thelerner

I heard Tommy's story, as a Zen fable, where it wasn't the Buddha but a samurai who came upon the monks meditating and gave them the can't polish a rock into a mirror analogy. The book explained the samurai was wrong. Meditation is part of enlightenment but he was correct that it's not the only part. You shouldn't stink of Zen, it's a living practice not a sitting one, though sitting is a part of it. If you don't bring the practice into your life, sitting will not bring enlightenment. But sit daily and bring the insights and practice into everything you do. I forget his name, he was the founder of Aikido's nephew(or was it uncle?) also was of a mystical bend, never famous but an amazing martial artist. After giving a dharma talk a listener asked 'So we should strive for emptiness?' The man surprised the asker and audience by stating emphatically 'NO, not emptiness, you want Fullness. Awareness of everything and understand that emptiness is a part of the Fullness.' <I believe its from the book Pre-World War II Aikido Masters.> After like, ten years in Ki-Aikido being told 'keep One Point' ie a focus on the Hara, one is finally taught- When you're aware of everything you are also keeping One Point. A defused focus, clear mind, the ears- see, the feet-listen, the senses spread.. is a higher level of One Point, then a clear mind focused on one's center. Certainly more useful in a martial sense. It's also a whole world harder. Just keeping a quiet mind all day is very hard. Meditation has lots of benefits but achieving a quiet mind is much easier when you're just sitting (or just walking). From there you can focus on Hara or breath, and finally get the focus on the Fullness around you- the one that has your thoughts flowing like a river, your body sensations and the swirl of the 5 elements happening all around you. Rawn Clark has a fun but difficult guided meditation- Center of Stillness Meditation where you put your 7 senses (he includes thought & emotion as senses) into separate orbits around you. Not too far from Taoist practice of Sealing the Senses. It has you sitting in emptiness, like a planet aware of your senses orbiting, aware of the other peoples orbits and has you focus on the web of life connecting all. Worthwhile but not easy and even to bring into 'normal' life.

I've always thought Dharma speeches are the third 'leg' of practice. They can be about any aspect of practice and life but many are about compassion. Cultivation can easily, perhaps at times necessarily fall into isolation and selfishness. Listening to a great teacher talk about compassion helps break us out of it. In Shamanic cultures when there is sickness the Shaman might tell the person a story. In listening they improve.. at least their spirit does. Tech makes it easy to collect great dharma speeches, to have them on hand just as we would pills in a medicine cabinet. Maybe one day I'll make some. They'd begin- 'If this is emergency, call 911. Otherwise, shut up and listen..'

I am forced to agree.

I don't know if it's free will, but my mind is constantly rolling dice and acting accordingly. Someone watching me from a distance would determine I'm a 'real' albeit boring, 'D&D' character living in a mundane world. With some decisions made rationally, some seemingly randomly but from a set spectrum of choices.. mostly through a culture lens. My life is in an orbit but my decisions and life's randomness act like gravity, pulling me off course. So, I believe I have free will. I'm just not sure how 'powerful' it is. If it's a strong or weak force. I tend to scoff at astrologies yet I can see how my .. stats and the storyline I'm in, control me. Maybe all theology comes down to who we think the Dungeon master is.

I don't want to pray to a deity that's transactional or needs buttering up. I like the concept that prayers that seem to start by praising God are really meant to have us focus on the Greatness, Beauty and Awesomeness of the world. To give thanks for our lives and all the good that goes on around us. I like Rabbi Nachman's practice of having a personal relationship with God; talking regularly, as to friend, loving creator, cheap psychologist. One difference, imo, between magic and religion is the focus on God's will, not ours. In religion we can petition but we accept what we get. We can ask with humility and hope but we accept that the Universe will decide and keep going the best that we can. So.. for me, asking for something in prayer means putting my mind to what I like in the world, earth, sky, grass, lakes, rivers, netflix, friends, family, breath.. Give thanks for it all and my life. Throw a desire in there, petition. As I've gotten older, I rarely ask. Que Sera, sera, whatever will be will be. Which in my tradition is kind of one of God's names.

Yes, yes I do. I'm sure people chase random strangers into book stores and record as they teleport all the time. It's the sound effect of the teleport I have a problem with. From my research it should be more of a 'Bampf'. It's Spider-man, he's sensitive about the hyphen and while I've never seen him, I have noticed suspiciously large spider webs.

In Ki-Aikido there was the assumption that if you got the lower dan tien inorder, the rest took care of themselves. It was very hara oriented. One easy practice I picked up from Stillness Movement qigong, a medical style gi gong, is when in seated meditation keeping your loosely folded hands against your lower dan tien, versus a few inches away on your lap I'd normally do. Touching the dan tien in meditation helped me get a better feeling for the area. Plus you're not doing anything, you just have your hands facing your dan tien, a light focus. Something to try if it connects to you.