Just Wake Up
In his post on Buddhism and Realism, Nishijima Roshi wrote, "When we want to understand Buddhism...."
These words raised in my mind the old question of the role in the Buddhist process of wanting, desiring, volition, intention.
The samadhi of accepting and using the self includes, as I see it, the intention to accept the whole of the self and the intention to use the whole of the self. The samadhi that is king of samadhis is dependent upon the intention just to sit.
When one understands this, it is so obvious that to assert it seems redundant. The reason it is such a big deal for me to try to clarify this point is that, before Alexander teachers clarified this point for me, I was labouring for many years under a total misconception about it.
Autonomic balance is autonomic, i.e, not intentional. In emphasizing the importance of physiological balance, there is a danger, as I see it, in overlooking something very vital. That something is mental intention.
The act of sitting in the full lotus posture is something physical. But once one has got one's legs's crossed, one's torso seated on the zafu, et cetera, the practice of just sitting is the most mental thing there is. In his comment on the Dogen Sangha blog, Pierre Turlur described it beautifully.
Master Dogen's instruction in Fukan-zazengi is:
"When something arises in the mind, just wake up."
Pierre commented:
Wake up and it will vanish. What will vanish then? Thoughts? No, they come back, it is the natural stuff of the mind. Delusion? No, it is very sticky too. What might vanish is the illusion that we have to do something, become somebody, get out of here. And when this vanishes, we invite surrender.
Who are you?
I don't know.
These words raised in my mind the old question of the role in the Buddhist process of wanting, desiring, volition, intention.
The samadhi of accepting and using the self includes, as I see it, the intention to accept the whole of the self and the intention to use the whole of the self. The samadhi that is king of samadhis is dependent upon the intention just to sit.
When one understands this, it is so obvious that to assert it seems redundant. The reason it is such a big deal for me to try to clarify this point is that, before Alexander teachers clarified this point for me, I was labouring for many years under a total misconception about it.
Autonomic balance is autonomic, i.e, not intentional. In emphasizing the importance of physiological balance, there is a danger, as I see it, in overlooking something very vital. That something is mental intention.
The act of sitting in the full lotus posture is something physical. But once one has got one's legs's crossed, one's torso seated on the zafu, et cetera, the practice of just sitting is the most mental thing there is. In his comment on the Dogen Sangha blog, Pierre Turlur described it beautifully.
Master Dogen's instruction in Fukan-zazengi is:
"When something arises in the mind, just wake up."
Pierre commented:
Wake up and it will vanish. What will vanish then? Thoughts? No, they come back, it is the natural stuff of the mind. Delusion? No, it is very sticky too. What might vanish is the illusion that we have to do something, become somebody, get out of here. And when this vanishes, we invite surrender.
Who are you?
I don't know.
posted by Mike Cross at 9:31 AM
1 Comments:
Reallynotimportant,
I followed the link you suggested and found the following paragraph by Brad:
"But when I started studying with Nishijima Sensei, I found that he did not like any of these methods at all. Not even breath counting. It wasn't like he warned us all against them as if they were gonnna ruin the practice. I think what he said was something like, "Those methods are a little bit artificial." The only "artificial" thing he recomended was taking three deep breaths at the beginning of practice — and even this, he said, was a bit fakey, though somewhat useful. I have never seen him recommend anything other than this, and fixing your posture, for dealing with thoughts that come up in Zazen."
Listen: I know nothing about QiGong. Alexander work is a constant process of finding out that I don't truly know anything about what Alexander discovered either.
Who am I in Buddhism? The natural successor to Nishijima Roshi as leader of Dogen Sangha? Or a champion of self-delusion who has used the Dogen Sangha blog to make a complete fool of himself? I do not know. I honestly do not know.
But one thing is do know is that "fixing the posture" is not a healthy way of dealing with thoughts that come up in Zazen.
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