Space for Questions
DROPPING OFF ALL VIEWPOINTS
WAS THE SITTING-ZEN THEY SAT
HOW THEY DID IT I DON'T KNOW
HAIL DOGEN, NAG, & GUAT.
Last year I promised MT that I would go through Fukan-zazengi in a systematic way. It occured to me yesterday that the best place to do this would be on my web-page at www.the-middle-way.org. (If I try to do it on this blog, the characters will appear in reverse order.) And so, with my usual grim determination, I have made a start already.
But if there are any questions on what I have covered so far on this blog, or on any other aspect of either version of Fukan-zazengi, please fire away here. You can rest assured that I will do my best to get the answer right, with the kind of grim determination that can be mustered only by one who is desperately clinging on to his own body and life.
Are there any questions?
posted by Mike Cross at 6:24 AM
7 Comments:
Actually, I have a question for you, but its not exactly about the fukan-zazengi.
My question for you is, how--if at all--have your sitting periods changed over the years...do the same kinds of issues plague you now as did the first few days you sat?
Do you sit for longer periods than you used to? Do you deal with issues that come up differently, such as boredom, tiredness, hyperactivity, etc?
I'm very interested in people's experience of meditation and how much of it seems to overlap with my own.
Sometimes it can help me to see my own issues in a different light.
I know you work a LOT on posture, whether its by non-doing, or thinking (non-thinking), but some of that sort of stuff flies over my head.
So I guess I'm looking a little more for layman's descriptions of how your practice has evolved...
Anyway, feel free not to answer that if it doesnt interest you.
Also, I'd be curious to get your thoughts on the kind of practice I'm doing and how it relates to the stuff you talk about.
I write about it here...
www.gangstazen.blogspot.com
Hi Aaron,
Fukan-zazengi is a truly precious gem that Master Dogen gave us. Somehow, even as a very immature young man, 25 years ago, I could understand that. In my desperate groping about for something truly valuable, I could intuit that here, in Fukan-zazengi, there was something truly valuable -- something worth devoting a life to.
The struggle I had then was to drop off my own viewpoint and get the point of Fukan-zazengi. The struggle I have now, every day, is to drop off my own viewpoint and get the point of Fukan-zazengi.
In that respect, you and I, Aaron, are in just the same boat.
When I say “struggle,” I mean a real struggle. That is how I experience it: a continuous struggle to drop off my own viewpoint and get the point -- to be a target that is hit. I am not talking about something at all easy.
Hi Mike,
Just a question about the photo, do you use the insence stick as a timer? I've alternated between using insence, setting a timer, or looking at my watch --- I suppose this is an issue of personal preferance and best decided by whatever the individual finds the most helpful.
There is something very pleasant about burning insencse and being able to see the stick burn down while sitting makes for a most convient and trust worthy time keeper.
take care,
Greg
Hi Gregor,
Yes, I do often use a stick of incense as a timer.
To use a stick of incense, I agree, can be more pleasant than a clock. At the same time, the demise of an incense stick can be a meaningful, direct and stern reminder of the close relation between time and the big law of the Universe -- the 2nd law of thermodynamics, aka "time's arrow."
Has any case been documented yet of the ash in an incense burner turning back into a stick of incense?
All the best
Mike, Are the two characters that comprise ijun in opposition to each other.
Could you say more about this disobedience.
Thanks for your work on this translation, Pete.
Hi Pete,
Hi Pete,
Thanks for raising an important point.
Yes, I am sure you are right -- I and JUN are two concepts opposed to each other.
I means being at odds with, disliking, thinking something to be bad. JUN means being suited, liking, thinking something to be good.
For many years I have understood IJUN as one concept, and in my regular reciting of Fukan-zazengi, it didn't occur to me to question this understanding. But since you asked me the question, it seems obvious -- I-JUN means disliking and liking, two concepts, not disobedience as one concept.
My original starting point for studying Fukan-zazen-gi was the translation by Gudo Nishijima and Jeff Bailey in the first edition of their book To Meet the Real Dragon. That translation goes:
"if any discriminating thoughts of good and bad should arise in our minds, we will be lost in confusion -- unable to decide what to do."
So in that original translation, although the translation was interpretive (because Jeff wasn't working from the original Chinese characters), the sense of I and JUN as opposite concepts (thoughts of good vs bad) was clearly retained.
When I came to re-do the translation as a more literal translation, I mis-understood IJUN as one concept, not two. Gudo probably didn't realize that I had misunderstood it -- after all the meaning is roughly the same -- so when he came to check my draft, he wouldn't have felt it necessary to correct my misunderstanding.
Again, thanks for bringing this to my attention, Pete. I will change the translation on my web-page accordingly.
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