Hi Chris, > The difference between sitting daily and sitting for a long period of time is > subtle. Can't agree more.
Thanks for the link from Brad Warner. As usual, it makes a nice reading. I heard not all his view on zen is in agreement with the 'mainstream' zen. Is it true? Siska -----Original Message----- From: Chris Austin-Lane <ch...@austin-lane.net> Sender: Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com Date: Tue, 24 May 2011 23:44:57 To: <Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com> Reply-To: Zen_Forum@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [Zen] Zen, zen and Theravada Buddhism I find sitting when I have a cold or flu to be kind of nice - much less worry about the future and fewer thoughts. The difference between sitting daily and sitting for a long period of time is subtle. On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 8:32 PM, Mel <gunnar19632...@yahoo.com.au> wrote: > > > I have ever attended only the usual once-a-week gatherings and had never > ever been in any of the retreats. The Soto temple I go to once in a while > even offers courses on meditation and possibly also zen principles > > 2 things... > > - I meditate everyday (unless I'm under a flu/cold attack) for 30 mins. I > personally don't know how things will differ because I'm sitting on a chair > for longer periods when in a retreat, as I've been told that the 'meat' of > such retreat is still basically the zazen...just more of it. However, that's > just me > > - I take the (Shunryu)Suzuki-sensei line which basically says NO > INSTRUCTION WITH EXACT WORDS, because there's always the danger that a > student will hold onto something and think that, that is it. Natural enough, > as far as I'm concerned. So, if one of our Soto priests tells me that I've > obtained satori...then...wellllll..I don't know about the rest of the ladies > and gents here, but it's not the sort of thing I'd personally be too > comfortable with. Or, maybe it's just that I've been around too many > Japanese and Koreans in the past who prefered silence as a form of teaching > rather than going through all the trouble of explaining, or giving > descriptions to everything. Again of course, that's just me > > Buddha be praised > Mel > > > --- On Tue, 24/5/11, siska_...@yahoo.com <siska_...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > Now trouble in understanding these two terms is that I've never attended > any zen meditation retreat before. So I've never had any meditative > experience where afterwards a certain teacher advise me that that is kensho. > Whatever I think I know about kensho is only based on other people's > descriptions. And these descriptions seem to be similar to an experience > referred to as nyana/nana (insight) in Theravada meditation retreat. > > > > > >
