I infiltrated a temple!!

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Ancient Dragon Zen Gate

First, I made a fool of myself by wearing my shoes .

Then I went and did the intro to meditation meeting. Basically, they explained proper protocol for bowing and sitting. The only instructions for meditation was to count the exhales from one to ten.

Then we took our seats on zafus (small, round cushions) that faced the wall. They rang the bell three times, and we began sitting meditation...

For forty five minutes .

I have to say, I thought it was really fun. It was only a little difficult to stay in position. The other newbies there seemed to have a lot harder time than me though, they said the pain was really bad.

The difficult part is trying to control your mind. The point is to focus on breathing and posture. That's it.

But it was so cool. I only really started getting into following the breath about halfway through.

Okay, and this is the part where it sounds like I am on drugs, but I assure, I am sober.

About thirty five minutes in I developed a really friendly feeling with the brick in the wall I was staring at. It was like saying, "Hello, brick." Then I turned that friendliness towards my breath, "Hello, breath," and I totally sunk into my breathing.

That is pretty much the only way I can explain it.

And then they rang the bell again. We did prostrations, a bow that takes you all the way to the ground. And we chanted the Heart Sutra, which I only kinda understood.

To celebrate the holiday for the Bodhidharma, they held a short skit. It was the one where Emperor Wu questioned the him about merit and asked him who he was. His response, "I don't know."

And then we had some discussion about the story. Oh, and we had tea and snacks.

Then we chanted the Four Vows. I probably should have been more mindful of the actual meaning of the vows, but the chanting sounded really cool.

And then I skipped all the way home .

(Not really, but I was really effing happy)

Oh, and you'll be happy to know that the teacher only referred to rebirth once, saying, "if you believe it literally or not," or something like that.

And he said that faith in holy books and authorities is dumb!

So this is the first non-Christian temple I've gone to. Mostly because I only had the balls to go because I needed to do it for an assignment due this Thursday.

I hope to go someplace new next week.

 

[JoeEllison]

I'm not sure if tea and snacks is as good as punch and pie...

 

[Apology]

Meditation and chanting or repetitious vocalizations really can change your state of mind quite dramatically. I'm not a big fan of chanting although I know it does work; the thing is, you can get the same effect whether you're chanting sacred Sutras or reciting the lyrics to "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". If you get into chanting try the Row-Row Challenge I noticed the Row-Row Effect, as I call it, on some dumb environmental protest back in the early 90's. We were chanting some nonsense protesty thing when boom, it was just like chanting a mantra, except it was some dumb touchy-feely don't hurt the trees type rhyme rather than a sacred religious rite. I changed my mantra to the first line of Row-Row-Row-Your-Boat, and noticed absolutely no change in effectiveness. I think the Row-Row effect in chanting comes into play in many types of repetitive prayers; reciting of the Lord's Prayer, Hail Marys in the Catholic faith, and definitely in the repetitive nature of Islamic prayer.

The ceremonies can be kind of cool.

Meditation usually focuses on clearing the mind of every day tensions. It's hard to clear the mind, because how does one think of nothing? Even if you're thinking about nothing, you're still thinking. You confine your mind to one small detail of your universe, your own breathing, concentrate on that, and shut everything else out. Now you're almost thinking about nothing, so your mind is almost clear. If you spend 45 minutes a day in meditation, you spend 45 minutes a day with your mind in a state of focused concentration, the focus being, clearing your mind of extraneous input.

I can't really explain your experience with the bricks. Sometimes the mind can play weird tricks on you when you spend 35 minutes concentrating on your own breathing. It does sound like you achieved a deep meditative state after that. With practice you can drop into a meditative state fairly quickly and the weird sitting position becomes less painful because you don't notice it. Of course, the weird sitting position isn't necessary either. You can meditate lying down provided you can trust yourself to not fall asleep instead. Sitting in a chair works too.

I'm sure this temple is nice and straightforward. They're just practicing traditional zen buddhism, nothing wrong with that really. All they really want from you is your participation. They're usually not pushy or anything either, you really have to want to join, and they will not press if you don't. At least they're sincere, and not after much of your money. There's probably a pretty straightforward Temple Gift Shop for that. That being said:

Beware of woo. There are plenty of charlatans out there making outrageous claims of benefits of the powers of chanting and meditation, usually followed by a solicitation for their special course or retreat. These are the type of claims that should raise a red flag:

1. Meditation can change your karma or luck. You'll get that car you wanted, your kids will get all A's in school, and your wife will lose weight. All lies.
2. There is a special secret combination of words that is more effective than other words. I will teach them to you if you buy my book, $29.95 at Borders.
3. Meditation can effect anything outside of your own mind and body. If they are saying that meditation will win you success in business, they are lying.
4. Meditation will extend your life (There are proven health benefits, but life extension claims are entirely unproven and bogus.)
5. Meditation can be used to treat medical conditions with the exception of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and chronic pain. If they are talking about curing or preventing cancer with meditation, they are lying.

 

[Dancing David]

Bodhidharma, what do they want for their birthday?

Did you wear funny hats?

Sounds good, I agree with apology you can pray to Fred Flinstone and get about the same effect. But the context does have a lot to do with the experience.

Meditating in the wilderness is different than doing it an intersection.

Sounds like you 'opened your heart' to the brick YB. When meditating I use the phrase 'Thank You' a lot ... 'thinking Thank You ... memory Thank You ... thinking about memory Thank You...' I don't 'focus on breathing Thank You' because that would be 'thinking about breathing Thank You' .

 

[Senex]

Infiltrated or initiated

 

[Dancing David]

Inebriated?