Sitting Practice – How to Meditate

Just Sitting in Meditation – Relaxation, Breathing, True Nature

—The Art and Practice of Non-Doing in Meditation, Part Three—
>>> Part One: The Practice of Non-Doing in Meditation – Wu Wei, Nature

Many who wish to learn non-doing are crossing from an individuated state to a spiritual state and fear the loss of their individuality. Know that individuality only increases. Look at the difference between Krishna and Buddha-one is sitting and one is dancing. Individuality is not lost through non-doing but emphasized. Our spontaneity naturally reveals us to ourselves. We ARE diverse. Nature IS diverse. Diversity arises out of liberation (as opposed to de-liberation).

You may have noticed that those who have mastered the art of allowing and embrace their true nature radiate a distinct beauty. This is because beauty is the energetic side of truth. Beauty is how truth manifests. A person of truth is compelling. We want to be close. We want to become this truth. We are attracted because we want more of it for ourselves. We want to live with that kind of freedom. We want to live with that level of relaxation-yes, relaxation.

Non-doing is effortless. It is relaxing. Look at how beautiful people are when they are sleeping soundly. It is truth-just lying there breathing. The doing is all taken care of. In the state of non-doing we are as light as a feather. Our energy is boundless for we are not in conflict. It is our lack of inspiration that makes things so difficult and heavy. When we are inspired, we are simply following our excitement. We “find” ourselves doing things. We are not forcing it. We simply witness it.

This is why meditation practice can work so well as a way to get to know non-doing. We practice it while we are doing very little to begin with- just sitting there breathing- on our bums for hours. Experiment with relaxation. Work on slowing down the parade of mental traffic. The more we slow the traffic of the mind, the greater the relaxation.

It is not a matter of having to empty the mind of mental traffic completely before one starts experiencing results. Slowing the internal dialogue occurs by degrees. The traffic slows little by little. As the traffic slows our thoughts become more transparent. We can readily see to what degree we are triggered by them. It becomes clear whether our lives are being run by our habitual thoughts or by our present-tense awareness.

With this recovered freedom from our habitual thoughts we feel joy-the joy of possibility. This is how we always know we are on the right track. If we feel relaxed and joyful then we are doing the right thing. The tree in your backyard is expressing pure joy. The sun as it rises expresses pure joy. It is not concerned about what the neighbors think. It does not amp up its expression in the face of judgment. It does not perform. It answers only to itself and its joy.

Imagine the simple joy you see in young children-a joy that comes from innocence and wonder-the innocence and wonder of one who trusts without having any proof of anything or feeling the need to prove anything. How can they trust so implicitly? Where does this trust come from? The answer is simple. It is ourselves that we are trusting when we trust.

In meditation, deep within the core of our being, we come to realize clearly that there is but one being. We all are this one being-and this one being seeks nothing more but to know itself as one trust and one love. How can it be otherwise? As all beings are one, then all beings carry this same understanding deep within. Some may be in touch with it and some may need a reminder. We teach by modeling. We learn by example. Be joy. Be love. Be trust.

Zazen, Kinhin Meditation – Being Present, Aware, Mindful

—An Interview with Genjo Marinello Osho, Part Two—
>>> Part One: Do Zazen – How to Sit Zazen – The Nature of Reality – Breath

Meditation How: Thank you for sharing that description of posture for sitting meditation practice. You say your mind at times “settles beyond or beneath this transitory phenomenal world” and I wonder what that is like. Is it the mind that settles? Is it pure awareness? Are you in the picture at all at that point?

Genjo: Yes, that’s it, the mind settles, like the ripples on a pond. On occasion when the mind settles, the water of the mind, awareness, becomes pure, clear and undisguised, clearly reflective of reality just as it is. There is a sense of union and being seamless with all creation. Up to this point, there is still a vague sense of self and other, but it doesn’t feel very substantial, almost transparent. At what can be called a deeper or broader settling of mind, self disappears along with any idea of “mind.”

This is a kind of going down the rabbit-hole experience. In this meditation experience whatever is looked at becomes “you”, the whole universe and beyond. It is as though “mind” becomes aware of the unfathomable depths of the “water” of “mind” and all so called phenomenal reality is penetrated and is realized as the vast “black/empty” void. I think an easy way to impart this sort of experience is to think of two mirrors looking into each other, there is an infinite regression into “blackness” or “emptiness.”

Meditation How: I find your response so compelling. I especially like the rabbit-hole image, along with the two mirrors facing each other, just like two people perhaps. I wonder, does this emptiness also feel absolutely full, perhaps of potential? If so, can this potential and fullness be felt?

Genjo: Yes and definitely.

Meditation How: Perfect. I have one more question. I wonder if you could share the contrast you experience if any, between time in meditation and those times when you are not in meditation. Perhaps some indication of how this may have changed over time. In short, the benefits that have carried over into other areas of your life such as relationships, work, etc.

Genjo: Slowly but surely all of life becomes the continuous mindfulness practice of being fully present to whatever activity one is engaged in. As I understand it, this is the point of more structured meditation such as zazen to be the foundation of a life of mindfulness and being present to the presence in all that we do.

Being “present to the presence” is being aware of the “absolute” or “emptiness” or “inconceivable” in everything and in all that we do. I see a progression of practice from chanting, to silence (zazen), to simple motion (kinhin) such as walking, running, Tai Chi…, to simple work (samu) such as sweeping, weeding, chopping vegetables…, to more complex behavior such as one’s work place, relationships and even politics.

Meditation How: I understand. Thank you for participating and sharing so much of your meditation practice.

Genjo: You’re welcome.

Zazen, Tai Chi, Kinhin Meditation - Being Present - Aware, Mindful

About Genjo: Genjo Marinello Osho is the abbot of the Seattle Zen temple, Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen Ji. He has been a Zen meditation practitioner since 1975, was ordained a monk in 1980, became a full priest (Osho) in 1990, and was named a Dharma Heir in his lineage in May of 2008. Read Genjo’s Extended Biography.

TM Mantras, Meditation – Transcendental, Just Sitting

—An Interview with Doreen on TM, Part One—
In this three part interview, Doreen speaks about her early experiences with Transcendental Meditation, her Mantra, Lucid Dreaming, and her Awakening Experiences.

Meditation How: You have mentioned that, as a meditation practice, you experimented with TM. What exactly is Transcendental Meditation?

Doreen: You realize that I don’t know exactly what Transcendental Meditation is…right?

Meditation How: I just want to interview you about your experience with it. We’ll scratch the surface and hope that someone will come along and tell us more about it.

Doreen: Okay, so I don’t know what Transcendental Meditation is. I have never been interested to find out! What I do know is that I was “initiated” at age 16 (I recall paying a sum for this) on the whim of a friend. What I remember ‘clearly’ from this experience was the initiation experience. After attending a series of classes on how Transcendental Meditation works (the scientific ‘proof’…none of which I remember except for a chalk board and drawn on it is a vertical stack of ellipses) we attended a special individual ceremony.

Part of this rite involved honoring Guru Dev with our individual offering of fruit and flowers (maybe something else?) It was cool! (I recall, feeling like…this does not “jive” with the emphasis of the classes… being on “science”…Ha!) Nonetheless I liked it!! A woman gave me my mantra in this subdued celebration (of sorts.) I feel like she whispered it in my ear… though, I may never know for sure.

The concept, though…it was critical for the effective use of the mantra not to utter or share this “word/sound” with another person! (In writing this I realize that I do not recall… why? We (my friend) wanted to learn this). It was just, somehow, a cool thing to do. Although, I truly did not share this experience with my friends! (it may have been ‘thought’ to be weird by my other friends… I tended to have a wide range of friends, many whom did not mix).

Meditation How: Where did this all happen and how many people were involved?

Doreen: It happened at Williams College, in a classroom. And the initiation rite happened in a hallway of one of the college buildings. One evening, after receiving the mantra, we meditated in a lounge area on the college campus, in a group of maybe 10-14 folks. I recalled that we never “practiced” using the mantra until that group setting…and that was the last meeting.

There were about 2-4 (?) people involved in the “teaching” and mini-ceremony. I truly do not remember…or feel the presence from other learners. I know I sat in a circle in a comfortable cushioned couch during the group meditation…and felt “transported”… though, remember not a person there. And I recall, meditating once with my friend in her home…I can see parts of being there, though not the actual meditation.

Meditation How: Do you remember being told what to expect from this type of meditation?

Doreen: No! That is the most curious part of it! I’d be “making it up” if I said something, now.

TM Mantras, Meditation - Transcendental, Just Sitting

Meditation How: Did it feel familiar to you– just sitting meditation combined with looking within?

Doreen: Totally familiar and easy. What felt completely uncomfortable was sitting and doing TM, twice a day for the required 15 minutes each session. Therefore I ‘dropped’ it. ‘Retained the “mantra”…and used it in “my own” way…later on in my life.

>>> Part Two: Experiences with Lucid Dreaming

Meditation Practice – Sitting, Healing, Awakening, Nature

—An Interview with Benjamin Dean, Part Two—
>>> Part One: First Meditation – Meditation Experience (Self, Identification)

Meditation How: Do you see other folks unfolding in to this remembering now, and what if any is our role in assisting this “awakening”?

Benjamin: Life is so subjective that is very difficult to know what is going on with others. We have language for this and still it’s difficult. I have to reflect upon my days in theatre to answer this first one. As a dramatist if you want to reveal character to the audience you stick them in a rough situation. If you want to reveal their moral fiber for instance you make it really easy for them to get away with something and watch them struggle (or not).

Circumstances reveal character far better than chatting with them, just as modeling is the preferred way of teaching (which I believe answers your second question). If we can get excited about our own waking up to the joy in life then it will naturally excite others. There is an episode in one of the Castaneda books where Don Juan is telling Carlos a story about a father and his son. The son is so absolutely entitled and a bully of sorts. Don Juan recommends that the father hire someone to scare the living daylights out of him—out of nowhere.

His argument for this is that the boy needs to develop more respect for the irrational and unknown. After the boy has been caught off guard and beaten a bit for no reason whatsoever he will paying a little more attention to the unknown and the father can be there to comfort him with guidance. This is healing. I love this story and I have to admit that I am sometimes compelled to throw the occasional wrench though officially I don’t see it as any of my business.

No-one should impose a time-frame for development on any other being or even play God believing they know what anyone needs. One CAN however play Nature and this is how I see it. If I am compelled then this is nature— just as our emotional lives make the law of attraction clear. It is not pre-meditated just meditated. It is not governed by any prevailing idea, only the truth of the moment. Nature is healing.

Meditation How: So, today is there a type of meditation that you practice regularly? And with “yes or no” what has been the effect or benefit of your blossoming in awareness? Also do you believe there truly exists “moral fiber” or “character”?

Benjamin: I started a sitting meditation practice soon after Alan Watts and Mescaline. It remains my preferred approach. I just sit still with legs crossed. I just sit. It has been thirty or so years. Only within the last ten or twelve years has it been significant in terms of healing. Before then it was out of curiosity and the determination to become awakened. I had a breakthrough a couple of years after I started and since then I have just been “cleaning house”.

>>> Part Three: Letting Go of Pain – The Mind (Deep Meditation, Good and Evil)