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Illusory Flowers In An Empty Sky

Thursday, September 16, 2010
Meditation Isn't Entertainment (Except When It Is)

A close friend of mine, a Vajrayana practioner, was recently told by his teacher to change his way
of meditating. My friend isn't happy about it, because he enjoyed the way he was doing it before,
and doesn't like the way his teacher told him to do it now.

I told him his teacher had given him a precious gift.

A Zen student talked to me about his recent experience with koan practice. He'd had an opening
experience while passing his first koan, but was struggling with his second koan, and feeling
disheartened. "It's like koans are ruining my zazen," he said.

I told him that was a good thing. The zazen that can be ruined, or even affected, isn't really
zazen.

Both of these men have the same complaint: they think there's something wrong with their
meditation when it's not pleasurable or peaceful. They don't like it when it's painful, frustrating
or boring. But pleasure isn't happiness, and comfort isn't peace. Happiness and peace aren't
dependent upon situational or sensory experience. Meditative practice is the practice of being
with things as they are, with yourself as you are. Pleasurable feelings that come up when you sit
are fine. Miserable feelings that come up when you sit are fine. They don't add to or subtract
from the happiness and peace that are always present, that have no causation and so no cessation.

Zen teacher and writer Gary Thorp puts it this way:

For many years now, I've been studying seabirds, marine mammals, and the intertidal life along
these shores. But there is one bird in particular, the storm petrel, that I find of particular interest.
It is the smallest of the world's seabirds, roughly the same size as a sparrow, and weighing not
much more than an ounce. Yet they thrive in the unprotected waters of the open sea, exposed to
winds of the highest velocity, towered over by waves of the greatest magnitude, and hunted by
larger, fiercer birds, sharks, and other predators. The storm petrel is able to survive only by
taking refuge in the vast ocean that surrounds it. Rather than allowing themselves to become
overwhelmed by the enormity of their environment, these fragile and diminutive birds follow the
paths of least resistance. During the worst weather, they place themselves deep down in the
troughs of waves, using their delicate feet to push themselves away from the moving walls of wild
water next to them, and letting the howling winds shear across the crests of waves high above.
This is the bird's own spontaneous dance of resourcefulness and survival, and it is only one
example of the countless ways in which sentient beings take refuge.

Posted by Dogo Barry Graham at 3:03 AM

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Labels: advaita, friends, gary thorp, koans, meditation, peace, practice, samsara, zazen, zen

3 comments:

A Tiny Fold said...

This line particularly hit a note with me: "But pleasure isn't happiness, and comfort isn't peace."

Thursday, September 16, 2010 4:08:00 AM MST

kitano0 said...
I can see the merit of shaking things up, but with all due respect,after years of "cafeteria" style
experiments with different types of meditating, I feel that choosing a type of meditation and
sticking with it is important. It isn't the "type" but the "sticking with" part that really matters,
IMHO

Friday, September 17, 2010 2:21:00 PM MST

Cecily said...
I don't believe that he was talking about these people moving to a different "type" of meditation.
They were both staying within their traditions, if I understand correctly, but both people were
wrestling with discomfort. So possibly in this context the feeling of "sticking with" what works
could be detrimental to the practice, because these people (or all of us) could miss the realization
that they were just hiding from discomfort in their practice. I think it's a valuable reminder.

Saturday, September 18, 2010 5:41:00 AM MST

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"The awesome Barry Graham" - American Book Review

Dogo Barry Graham

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