Buddhists

Molly52 and notself, meditation and how to might be a good subject for discussion. 

Notself, you mention meditating on anicca. 

In Zen you don't meditate on anything, you just breathe.  When I started meditating, I tried to visualize the quietest most peaceful image I could which was the view from my office looking down 28 floors to the water in the early morning.  Sigh, my husband told me I was doing it wrong, at least for Zen meditation.  Now I am better at meditating properly though I still have issues with doing it eyes wide open.

Annica - thanks Notself, for the wiki link on impermanance.  Seems similiar to a friend's mantra.  She says, "this too shall pass".

I had some difficulty with understanding annata. I followed the wiki link - which was helpful, but ..... not an easy concept.  It will take some time to digest.

Has anybody read Eckhert Tolle - he talks about "me and my story" - how, we as people become attached to it - it gives us a sense of identity.

3jaysmom - welcome.  I now very little about all of this.  The only thing I seem to know is that this kind of thinking and doing meditation seem to help me feel more at ease with my life.  For that I am grateful.

Talking about this helps, because it keeps meditation on the top of the mind.

3jaysmom told me about this thread and I certainly appreciate it. I gave up church in the US at least 30 years ago. I've lived in Europe the past 11 years and I'm glad to say that people seem to think that faith and beliefs are personal. It rarely comes up. I'm a yoga teacher and I do meditate. Interested in Buddhism, but have only read a few books on the subject.

Thanks for all the book titles and Web sites. I'm going to peruse them.

Hey all,

I had the loveliest dream last night---thought it was Friday and that tomorrow was the weekend---NOT.  guess I spent too much time with my monsters last night discussing how today is the last day of school.

Re meditation:    I am proud to say that I have actually managed to sit--10 to 15 minutes--every day since May 30. I do it at night before going to bed, though I'd like to start off the day that way.  The last time I was this good at sitting was last spring when I signed up to do the Tricycle "Big Sit" which was supposed to go for 90 days, 20 minutes a pop.  That time I made it from February 23 to mid June which was not all the way to the end but was when we went on family holiday.  I went on holiday with good intentions ---even packed my travel zafu--but can't say they came to fruitition. 

I think part of the problem is that as a beginner, 20 minutes every day was really kind of daunting.  At that time, I was doing 30 minutes 1x a week or so but 20 every day was hard.  This time I started with 15 and that went really well.  Now I am alternating between 15 and 10 and I've done 15 enough times that 10 feels like nothing. 

I do 10 when I "virtually sit" with my husband who is now in Switzerland helping a friend through chemo.  Another use for Skype!  creating your own virtual zendo!  he calls, I set the netbook on the computer, light incense and candle at my end, he hits gong [okay his i-pad hits the gong ] on his end and off we go.

As for impermanence:  in the beginning, that was a hard one for me to wrap my brain around.  My husband would talk about everything being impermanent and I would think he meant our marriage and get all worried.  Silly me, I know! But now I don't have so much of a problem with it.  One thing I think about in connection with impermanence is mountains.  I look out my window at work and I see mt rainier which has been standing here for millions of years.  It was here before the city, before the people, before some of the land.  And then I think about the appalacian [sp] mountains on the east coast---at one time, those used to look like Rainier or even bigger. Some day, when people are long gone, rainier will look like the appalacians.  If mountains change in such a fashion, how can anything be permanent?

i would think if u sat, at any amount, every day, that would be the best of both worlds..listen to me, i dont sit very often, am not budduhist, and dont have a clue, so how can i have an opinion !?!! really enjoy listening to you ladies.. am working on impermanence from different angle. tring to not be attatched.  maybe its too scary the other way for me ??.. if im thinking in spiritual way at all these days, im content..you do talk to your husband after sitting, right??i think thats wonderful that he went to switzerland to support a friend.  my son couldnt pick up a phone, and he lives 5 min away !  there i go again. am trying to think speak of him in positive terms of late  sigh.. my problem is having expectations.. thats kinda about the attatchment thing again. i want the son i want, not the one i have. the truth is, i need to accept the one i have, and maybe well find each other better..or sometthing like that. i just know everytime i have expectations of ple (esp)3jays..im setting myself up for diappointments.but, they dont call, and then I get dissappointed..whats that you say.. i can call them? theyre so scared of reoccurence they wont talk long... just keeping at it...   sorry to spill ...    light and love,      3jaysmom

thanks for the encouragement. i need it, in this area esp.  just this week, i was thrilled they All dropped by to swim at our pool. it really was to butter me up, to see if i could babysit sat. nite.. unfortunately, im having too much trouble with ibs; etc. so, theyre not likely to show up again for ahile. im really just trying my best. will try to scoop up gson this coming wk sometime.again, thanks, its not easy...  

hey girls ! 2day is day 8 from surgery,,and it hit me like a ton of bricks..brought me right back to the first dblmx.. i geuss ive gotten used to not looking close in the mirror..do u guys do that, too, look, but not REALLY compute the picture you're faced with in the mirror? well, i guess i have been, because i now have 2 look for infection, etc..so, my mind is registering what im seeing..from the ps. point of view, everything is great..but inside, my mind is SCREAMING. i no longer have the weird "dog ears" i had, but a 7" cut on ethier side of me.. its horrible, if i compute it.not EVEN like a mans chest would be.. a hollow after that,my masectomy was a radical..so, i guess, the look is radical, 2.. i have to look twice a day,for now. i guess its like the original shock, and it wilkl wear off. everyone says..but he's gonna fix it, and youll be great, right.? NOPE permission denied. my health will bear no more surgery,so ps says this is it...i guess at least i dont have any more worries about how i'll look, this is it. AND, then i see my onco, shes sending me for pet scan, and vaginal etc. ultrasound, she's convinced i have a toumor somewhere i the abdominal/vagnal area, cause my bloat is larger, but no more weight gain..i guess theyll get it all sorted out. one side of me is freaking out;and the other side teells me _ods in charge, my job is to just show up for the tests.. so, for today, im doing my job,trying to let -od do HIS..thanks for listening. off to bed i go. psychologist tomorrow. if ever i needed him, its now..light and love, cherie

somewhere, long ago i read that when water splashes over a rock, its not the water making the splash, its  the rocks lack of acceptance of the flow of water. im really trying to just flow right now. thanks for the encouragement=========what's metta?notself...light and love,    3jaysmom

that is incredibly beautiful, i thank you so much for that wish... light and love, cheriei am awed=========

definitely something to aspire to.  notself, is there a particular on-line version of the metta sutra that you like?

by the way, 2 of 3 monsters are at Dharma Camp right now.  They come home tomorrow, well we drive down to get them.  i think they are having fun---there were no weepy late night calls from #2 child so that is good.  it was interesting to meet some of the other kids who were attending and good, i think, for my kids to see that they are NOT the only buddhist kids in the universe.

Thank you.  I think they are having a fine time  but will know for sure tomorrow, won't I?  The only downside of camp is that it is far away which means the kids they met there will also be far away . . . oh well.

on another note, I found this blog post interesting:  //progressivebuddhism.blogspot.com/2010/06/four-noble-tasks.html

sorry--can't seem to do links or cut and paste in this forum... has anyone read the book it analyzes?  i suspect my husband may have it in his "to read" stack....