Mon, 16 Oct 2006
Recycled Crap
I feel like I'm about to come down with a cold. Here's a comment I posted to Brad's blog.
Since reading Brads book i have developed a keen interest in Buddhist beliefs and have recently started to practice zazen.I struggle with it and feel some times that i just don't get it but persevere in a blind faith that the penny will eventually drop.
Meditation practice does have the infuriating quality that you feel you just don't get it...if only you work a little harder, then you'll see it. The problem is, you're looking in the wrong direction because of your preconceptions. The only advice I can give is to sit without any hope of getting anything or fear of missing it. Just simple minded practice every day. Eventually your preconceptions will show themselves for what they are: just more thoughts. And when they are dropped, the truth that was always there will stand revealed.
Oh, and one more thing. You also need a teacher you can trust to keep you from going off in the wrong direction. In my experience the biggest problem people have is attachment to meditation. Usually beginners are attached to the external form of practice and older students to the sense of peace they get from practice. (Yes, practice starts out boring but doesn't stay boring.) Also, sometimes people will trip out on some theory. The teacher is there to shake you up when this happens.
Please don't let minor problems stand in the way of finding a teacher you can work with.
