Namaste lunamoth,
thank you for the post.
lunamoth said:
Dear Vajradhara,
Thank you for your reply and the information. I quickly checked out the wccm mediation link. Looks simple, but not easy. I can see my first lesson will be in sacrifice: with two preschoolers around the only way to get 30 minutes in the morning will be to get up a lot earlier, and to get 30 min in the evening will be to give up either some reading or computer time.
actually.. this is one of the hardest things for us in modern societies to do.. find an hour a day to do some plain sitting. there are so many demands on our time and attention.. espeically if you have children, which you do.
to facilitate my practice, i do two things... and you've probably guessed them... i stay up later than i would normally, so i can meditate at night.. and i get up earlier than i'd like to meditate in the morning. though, i don't do both on a day to day basis... usually, one or the other. for me, it's easier to say up at night rather than waking earlier in the morning.
which book of his are you reading now?
Zen and the Birds of Appetite, which is a short collection of essays by Merton. A few of them comment on other people who have looked at Buddhism and Christianity or Buddhism as known in the west. Things I like especially so far, but have a hard time really grasping well enough to explain coherently, is the mysterious Gift of the Holy Spirit and Its role in direct experience, love. Also absorbing a bit about the Ground of Being, about dying to self in Christ.
the Ground of Being is a fascinating conception of God, for my way of thinking. the term was coined by a protestant theologian named Paul Tillich. you can read more about Mr. Tillilch and his theology here:
http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirdWildWeb/courses/mwt/dictionary/mwt_themes_755_tillich.htm
it's a bit indepth, sorry about that.
Thank you again for the Merton website--got that one from you previously. Don't know why I like books so much better than websites, 'specially when I seem to spend so much time in this forum!
i like books better as well... something about being able to touch them... and take them with you to a park to sit under a tree and feel the fresh breeze on your face....
Zen is so very very different from my way of thinking, sometimes it seems like a big joke (no offense!), often impenetrable. Sometimes I get glimmers. It frustrates me that it is not something I can hope to delineate and catagorize, fit in the neat boxes I have created over my years. I don't know what I expect from learning more about it. Just looking to deepen my experience, I guess.
Cheers,
none taken
Zen is rather like big joke... but the joke is on us.. .and we just don't get it yet
Zen, as a form of Buddhism, can be hard to penetrate and get a grasp on intellectually, not by accident mind you. this is delibrate. the point of Buddhist praxis isn't to understand the teachings intellectually, though that does have value, rather, the point is to actually experience them... which, as you know, is something that is very difficult to communicate.
have you ever tried to describe what an orange tastes like to someone that has never eaten one?
no matter how you try.. they will not have the actual experience of eating the orange until they actually do it. no about of reading about it or hearing about it will produce the actual experience.
Buddhism is a broad subject and, as you are not a Buddhist, i would encourage you to be rather open in your exploration of the tradition.. some schools will be very clear and make a lot of sense.. and others won't. if you find Zen to be too difficult at this point, you can, for instance, check out the Theravedan school.
