle-in. It's only natural. Sam
Bill,
By all means, go on retreat. Don't settle for less than 7 days, because it
takes most folks at least three days simply to settle-in. It's only natural.
Same thing with Hiking.
After about Day 3 or 4, things become sweet. Opinion is divided as to which
day is the hardest day, but it's
