Hi, and welcome to the group. All Zen Buddhist teaching techniques are geared toward one thing, and that is halting the mind from creating delusions. These include chanting, bowing, koan study, work detail and of course zazen (zen meditation). Zazen is the most often used and I think the most effective.
The best way to learn zazen is to go to a Zen Buddhist sangha and receive firsthand instruction. If you can't do that there are many sites on the WWW that can give you step-by-step instructions on how to begin practicing zazen. In the beginning I was taught to 'count my breathes'. That's 1 on an exhale, then 2 on the inhale, 3 on the exhale, 4 on the inhale, etc..., until you get to 10 and then just start over. If you loose count (which you will) or if you find yourself counting 15, 17 (which you will) just go back to 1 and start over. Try to concentrate on the numbers and if you start thinking about anything else, like 'I wonder what's for dinner' or 'gee, I'm really sitting well today', just go back to 1 and start over. Keep doing this until you can successfully count your breathes for 10 minutes or so. This ought to be enough for you for about at least a week of more until you can do that. It doesn't really matter how long you sit at one time. I'd suggest you start with 10 minutes and work up to 20 or so. There's no need to go longer than that unless you really want to. I usually sit 40 minutes but I've been doing this for almost 50 years so I'm used to it. Keep us informed of how your sitting is going. And of course good luck, although luck really has nothing to do with it. I guess it would be better to say 'good determination'... ...Bill! --- In [email protected], "shepherdspie1962" <shepherdspie1962@...> wrote: > > Hi: > I've read several books on Zen. My favorite being "the teachings of zen > master huang po". In it he says that the cause of our delusion is our > analytical thinking, i.e., always judging things as good/bad, right/wrong, > etc. From his perspective the point of practice seems to be to discipline our > minds so that we can stop this kind of thinking. But I wonder if there are > different techniques that work sufficiently well or, if some techniques might > work for one person while another technique works for someone else [for > example: chanting versus silent meditation]. Also when sitting I'm not sure > if I should be trying not to think at all, or if I should be repeating a > mantra, or repeating a koan, or just sitting and letting my mind do whatever > it does...feedback appreciated. thanks. > ------------------------------------ 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/
