GrandmasterP

Going off what I've read the writers who do so big up the pain side of it. I've no experience myself as if something hurts then I immediately stop doing it. I suspect, but can't know; that some of those writers are a tad masochistic.

I reckon we are in agreement Stosh. The guy exercised his free will to change hence free will exists. The free will to choose which brand of tea to take. It's free will all the way down. ( and Turtles).

This one's by a physiotherapist... http://blog.aikidojournal.com/2013/10/01/advantages-of-seiza-and-shikko-in-the-eyes-of-a-physiotherapist-by-bartlomiej-gajowiec/ Use an oversize zafu like this and you can sit for hours... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zafu-Meditation-Cushion-LARGE-Buckwheat/dp/B00IKGAOPC/ref=pd_sim_sg_11?ie=UTF8&refRID=15N56JDWBGS97198EPAG Hope that helps.

Don't drink any kind of booze and avoid sodas and anything with caffeine apart from good tea. Try internalising by thinking the 'winter wonderland' mantra. Sounds whacky but it works for some. I hum the tune on hot days it's as good as an iced drink IMO... Lyrics here but I bet that know them already... Sleigh bells ring, are you listening, In the lane, snow is glistening A beautiful sight, We're happy tonight. Walking in a winter wonderland. Gone away is the bluebird, Here to stay is a new bird He sings a love song, As we go along, Walking in a winter wonderland. In the meadow we can build a snowman, Then pretend that he is Parson Brown He'll say: Are you married? We'll say: No man, But you can do the job When you're in town.

Bump... "Night poured over the desert. It came suddenly, in purple. In the clear air, the stars drilled down out of the sky, reminding any thoughtful watcher that it is in the deserts and high places that religions are generated. When men see nothing but bottomless infinity over their heads they have always had a driving and desperate urge to find someone to put in the way. ― Terry Pratchett, Jingo.

@ Stosh... But that would be a 'gain' if the opposite was a loss. For example, true story this from one of our Mindfulness programmes. Guy with anger management issues and a drink problem who was forever getting into fights in pubs, being arrested and jailed. He dries out eventually ( with AA) and joins then sticks with a Mindfulness-based anger managent programme. Result.. Guy no longer gets into fights in pubs and stays out of jail. The guy himself had to make that decision and until he was at that point where he made the choice to change then no matter what anybody tried to do 'for' him was a waste of time. Once that 'intrinsic motivation' kicked in though then he was on the up.

Good thread topic. I've read a lot of Zen books and a recurring theme is just how much zazaen hurts the legs. Some writers like the late Peter Matthiesen really go to town on the pain issue. He talks about being 'almost blinded by the pain' after a sesshin in one book. Brad Warner ( Hardcore Zen etc) the punk zennist is another, he's a full lotus booster and nothing else will do as far as Brad's concerned but he talks about how much it hurts with a degree almost of relish. To me it's very zen to come up with a cultivation based around cushions and comfy padded mats and then devise a truly uncomfortable way to sit on said potentially nice and comfy items. Maybe there's a degree of either macho or masochism in there too. IMO there's no merit in making oneself uncomfortable.

Yep that was a subjective post there of mine Trunk. Whatever works, works. For me the less I have to think about 'getting right' the better. Others will be different.

Chair for Mindfulness and a big zafu cushion an a super comfy zabuton mat for zazen which I kneel-supported on legs either side of the cushion which keeps all my weight off my legs so I can sit comfortably for as long as I choose. I've never been able to do any cross legged sitting due to a wonky left leg that doesn't bend how legs are supposed to. I used to use a meditation stool like a little bench that your legs go underneath before the big zafus came out.

Peaceful warrior is maybe a bit of an oxymoron. If it hits the fan you really need warriors on your side who are more aggressive or at least better equipped than the other side's warriors otherwise your guys would tend to lose which rather defeats the object of that whole warrior schtick. I only carried a weapon during basic training in the army and I reckon I was more of a threat to our side than I would have been to a potential enemy. After boot camp I was a medic so a 'non combatant' and not issued with a weapon. When I joined the Special Hospital Service ( secure asylums for inmates who were then called the 'criminally insane') we were issued with a truncheon and our uniform trousers had a special long pocket that the stick fitted into. I never saw anyone draw a stick on a patient ever and eventually as things changed truncheons were withdrawn.

No it isn't. As anee fule knoe... The answer is 42.

I'm a qualified Psychy Nurse and as mad as a box of frogs, always have been. It helps a lot. Aids empathy.

Once had a Principal who had the bright idea of putting up a white board outside her office with post it notes that staff could write anonymous comments and helpful suggestions on and attach to said white board for her to peruse. That became known as the 'wailing wall' and was soon taken down.

We had free will versus no free will on another forum I go on and it ran on for scores of pages. It's one of those debates akin to nature versus nurture where there can never be a mutually satisfactory conclusion due to their being pretty strong science on both sides. ( I'm a 'nurture' booster BTW).

We don't have wild hummingbirds here in Blighty but I've seen them abroad feeding from little bottle jobs with adapted nozzles. That flying backwards that they can do is amazing.

Early Grey here instead of Yorkshire. We do have free will, those who say otherwise have freely decided in favour of their position and that's fine. The very fact there's a debate between pro and con points towards free will.

Sounds like a jazz combo. Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - 1967 Hi there, nice to be with you, happy you could stick around. Like to introduce "Legs" Larry Smith, drums, And Sam Spoons, rhythm pole, And Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell, bass guitar, And Neil Innes, piano, Come in Rodney Slater on the saxophone, With Roger Ruskin Spear on tenor sax, Hi, Vivian Stanshall, trumpet. Big hello to big John Wayne, xylophone, And Robert Morley, guitar, Billy Butlin, spoons, And looking very relaxed, Adolf Hitler on vibes... Nnnnice! Princess Anne on sousaphone... Mmmm, Introducing Liberace, clarinet, With Garner "Ted" Armstrong on vocals, Lord Snooty and his pals, tap dancing, In the groove with Harold Wilson, violin, And Franklin McCormack on harmonica. Over there, Eric Clapton, ukulele.... Hi Eric! On my left Sir Kenneth Clark, bass sax.... A great honour, sir. And specially flown in for us, a session's gorilla on vox humana. Nice to see Incredible Shrinking Man on euphonium, Drop out with Peter Scott on duck call, Hearing from you later Casanova, on horn, Yeah! Digging General de Gaulle on accordion.... Really wild, General! Thank you, sir. Roy Rogers on Trigger. Tune in Wild Man of Borneo on bongos. Count Basie Orchestra on triangle.... Thank you. Great to hear the Rawlinsons on trombone, Back from his recent operation, Dan Druff, harp. And representing the flower people, Quasimodo on bells.

One of my party pieces is that two chair thang. Used to invite someone to stand on me. These days I don't go quite that far.

Much obliged to you sir. Mrs GMP is in 'paint over any blemishes' mode in anticipation of the valuer coming. She's regrouted a bathroom today.

No problemo. I'd remembered reading something about it a while ago. Those old hesychasts were Christian Orthodox hermits who quite likely got the hermit/ meditation idea from a travelling Buddhist. They're still around, use a breathing cultivation using a cord knotted mala and in their tradition if someone is especially in the zone they smell of lilies even long after death. The original 'odour of sanctity'.

Man, anyone who opts for stuff like that in his house aint right in the head. Looks to me as if old man Lama there is posing for the photo outside Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe.

Those human heads sure do 'set off' the room though. Real conversation pieces if entertaining. That could catch on.

D- Day anniversary last week here in Blighty and over on the beaches of France. If force were not sometimes both just and defensible then this post would quite likely be written in German.

Yep, Got it in one there Dawg. Good post.

The meek shall inherit the earth. ( If that's OK with the bullies). Sometimes the internal arts don't cut it. Hence those external forms.