Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Why Do I Sit? (ZaZen)

There are some Buddhist scholars today who rants and rave about why sitting meditation or zazen as it is called in Japanese is not 'The way' or not what is taught by you know who. One of these exponent of Buddhism is a blogger who calls himself 'The Zennist". I enjoy reading his writings as most of it is very informative, thought provoking and some quite radically so. I can see that this is a man who has devoted his life and times in the pursuit of understanding the teachings of 'The World and Time Honored One'. I would strongly recommend this blog to anyone interested in Buddhism no doubt as it is really worth reading.
my small concern when i read several of his entries is the fact that he has the strong opinion that 'the Zen practice of Sitting Meditation is not beneficial or cant remember how he puts it but suffice to say no exactly what it cracks up to achieve. The Historical Buddha sat under the Bo tree for forty days before He attained to enlightenment or saw the light. perhaps this did not merit as sitting to my learned friend, at least not in the Soto Schools form of sitting. The prophet of Allah sat in the cave of Hirak for many nights before He was approached by the Arch Angel Gabriel who revealed to Him God's message. Ahh..perhaps it was sitting the Muslim way nothing to do with Buddhism. I can go on pointing out many instances in history where the Ancients sat in meditation for long periods of time before they were able to arrive at what it was they were after just like Bodhidharma who was said to have sat for nine years waiting for his successor.
Perhaps i misunderstood what my friend the Zennist was saying with regard to the matter but if I am right he seems to have developed a phobia against those who 'sit' as their form of practice to achieve their way towards whatever it is that they strive to achieve in their school of Buddhism. The Buddha was said to have said that "Right and wrong is a sickness of your own mind,"  perhaps i misquoted the Buddha but whether he did or did not say such a thing it still is in my book, from my Buddhist point of view at least. I am bias simply because I spent two years at the Soto Zen Center at green Gulch Zen center and what i hated and enjoyed most was sitting.I hated sitting because it was the most painful physically and tediously boring for my mind and why I loved it was and still is because it has slowed me down somewhat. I stop more often to smell the roses so to speak and take a second look at what life has to offer than taking life for granted. Sitting is the act between sleeping and standing both the later are acts that is either in motion (physically of as in sleep an act that is beyond any form of physical or emotional control. Sitting allows one to just sit and watch with bare attention with no attachment or detachment to anything or any phenomenon that arises in the mind and by so doing I am free from giving it thought mush less form...just clouds manifesting in the sky, now you see them now you do not (Unsui).
I am no Bible totting or Quran or the Sutra quoting kind of person but i do read the Buddhist texts when I was a Zen Student and I was taught for twelve years in the Buddhist way as i was born a Buddhist before being converted to Islam at the age of twelve, perhaps i have my little insight into the religions of my ancestors and those of Islam and Christianity as I was married twice and both were Cahtolic Americans.But in this day and age of the Internet it is no big deal to quote any text Buddhist or otherwise when you write, all you need to do is ask the right questions and chances are you will get the answers all readily packaged for you.So it is no more impressive to quote the scriptures these days and age even if one has done all the footwork to arrive at where one is at. It is  perhaps better to just allow for the sharing to happen without effort or harping over  who is right or wrong. So what if sitting is not your way or my way or the Buddha's way. it is still better than not making an effort at all to understand one's own way seeking  mind or worse yet why become a victim of the dual thinking mind that the Buddha has sought to eliminate with.Lastly my take on sitting meditation or Zazen is that one either sits on one's Ass or one's mind this is what makes the difference, and as for attaining Samadhi or Mokhsha or Satori, one can as easily do this after taking a real healthy crap one morning  or after having a great piece of AS.
I write this with all due respect for a learned friend and fellow Buddhist scholar.

No comments: