Wow - got quite a handful of comments, which is great. Thanks.
So someone called You Know Who had a couple of questions. Actually I've no idea who you are, and I confused myself trying to figure it out ;-) but I'll try and answer anyway.
Will I be answering questions posted in the comments? That would be a cautious Yes.
Did I paint the picture of the fool in the post Pure Fool? Hmmm, this suggests you don't know me, otherwise you would surely be aware I have the artistic talent of a bag of dead hedgehogs. So, no. It's clipart, I'm ashamed to admit.
And another unknown reader called The Apprentice has a practice-related question about how to sit for long periods. So I asked a few people.. A common answer was that the period you can sit comfortably for is a function of practice. I've found this to be true. I used to be able to sit for 20 minutes in full lotus before my legs fell asleep; these days it is 40 minutes. Then I just sit cross legged. By alternating between right-leg-on-top-half lotus, left-leg-on-top and cross legged you can sit for much longer.
I'm sure there's some value in observing your mind when the body is in pain, but for me there comes a point where it is a real distraction. If you're doing mindfulness of breathing or something like that you can alternate sitting with mindful walking meditation.
Another very interesting answer was that bodily pain like leg pain is just a function of your negative emotions, and that as mental blockages and energy channels are cleared by meditation, bodily distractions also fall away.
Does that help at all?
If any readers, most of whom are much more experienced than I am, have any other suggestions, please post them.
The Apprentice also asks for a description of the daily routine here. I'd love to write this, when we get back from our trip to Kalimpong. We're going tomorrow. The train journey is something like 24 hours there and 30 hours back, which even Virgin Rail on a bad day would find hard to beat.
It will be Losar, Tibetan New Year, a very auspicious time, when Karmapa will be.. doing some stuff, not sure what, and giving an empowerment. It will, I'm sure, be an adventure. Kalimpong is in the mountains near Sikkim, so no email or blog for the next 6 days.
Take care y'all.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hi Paul!
I hope you have fun up in the mountains, although you should be careful not to join one of those radical Buddhist training camps that take advantage of impressionable British Buddhists.
I can read the newspaper reports now:
It was the last thing the staff at Barclays' Wandsworth branch were expecting. The last thing they heard before the white male in his early thirties bl*w himself up was "I'm so sick of these goddamn overdraft charges!!! BUDDHA AKHBAR!!!"
I'm just kidding, have a great time.
Post a Comment