Mike,
Right; for you Vipassana's way is not too much of a good thing.
I'm all those things you say you are not; Vipassana would be too much, already,
for me. ;-)
So, Zen practice is my perfect anodyne; and, it seems natural to me. I like
"just sitting". I seem to need it. If I get prescribed a koan, I'll swallow
that, too. With some luck... .
Funny, I thought of the mountain-climbing metaphor, too, when I wrote my recent
reply, and didn't mention it, thinking that you would; and you did!
The Vipassana retreat schedule would suit me fine. Sesshin schedule is a
little different; usually there are three meals; supper is optional, and my
Ch'an teacher called it "medicine", and not everybody ate it. I think the
implication was that it was for weak or ailing monks in the monastery. He was
a monastic, and his language, ways, and teaching carried over somewhat even to
his lay students' too, in the teaching of them/us.
I hope nobody in this Forum "decides" that Zen or Vipassana is "better",
...except for themselves. And certainly not (just) on the basis of what we've
been sharing here. Then again, the Forum is named "Zen_Forum", so there may be
a certain selection-effect (bias), as we say in Science. Not our fault! ;-)
Yes, we have an embarrassment of riches, in modern times, to have so many
wisdom traditions to choose to practice in. If we had only Christianity, I
would be a Christian Contemplative, and might "discover" Zen, but would get in
trouble without the right teacher, a Zen teacher. Or I might have been
branded, or burned as, a heretic long ago. Meanwhile, I remain, yours truly,
--Joe-the-embarrassed-rich-guy
> mike brown <uerusuboyo@...> wrote:
>
> I know what you mean, but those simple instructions conceal a much trickier
> journey than one first suspects: it's only 5 miles to the top of Everest and
> just keeping going straight... up.
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