02025-09-13 | Uncategorized
The are many ways to practice meditation. Over time we discover which method works best for us. Here I want to offer a couple of things I have learned in the course of meditating for about 50 years.
Here is the first thing: I have learned that having a daily practice is more important than doing the occasional long meditation. I think if you do just 5 minutes every day you will derive more benefit than from doing one 35 minute meditation per week. I myself sit for half an hour twice a day and consider it the time most well spent. It is luxury, it’s necessity, it’s wonderful, sometimes difficult, sometimes glorious, it’s everything.
Here is another thing: the instructions for Zen meditation are very simple: sit and count your breath. I have long wondered whether something was lost in translation though. I mean count your breath can have two different meanings:
- count the occurrence of each breath
- count the length of each breath
Ah, this is very different isn’t it. Counting the number of breaths is merely something to occupy the mind but counting the length of the breath is actually very useful. Let me explain. Buddhism collided with Taoism and other philosophies in China and the result was Chan, which over time became Zen in Japan. The Taoists were really into controlling their breath and knew that breathing slowly calms the nervous system. That is something modern science has proved to be correct. Take a deep breath is very good advice whenever you feel stressed.
I imagine that the original meaning of count your breath could have been to breathe slowly while counting the length of one’s inhalations and exhalations. Most people will find a length of around 5 seconds to be a good duration for each in or out breath. That’s 6 breaths per minute. I discovered that for me 6 seconds is a more natural duration and so I take 5 breaths per minute.
There are a whole bunch of posts regarding meditation on this blog. These are tagged Meditation and these are tagged Zazen. If you want to read more about Zazen, this is a very good essay.
02009-03-01 | Uncategorized
I usually sit in the afternoon or late at night, but today I sat zazen at 08:00. They say one should not sit zazen with closed eyes unless one has at least 15 years of zazen experience. I have practiced zazen for 5 years but have been meditating for 35, and so I allow myself to close my eyes about half of the 40 minutes I sit every day. I only do it when I am wide awake, so I don’t fall asleep. When the conditions are good, meaning that I am relaxed and yet alert, I will close my eyes and sometimes that’s just pure bliss. Mind, calm like a lake without wind and yet ready for any splash in the water. Timeless.
William Gibson
A MILLION SECONDS IS 11 DAYS
A billion seconds is 32 years.
A trillion seconds is 32,000 years.
I have crossed the 1,500,000,000 second threshhold. It looks like a lot and it feels like nothing.
Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly.
Suddenly I awoke.
Now, I do not know whether I was then
a man dreaming I was a butterfly,
or whether I am now a butterfly
dreaming that I am a man.
– Chuang Tzu (c.360 BC – c. 275 BC)
Here is a different translation:
I dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting around in the sky; then I awoke.
Now I wonder: Am I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly,
or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?
I rode my fixie to Downtown Subscription for a green chile croissant and a coffee. Must ask David @ Mellow Velo about getting a slightly larger cog, maybe just +1T.
More time-lapse photography. I am hunting moving shadows around the house. The camera takes one photo every 9 seconds. Odd noise to have around.
Tomato – Tomato:
Zhuangzi
Author:
The first seven chapters of the text, often called the Inner Chapters, are generally attributed to Zhuang Zhou (Chuang Chou), who, according to legend, lived in what is now known as Honan from approximately 370-286 BC. The rest of the text is often understood to contain fragments of material, some of which are sometimes attributed to the same author as the Inner Chapters, some of which are attributed to other authors, including representatives of the Yangzhu (Yang Chu) tradition. For the sake of convenience, this article will refer to the author and/or authors of the text simply as Zhuangzi.
Chuang Tzu AKA Zhuangzi AKA Zhuang Zhou AKA Chuang Chou AKA Yangzhu AKA Yang Chu?
And:
You are the butterfly,
And I the dreaming heart
Of Soshi
– Basho
Soshi is the Japanese name for Chuang Tzu.
Thanks Y.
