Starting Up Questions

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Michael Cannon, modified 11 Years ago at 5/18/12 10:02 AM
Created 11 Years ago at 5/17/12 4:21 PM

Starting Up Questions

Posts: 28 Join Date: 5/16/12 Recent Posts
Hello, I'm more or less posting to
1.) Try to get a feel for it, as I've never done this before.
2.) Establish my arrival, as I'm new here.
3.) Express that there's SO MUCH material on here it's a little overwhelming, and maybe find out how to get started.

I am new practitioner with an average of 30 minutes a day for the last eight months. I've been sitting zazen but I like the explicit categorization of the Mahasi Sayadaw maps.

I'm sorry to ask questions that've probably been answered a million times, but with so much material to sift through, well, you know.

Anyone switch from Zen to this Thervada style?

Anyone do both? There's a comfortability I have with Zen that I enjoy (could be attached to.) I associate with the straight back discipline, the minimalism, koans, etc. and I've always wanted to sit Sesshin.

Any starter points for someone who really wants to:

>develop concentration, and does a ten breath count
>can devote an hour a day for right now,
>still breaks out in childish temper tantrums when his knees go numb or has difficulty focusing
>has had (1) That Was Weird and (3) Holy Crap I Stayed On Top of My Breath the Whole Time!

I also apologize for being another white male with a receding hairline, but what can you do.

Thanks much,
Mike Cannon
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katy steger,thru11615 with thanks, modified 11 Years ago at 5/18/12 4:49 AM
Created 11 Years ago at 5/18/12 4:47 AM

RE: Starting Up Questions

Posts: 1740 Join Date: 10/1/11 Recent Posts
Hi Michael,

Welcome to the Dho.

First, I have no authorization to teach and I am not offering this, so please consider my comments (if you do) as thoughts from a peer who practices and that your urge to go to sesshin/retreat is a useful in many regards, not least that it should place you in the company of a teacher with an authorization to teach that you can both question and satisfy to your confidence.

So, yes, my first exposure to meditation [edit: training] was zen (soto) from "Little" Suzuki's people. That was a long time ago. I appreciate their teaching a lot.

I think a person can make a case for practices being very different, but from my perspective at this moment, many practices seem very similar. Traditions have their ways of building ethical discipline, equanimity, concentration and insight.

So, I think anapanasati is an excellent tool to add to sitting, and it seems as though you are already doing it. It is like making the breath like the needle and presser foot on a sewing machine: one is sewing their breath to the spot just above the upper lip and just below the nose where air pulls in and releases out. This builds concentration and gives a person a time in the day where all thoughts are just tools to redirect the mind back to sewing itself to the spot of anapanasati.

Pointers:
- I would not hesitate to use a chair to get started and maintain a friendly, welcoming attitude with my self and efforts. The knee/leg pain does not need to be confronted (and cross-legged can always be added later). A chair is certainly fine. One can always look at what they are trying to get out of the cross-legged posture and ask if there is some craving in that. Stabilizing the mind on an object (like the breath) is the important aspect: it takes repeated, sustained willingness to trade arising thoughts and feelings for the anapanasati again and again.

- As for mindfulness in the day, this is just as important.


Best wishes
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Michael Cannon, modified 11 Years ago at 5/28/12 12:21 AM
Created 11 Years ago at 5/28/12 12:21 AM

RE: Starting Up Questions

Posts: 28 Join Date: 5/16/12 Recent Posts
Hey Katy, thank you for the response and for the welcoming. I like the sewing machine metaphor. I've added it to my list of attention-on-breath metaphors, which sometimes really can spell the difference between flying away and sustaining (reapplying) focus. Your other comments also helped mitigate some concerns over technique and traditions. See you around.

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