Daily Contemplations

I had a thought to make a daily post under this Daily Contemplations of a saying, inspiration, poem or subject. I thought this way I could make a contribution to the forum for everyone to share as well as having to go out on a daily basis and find something that would be fitting to post.

This would probably mean looking over a a number of quotes, poems and subjects on a daily basis before choosing the one to post which will provide food for thought.

My practice at the moment is that my daily activities are the mediation as long as I am aware.

From Dogen

Those who see worldly life as an obstacle to Dharma
see no Dharma in everyday actions.
They have not yet discovered that
there are no everyday actions outside of Dharma.


Please add short sayings, poem or subject that inspire you for others to enjoy

When all thoughts
Are exhausted
I slip into the woods
And gather
A pile of shepherd's purse.

Like the little stream
Making its way
Through the mossy crevices
I, too, quietly
Turn clear and transparent.

- Ryokan

A Haiku is a traditional Japanese poem about nature. It has a very special pattern made up of seventeen syllables: line 1-five syllables, line 2-seven syllables and line 3-five syllables.

One of my favourites of Matsuo Basho's is

The temple bell stops.
But the sound keeps coming
out of the flowers.

Anthony De Mello was a Catholic priest (deceased) his insights were wonderful check out his book "Awareness" . It also shows that realisation doesnt belong to anyone tradition but is something open to every human being.

His talks of the same name Awareness can be found on youtube at


enjoy

About a year and a half ago I was heavily into the noting practice and someone said to me with all this meditation you do why cant you give up smoking. It occurred to me this would be a good exercise in observing what is going on so I took up the challenge.

My doctor advised me that the mind is only capable of holding one thought at a time, who would have thought my western trained doctor knew everyday dharma.

Another westerner that was into the everyday dharma was Newton who observed that "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."

I was soon to find out that by giving something up you are tied to it and the more you fight it the more energy you give it. You have to receive your demons and see through them.

I havent smoked for a year and a half after a life time of smoking and everytime I look the desire is still there.

There is a line from a poem I cant remember who's it was

I sit still in the mountains and only the mountains remain

enjoy

"You have to receive your demons and see through them."-JeffGrove

Nice.

Not knowing is most intimate

An exchange between Zen teachers old (9th century China)

Fayan was going on pilgrimage.

Dizang said, "Where are you going?"

Fayan said, "Around on pilgrimage."

Dizang said, "What is the purpose of pilgrimage?"

Fayan said: "I don't know."

Dizang said, "Not knowing is most intimate."

On the weekend I was thinking about the Buddha 5 skandhas form, feeling, perception, violation and consciousness and I was wondering what more modern models of self have been put forward.

A couple of hours on Google made me aware that there is no agreement on a model of the self (why would there be) and not much has changed in 2500 years as the Buddha's is as good as the most modern psychological descriptions.

While I was looking I came across the following paper which has been around for a couple of years and so far has not been refuted.

A cut down version appeared in New Scientist at www.simulation-argument.com/computer.pdf

This paper argues that at least one of the following propositions is true:
(1) the human species is very likely to go extinct before reaching a �posthuman� stage;
(2) any posthuman civilization is extremely unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of their evolutionary history (SIMs or variations thereof);
(3) we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation.

It follows that the belief that there is a significant chance that we will one day become posthumans who run ancestor-simulations is false, unless we are currently living in a simulation.

Which brings me to beliefs.
I have been exploring my beliefs. I have my spiritual beliefs, my work ethics beliefs, the newspapers beliefs, my parents beliefs.

These beliefs become part of the self so much that an attack on one of "my" beliefs needs to be defended.

It is interesting to read through the recent thread regarding payment for teaching and observe our beliefs and how we see the world through a colored lens.

Beliefs separate us from the unconditioned. Someone said you have to become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven.

As I explore beliefs I am asking myself

What is my first belief

Even if you consume as many books
As the sands of the Ganges
It is not as good as really catching
One verse of Zen.
If you want the secret of Buddhism,
Here it is: Everything is in the Heart!

- Ryokan

"
Even if you consume as many books
As the sands of the Ganges
It is not as good as really catching
One verse of Zen.
If you want the secret of Buddhism,
Here it is: Everything is in the Heart!

- Ryokan



"

Thanks Ryan love your contributions, one thing I always wondered what the many traditions meant by the Heart until I thought that they did not mean the physical heart but awareness although there is a definite perceptual change of spaciousness (from behind the head) in front of the heart

From the Upanishads

The secret of immortality is to be found in purification of the heart, in meditation, in realization of the identity of the Self within and Brahman without. For immortality is union with God

enjoy

"Life is like stepping onto a boat that is about to sail out to sea and sink."

-- Shunryu Suzuki

Weight of butt on chair,
Gravity a sensation.
Hey! Where's my coffee?

"Weight of butt on chair,
Gravity a sensation.
Hey! Where's my coffee? "


LOL. I love it. Move over, Gary Snyder.

There is no greater mystery that this, that we keep seeking reality though in fact we are reality - Ramana Maharshi

As I explore Beliefs I note the paradox from cause and effect as a belief sets up conditions that creates a reality - self fulfilling

I ask myself - What came before I had any beliefs

The Shadow side of practice
A teacher once told me in respect to Enlightenment that I should be careful what I asked for and that it could be a long road where I would have to be prepared to lose everything

I had been practing "Who am I" intensivly last year and noticed the "I" thought made up the mind. This recognition gave way to a silence, stillness, spaciousness and ease, the flow of life. I thought that perhaps this was the end of suffering as there appeared to be no this or that to cling to.

A few months ago my girlfriend of 7 years left me and the suffering was still there, the fear of loss, hurt and anger. The interesting thing is that she identifed my detachment and indifference to her as one of the main causes. She said that I cared more about my meditation and Buddhism than her. As I look back I see that I set up these conditions and this was the effect. I had been aloof watching life from a detached perspective instead of fully living life that awareness should bring. I believe this is were a teacher is important to help with the shadow side of practice

As I continue to investigate the Self the Buddhas words ring true "all things converge on feelings"

As well as investigating the "I" thought Ramana said to investigate the "I amness" feeling or the "I ness" feeling.

Bernadate Roberts in her wonderful book "What is Self" wrote that from experince the Self can be described by two parts the "Knowing Self" and the "Feeling Self". She noticed that the Knowing Self is the reflexive movement of the mind bending back on itself (I think of this as Self Awareness) and the "Feeling Self" is the expereince of life - Being.

I have been praticing

Contemplating feelings within feelings

How do I feel to be alive

I notice that self awareness gives way to (no self) awareness when there is no interior movement

From Rumi
I have lived on the lip of insanity, wanting to know reasons,
knocking on a door. It opens.
I've been knocking from the inside!

My interest stems from my years of practice in qigong were my teacher taught the importance of feeling the change in the body/mind.

Reginald Ray has wrote an excellent book on working with the experience of somatic change in the body "Touching Enlightenment - Finding Realization in the Body"

Check out www.ahalmaas.com/Extracts/lnj1_intimacy.html the first chapter in work by A.H.Almaas called Luminous Night's Journey

Shoyo Roku. 1st Case.

One day the World Honored One ascended the seat. Manjushri struck the gavel and said:
'Clearly observe the Dharma of the Dharma King; the Dharma of the Dharma King is thus.'
The World Honored One then got down from the seat.

Knock on the sky and listen to the sound. - Zen

Rising and falling
Stopping then continuing -
Words create worlds.

What is the sound of Silence

One of the best tools in my yogi toolbox is keeping a journal. In my journal I keep everything from experiences during meditations , daily reflections and research notes. The following is from notes in my journal based on experience (or inexperience) using a couple of tools to investigate the Body/Mind and somatic meditation. I think of these experiences as knots in awareness and investigating these knots can lead to creating space in the body/mind.

Using contemplation on state of mind and contemplation of the body I observe the impact of the mind on the body and the body (somatic change) on the mind. Everyone has been through a stressful period in their life and noticed the tightening in the neck muscles even after the perceived stressful period is over.

The state of mind influences the mental contents which has the following effect
1. A new thought arises;
2. The body physically reacts to the new thought;
3. The mind perceives (labels) the bodily sensation patterns as an emotion; and
4. New emotional (conditioned) thoughts are generated.

Contemplating a mind with anger the body physically reacts (somatic change) with muscle tension, increased breathing, increased heart rate, tightening in the stomach and neck. The mind then try's to assign (labels) words or thoughts to the experience. Before being labeled as an emotion it is only a pattern (collection) of sensations. Instead of going into a self feeding loop of endless thoughts of being angry with someone who isn't even there with awareness going from 2 to 3 and 3 to 4 is in our control. Another pattern I have noticed is sadness is associated mainly in the stomach and throat areas (and of course loss with the heart).

Another tool from philospher/psychotherapist E. Gendlin which first appeared in his book "Focusing" about 25 yrs ago is called focusing.
The process is described in 6 movements
1. Clearing a space
2. The Felt Sense
3. Finding a handle
4. Resonating
5. Asking; and
6. Receiving

Step 1 Ask how are you and clear a space between you and feeling fine (Witness - is separation and disidentifying)
Step 2 this is a very similar process to the first technique in that you focus on a problem and observe the sense in your body when you recall the whole of the problem.
Step 3 involves what is the quality (perception) of the felt sense. What one word, phrase or image comes out of the felt sense.
Step 4 involves going back and forth with the word (or image) and the felt sense working with the word (or image) until you get a perfect match (it feels just right fro the feeling)
Step 5 you ask questions that trigger a response and wait for a feeling to stir and give you an answer.
Step 6 you welcome what comes

Repeat the process if required until the pattern is replaced by space

This puts a perspective on the term "quick to anger". I wonder like an angry mind is there a body state such as an angry body were a persistent pattern exists from a previous trauma that is triggered by a single thought that causes an emotion ( from an experience/memory pattern in the body from the past) creating an over reaction

Eckhart Tolle's talks about a pain body which consists of trapped life-energy that forms (or is split off) part of your ego. From Tolle "Once the pain body has taken you over, you want more pain. You become a victim or a perpetrator. You want to inflict pain, or you want to suffer pain, or both. There isn't really much difference between the two. You are not conscious of this, of course, and will vehemently claim that you do not want pain. But look closely and you will that your thinking and behavior are designed to keep the pain going, for yourself and others."

Today I sat before the cliffs
Sat until the mist blew off
A rambling clear stream shore
A towering green ridge crest
Cloud's dawn shadows still
Moon's night light adrift
Body free of dust
Mind without a care.

(Han Shan)

Investigating some emotions reveal to be what appears to be a persistent pattern that is triggered by a feeling and an intention to/from an object. I am starting to see for myself where these patterns might align with what has been identified with by chakra systems which describe a positive and negative emotion related with each chakra

1. Root Chakra (Hui Yin)
Fear, Resentment, Rigidity
The right to be here, grounded, acceptance
2. Sacral Chakra
Guilt, Passionate manipulation
The right to feel, creativity
3. Navel Chakra (Du Qi)
Shame, anger , greed
The right to act, commitment, self esteem
4. Heart Chakra (Shan Zhong)
Sorrow, attachment
The right to love and be loved, compassion
5. Throat Chakra
Lies, Denial, Abruptness
The right to speak and hear truth, Truth
6. Third Eye Chakra (Yin Tang)
Illusion, Confusion, Depression
The right to see, Intuition
7. Crown Chakra (Bai Hui)
Attachment, Grief
The right to know, Boundlessness

Working with these patterns could be seen as similar to working with blockages with chakras. It appears I am coming full circle from my qigong days where each of these centres of the body/mind were specifically worked.
I practiced Zhineng Qigong mainly Xing Sheng Zhuang www.zhinengqigong.org/Methods/level2.htm which focused on the following points www.zhinengqigong.org/Methods/chart.htm (location of chakras).

Reginald Ray talks of working with tension in the body which can be of the form of numbness, solidity, tightness, pain, strong emotional states and subtle tension when we withdraw from experience.
I have been investigating an emotional pattern that is being held in the Navel and Heart Chakra area and it is interesting to be aware of the thoughts that bubble to the surface when attention is given to these areas.