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Having read through the Introduction and First chaptrer, I thought I would open a discussion thread on it. No, Ive not read it all, nor do I know it all, nor am I competing with anyone.
The basic takeaway of the introduction that I was received is that those looking for an easy way should not take up Zen, but oearls of wisdom can be found within and without through Zen.
The Whirlpool.
What I got out of this is that in each area of life, we want a smoothly flowing river, but in seeking and building that, we are ill equipped when a whirlpool, or dam occurs, leaving us with stagnant pools of water. Everything in life and life itself is challenged through a variety of tests and trials, challenges. Ill equipped tp handle these, we are left a hot mess in stagnant pools, dead end dams , and stagnant disease filled pools of water. The key is recognizing all are a part of the river of life that will be continually challenged.
A meditation for myself:
Where am I in the river of life?
What dams have i climbed over, and which are ahead downstream?
What whirlpools have I drowned in, and which have I successfully leaped over downstream?
What stagnant pools are in my life, which have I gotten out of, and which lie downstream?
Where am I downstream in the river of life? Where am I upstream in the river of life?
Is it going to rain, or will it be sunny and wind moving upstream or downstream?
Continuing reading on this today.
When we dont recognize that whirlpools are a part of the river, we end up in a stagnant pool created by damns. We have to realize all there are a part of the river, and find ways to get past the whirlpools, dams and stagnant pools and keep flowing with the river. It is how we relate to our goals, not just in setting and achieving them. Whatever choice we make, life will provide us with a lesson. It is always about the moment. The pool gets stirred up to prevent stagnation. No matter a whirlpool, dam, or a pool, we are always part of the river no matter what.
=========================================================================
Chapter 2: The Cocoon of Pain
=========================================================================
What do we honor in our lives? Do not bow to what you do not honor. What we bow to is what we think and do, and honor them by bowing to them. As the previous chapter said, Change is inevitable and life is a flowing river. We dont want to honor pain, death or loss, but we do, and in so honoring, we erect false gods based on them. What do we pay attention to, moment to moment? The god of pain, death and loss? The god of complacency, comfort and security? Drugs and alcohol? High speeds and recklessness? Anger, hatred and violence?
Nations worship this god on a much larger, more destructive scale. Until we honestly see that this is what our lives are about, we will be unable to discover who we really are.
Choice and consequence, sowing and reaping.
To just relax and be happy, plan for the present and future?
All these are versions of the god we actually worship. It is the god of no discomfort and no unpleasantness. Without exception, every being on earth pursues it to some degree. As we pursue it, we lose touch with what really is. As we lose touch, our life spirals down- ward. And the very unpleasantness that we sought to avoid can overwhelm us.
"Eventually the worm builds itself a cocoon, and in that dark, quiet space it stays for a long time. Finally, after what must seem like an eternity of darkness, it emerges as a butterfly. The life history of a butterfly is similar to our practice. We have some misconceptions about both, however. We may imagine, for example, that because butterflies are pretty, their life in the cocoon before they emerge is also pretty. We don’t realize all that the worm must go through in order to become a butterfly. Similarly, when we begin to practice, we don’t realize the long and difficult transformation required of us. We have to see through our pursuit of outward things, the false gods of pleasure and security. We have to stop gobbling this and pursuing that in our shortsighted way, and simply relax into the cocoon, into the darkness of the pain that is our life. Such practice requires years of our lives."
So it is in our sitting or moving, being open to face our pain and the false gods we've erected and dismantle them, that we can move to the next stage, towards becoming, the butterfly fluttering in the sun. As larvae to the worm, we have to give up our slavish obedience toward avoidance of pain.
"We have to give up our slavish obedience to whatever system of pain avoidance we have devised and realize that we can’t escape discomfort simply by running faster and trying harder. The faster we run from our pain, the more our pain overtakes us. When what we depended on to give our life meaning doesn’t work any more, what are we going to do?"
Find the pain, face the pain, let go, surrender, and release. This can help us towards evolution.
"We may seek to avoid the cocoon of pain by drifting into a hazy, unfocused state, a vaguely pleasant drifting that can last for hours. When we realize that’s what’s happening, what is a good question to ask?"
A meditation for myself:
What am I avoiding/What am I experiencing right now?
What pain or suffering am I seeking to escape?
What false gods am I honoring?
Am I living in the moment between absolute and relative?
What are the absolute and the relative trying to teach me?
Am I seeking only comfort and pleasure?
=========================================================================
Chapter 3: Sisyphus and the Burden of Life
=========================================================================
"Greek mythology tells the story of Sisyphus, king of Corinth, condemned by the gods to Hades and eternal punishment. Endlessly he had to roll an enormously heavy boulder up a hill—and when it reached the top, it would roll down again. He struggled to bring the boulder to the top of the hill, only to watch it roll back down, over and over again, for eternity.
Like all myths, this story contains a teaching. How do you see the myth? What is it about? Like a koan, it has many aspects."
I see the cocoon of pain flowing through the river of life, up and down the hill for eternity to perhaps move the boulder along through the river. I see it as an example of the frustration and spoiled plans Ive had in my life. I see it as the cycles of addiction Ive faced in my life, with only caffeine, sugar and nicotine as normal mainstream drugs of choice left to go. I see it as a koan about the problem of not being able to let the boulder sit there, but be in constant work-movement for eternity, much like the river of life, the dams and whirlpools we find ourselves in and the constant cocoon of pain.
This is an interesting and unique chapter. Not only for the questions for yourself, and the unique short text, but the majority of the chapter is in the Q&A section at the end.
As soon as I thoroughly think on this and read through the Q&A, I will come back to the Meditation for myself.
Updating today with a chapter three self-meditation.
I mentioned this book among a few others in therapy today (zen koans, zen rituals). I still have yet to hop back on the Reading Railroad and finish the book with a book report. Still stuck on Chap3/4 Q&A.
The basic takeaway of the introduction that I was received is that those looking for an easy way should not take up Zen, but oearls of wisdom can be found within and without through Zen.
The Whirlpool.
What I got out of this is that in each area of life, we want a smoothly flowing river, but in seeking and building that, we are ill equipped when a whirlpool, or dam occurs, leaving us with stagnant pools of water. Everything in life and life itself is challenged through a variety of tests and trials, challenges. Ill equipped tp handle these, we are left a hot mess in stagnant pools, dead end dams , and stagnant disease filled pools of water. The key is recognizing all are a part of the river of life that will be continually challenged.
Post automatically merged:
A meditation for myself:
Where am I in the river of life?
What dams have i climbed over, and which are ahead downstream?
What whirlpools have I drowned in, and which have I successfully leaped over downstream?
What stagnant pools are in my life, which have I gotten out of, and which lie downstream?
Where am I downstream in the river of life? Where am I upstream in the river of life?
Is it going to rain, or will it be sunny and wind moving upstream or downstream?
Post automatically merged:
Continuing reading on this today.
Post automatically merged:
When we dont recognize that whirlpools are a part of the river, we end up in a stagnant pool created by damns. We have to realize all there are a part of the river, and find ways to get past the whirlpools, dams and stagnant pools and keep flowing with the river. It is how we relate to our goals, not just in setting and achieving them. Whatever choice we make, life will provide us with a lesson. It is always about the moment. The pool gets stirred up to prevent stagnation. No matter a whirlpool, dam, or a pool, we are always part of the river no matter what.
=========================================================================
Chapter 2: The Cocoon of Pain
=========================================================================
What do we honor in our lives? Do not bow to what you do not honor. What we bow to is what we think and do, and honor them by bowing to them. As the previous chapter said, Change is inevitable and life is a flowing river. We dont want to honor pain, death or loss, but we do, and in so honoring, we erect false gods based on them. What do we pay attention to, moment to moment? The god of pain, death and loss? The god of complacency, comfort and security? Drugs and alcohol? High speeds and recklessness? Anger, hatred and violence?
Nations worship this god on a much larger, more destructive scale. Until we honestly see that this is what our lives are about, we will be unable to discover who we really are.
Choice and consequence, sowing and reaping.
To just relax and be happy, plan for the present and future?
All these are versions of the god we actually worship. It is the god of no discomfort and no unpleasantness. Without exception, every being on earth pursues it to some degree. As we pursue it, we lose touch with what really is. As we lose touch, our life spirals down- ward. And the very unpleasantness that we sought to avoid can overwhelm us.
"Eventually the worm builds itself a cocoon, and in that dark, quiet space it stays for a long time. Finally, after what must seem like an eternity of darkness, it emerges as a butterfly. The life history of a butterfly is similar to our practice. We have some misconceptions about both, however. We may imagine, for example, that because butterflies are pretty, their life in the cocoon before they emerge is also pretty. We don’t realize all that the worm must go through in order to become a butterfly. Similarly, when we begin to practice, we don’t realize the long and difficult transformation required of us. We have to see through our pursuit of outward things, the false gods of pleasure and security. We have to stop gobbling this and pursuing that in our shortsighted way, and simply relax into the cocoon, into the darkness of the pain that is our life. Such practice requires years of our lives."
So it is in our sitting or moving, being open to face our pain and the false gods we've erected and dismantle them, that we can move to the next stage, towards becoming, the butterfly fluttering in the sun. As larvae to the worm, we have to give up our slavish obedience toward avoidance of pain.
"We have to give up our slavish obedience to whatever system of pain avoidance we have devised and realize that we can’t escape discomfort simply by running faster and trying harder. The faster we run from our pain, the more our pain overtakes us. When what we depended on to give our life meaning doesn’t work any more, what are we going to do?"
Find the pain, face the pain, let go, surrender, and release. This can help us towards evolution.
"We may seek to avoid the cocoon of pain by drifting into a hazy, unfocused state, a vaguely pleasant drifting that can last for hours. When we realize that’s what’s happening, what is a good question to ask?"
Post automatically merged:
A meditation for myself:
What am I avoiding/What am I experiencing right now?
What pain or suffering am I seeking to escape?
What false gods am I honoring?
Am I living in the moment between absolute and relative?
What are the absolute and the relative trying to teach me?
Am I seeking only comfort and pleasure?
Post automatically merged:
=========================================================================
Chapter 3: Sisyphus and the Burden of Life
=========================================================================
"Greek mythology tells the story of Sisyphus, king of Corinth, condemned by the gods to Hades and eternal punishment. Endlessly he had to roll an enormously heavy boulder up a hill—and when it reached the top, it would roll down again. He struggled to bring the boulder to the top of the hill, only to watch it roll back down, over and over again, for eternity.
Like all myths, this story contains a teaching. How do you see the myth? What is it about? Like a koan, it has many aspects."
I see the cocoon of pain flowing through the river of life, up and down the hill for eternity to perhaps move the boulder along through the river. I see it as an example of the frustration and spoiled plans Ive had in my life. I see it as the cycles of addiction Ive faced in my life, with only caffeine, sugar and nicotine as normal mainstream drugs of choice left to go. I see it as a koan about the problem of not being able to let the boulder sit there, but be in constant work-movement for eternity, much like the river of life, the dams and whirlpools we find ourselves in and the constant cocoon of pain.
This is an interesting and unique chapter. Not only for the questions for yourself, and the unique short text, but the majority of the chapter is in the Q&A section at the end.
As soon as I thoroughly think on this and read through the Q&A, I will come back to the Meditation for myself.
Post automatically merged:
Updating today with a chapter three self-meditation.
Post automatically merged:
I mentioned this book among a few others in therapy today (zen koans, zen rituals). I still have yet to hop back on the Reading Railroad and finish the book with a book report. Still stuck on Chap3/4 Q&A.
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