Hi all!

So I just wanted to share that I decided to give one of Jundo's recommendations a try and let you all know how it went!
I'm sure you are all aware of the suggestion to occasionally sit zazen in a noisy environment? Well...

One of the things that has become clear to me in the last few years of Zen practice is that trying to make my zazen area too isolated is antithetical to the point of shikantaza!
Part of this process has been the fact that in order to avoid "weriding out" my family, I have taken to meditating at the wee early hours of the morning when everyone is asleep, locked away inside a walk-in closet.
Five years ago, this seemed like a really good idea.
Lately, though... not so much.
To this end I have noted that the more I make my meditation surroundings like a sensory deprivation chamber, the more difficult it is to transfer my practice from the zafu to everyday life.
After all, real life (for me) is a loud, chaotic mess.
(Perfect example: yesterday was my oldest son's 6th birthday party during which my 2 year old son fell and split his scalp open on the "foot" of the kitchen table. Lots of blood soaked paper towels, a trip to the ER and two stitches later, everything was back to "normal"...)

So this morning I said "the hell realms with it!" and decided to come out of the closet! (Errr... Uh. I mean literally come out of the closet!) ops:

Today (Sunday) after breakfast my wife passed out on the couch and my three boys were busy playing while I watched the news.
Suddenly, I got a crazy idea. The boys were engaged, my wife was dozing, nothing worth watching on TV... How bout more zazen?!

So I went upstairs, grabbed my pillow and trekked back to the living room. My wife opened one eye and asked what I was doing and to my surprise, when I told her she was OK with it!
So while she was sleepily supervising the kids, I settled down and started doing my thing. In the next room I could clearly hear the television and three rambunctious children having fun.
Quite a difference from my usual, womb-like meditation environment!
Pretty soon, my two year old wanders into my nearby vicinity to see what dad is up to.
He gives me a hug, I hug him back and get back to "just sitting".
He toddles over to the pile of wrapping paper and packing materials from yesterday's celebration and begins rummaging through it.
I figure he's OK so I keep focusing on "everything and nothing in particular" until I realize:
someone has dropped a wad of tissue paper in my "cosmic mudra"!

"OK," says I, "I'm busy dropping off body and mind so I'm just going to let him have his way with me!"
The baby continues to slowly bury me in garbage as I face the wall.
I smile at the thought of how ridiculous I must look and soldier on; the garbage-strewn Buddha!
After a while, I realize someone is trying to insert a plastic tie-down into my ear canal!
Now it's become outright war!
I force myself to stay put as tiny fingers, ribbons and styrofoam peanuts are repeatedly inserted into my various facial orifices.
It is simultaneously both hell and hilarity.
After beating the crap out of me for about 20 minutes, my opponent grows weary and wanders off, presumably to harass the cat.

Well, I finished my sit and you know what? It was actually pretty damn terrific!
No, there wasn't much "inner peace" but I figure if I can keep still while foreign objects are being rammed into my nostrils then I have a pretty good chance of maintaining my center the next time I find myself faced with an irate customer or other minor irritation!

Now, just for the record, I'm not suggesting that I intend to pursue this to ridiculous ends.
(I'm not shopping around for a bed of nails or anything!)
But this has opened my eyes a little bit to the benefits of an occasionally noisy meditation environment.
(I remember reading somewhere that silent moments are the "bookends" to sound. You can't have one without the other.)
So if you are already hip to this, just ignore my little story.
But if you haven't taken the plunge and tried to sit while "under attack" then by all means, give yourself a challenge!
Just make sure not to put yourself in physical danger, OK?

Gassho,
-K2