Daily Practical Zen Meditation

I have come to a point in my training that I have started to practise zen meditation daily, for 10 mins. Essentially im looking to simply practise a simple, beneficial non religious zen meditation.

So I am decided that I will start as follows -

Sit into Seiza (kneeling, I hope to advance into full lotus over the next few months/years?), on Zafu (cusion) and Zabuton (padded mat), left hand in right, thumbs touching, toes touching. Relax into correct position, breathing in through the nose and out through the lightly closed mouth, tounge in roof of mouth. Simply counting in my mind each breath 1,2,3 etc etc to ten then begin at one again, try and simply focus on position and breath, if anything comes into my mind accept it and then let it go and return to the 1 count, eyes lightly closed, but if they open then thats fine.

Im at the begining of my meditations and will try different times of day, inside and outside etc etc to see what feels right.

Anyone who has expierience in this area, I would greatly appriciate your input but please bear in mind that I wish to give time and practise before getting to complicated........

I just want to make sure im on the right path and welcome your thoughts

If your path is not religious what is your goal? Without a goal you can take any path.

uh oh...someone used the 'G' word in the Zen forum. prepare to be pummled.

oh wait...nevermind. having no goals was his point....plus he's an admin. {backs up, with hands in the 'fence' position}

LOL LOL


Lets see where the journey takes me eh.........


Only kidding im not a Zen Master just yet, my 'goal' is just to expierience meditation in relation to my martial arts, starting with correct posture and focus on breath, alone with a dose of stillness........

re religious, thats a difficult concept for me to understand and accept, I prefer the spiritual journey.

Well, I don't have any insights on the matter, but I do have a question from those that do meditate (hope this isn't considered derailing):

Do you think that slow and easy (10 minutes), working your way to longer sittings is best? My only experience was a 40 minute session of zazen...and being the wimp that I am I can tell you I thought it sucked. I was ready to call it quits at 10 minutes...and had to suck it up for another 30.

In one sitting I learned to follow my breath, to use the pain as a barometer and to go on to a state of no-thought/non-clinging observation. But that would not have happened at 10 minutes.

Are 10 minute sessions enough?

obviously I cnat make any comments just yet, but I have a couple of observations -

1. i have a zafu and zabuton for comfort and also to assist in posture - pain will not feature in my meditation practise just yet.

2. 10 mins is my starting point, it seemed comftorable and easy to do which will help me practise daily, im then looking to increase in 5 min intervals as the habbit grows and go with what seems right.

shoshinkan gave good advice. if you really want to experience suffering, attend a zen retreat. zazen and walking meditation all day, all the time.

All day suffering...where do I sign up?

I prefer the fast lane, express even:

Sign a travel waiver and take the highway ticket that states "I acknowledge that life is about suffering", zip through lanes marked "Noble truths 2 and 3", take the off-ramp labeled 'Noble truth #4...to the Eightfold Path', zoom around the rotary with eight exits, and park my car under the glowing sign that says "Free".

I must be from the city.

...a fellow Boston driver! (you need a permit to park under that sign.)

shoshinkan: do just like you said in your first post and don't give it any thought.

Hi everybody , I believe spirituality is like crystal clear spring water! What happens is that religeons ,denominations add their own flavourings and fete that as the truth! which is ok if it makes people happy.
Unfortunately a lot of the time it causes factions.
So iaccept my own day to day truth and try to get on with my life wan do as little harm as possible
as a child of the world,. Inshala ,amen go with god ,shalom nitenite

Dad - Its official your getting addicted to these forums! 3 O'Clock in the morning???? He types a lot better than he talks at 3 O'Clock in the morning after finishing "Work"...."liasing" with all those venue managers seems to has come part of his Daily Zen practice!!!


Sho - Keep doing what your doing dude and it'll all work out fine. I could recomend a few could books if you want to take things a bit further...PM or mail me!

appriciate all the responses, im now up to 20 mins a day and starting to really relax into it.

Posture I believe is of the utmost importance. You say you sit toe-to-toe. I have been lead to believe you should sit in full or half-lotus (depending on your flexibility). Your eyes should remain open but not focused on any point rather to see through whatever is in front of you. Getting your posture right is not an easy task and you should practice perfecting your posture from when you're in zazen, to walking or sat watching the tv!

I recommend 'On Zen Practice' by H. Maezumi, B. Glassman.

A practical question about sitting meditation: does anyone have any experience with too much energy? Can't sit due to kriyas? What to do about that?

Quote:

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Posture I believe is of the utmost importance. You say you sit toe-to-toe. I have been lead to believe you should sit in full or half-lotus (depending on your flexibility). Your eyes should remain open but not focused on any point rather to see through whatever is in front of you. Getting your posture right is not an easy task and you should practice perfecting your posture from when you're in zazen, to walking or sat watching the tv!

I recommend 'On Zen Practice' by H. Maezumi, B. Glassman.

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I just might add that a beginner may not have the ability (just yet) to meditate with eyes open. I myself find it a tad difficult, i shut my eyes...sight can be very distracting :P but yes, i shall keep 'practising' it, i will get it eventually!