Sit-a-Long with Jundo: Zazen for Beginners (Part II)

By Jundo on January 8, 2010 1:29 PM | No Comments

Continuing our series "Zazen for Beginners" (because we're always beginners) ...

Here's a basic perspective of Buddhism:

Our mind creates conflict and separation from this life/world because it is constantly filled with thoughts dividing this from that, worries and "what if's", desires and "if only's," judgments of good and bad and high and low, resistance to situations, fears for the future and regrets about the past ... all kinds of junk in the mental trunk. In this way, our "self" creates an image of itself separate from, and in frequent conflict with life, the world, everything it considers "not itself" (and even conflict with its image of itself too!)
It is (as the old joke goes) a lot like your self mentally banging yourself with a hammer ... Cause it is such a relief when you stop!

Click through here to see today's talk, and to "sit-a-long":

Reverse the process ... drop the dividing thoughts, the fears and worries, judgments, the likes and dislikes, ideas of past-present-future, resistance and the rest ... and all conflicts and separation drop away too. The self is no longer in conflict and isolated from all that it sees as "not the self" ... the war is over ... and (depending on how much those borders soften or fully drop away) this 'world-life-self-not self-reality' is known and experienced in very special way(s) too.

Thus, in Shikantaza 'Just Sitting' Zazen we sit ... allowing thoughts of this, that, past, future and all the rest to drift out of mind.

The hammer is put down.

REMINDER: We will have our weekly LIVE 1-hour 'Zazenkai SATURDAY netcast (from New York 8am, Los Angeles 5am, London 1pm, Paris 2pm) ... but fear not if you cannot join at those times, because it will be available in 'REAL TIME' recorded form for you to sit with us at anytime thereafter.Visit Treeleaf Zendo here.


If you missed Jundo's first installment of "Zazen for Beginners," click here to watch it now.

Or view all of Jundo's SunSpace posts, here.

This entry was created by Jundo Cohen & Taigu Turlur, posted on January 8, 2010 at 11:55 am and tagged, 

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