Sitting Supplements

The life of Zen attainment is not like standing on a riverbank watching the current and appreciating the water or the landscape as a witness; it is jumping into the current and becoming one with it. - Travor Leggett in the Zen Calendar (May 4, 2004)

Day 49. Hey, I'm 49! I love symmetry. Sometimes this blog seems like it is 49 years old, rather than 49 days. Sometimes it feels like I sit for 49 days rather than 20 minutes. Time is, as they say, relative.

While sitting last night I recalled my commitment to increase my sitting time to 40 minutes beginning with my half birthday on August 3rd. The athlete in me noted that perhaps it would be beneficial to titrate up to the longer time, rather than doubling it over night. I know for a fact that most marathon runners don't jump directly from running a 10k to running 26.2 miles. I thought it would be wise to sit for 25 minutes in April and May, 30 minutes in June, 35 in July, and then I would be conditioned and ready to sit for 40 minutes when August arrives. From this vantage point, that sure seems like a LOT of blogs away. I'm laughing in this moment as I contemplate the idea of "conditioning" to sit on a cushion, while also remembering that Julie on Julie/Julia gave herself plenty of time to work up to tackling the roast duck. Pacing yourself is just good sense.

In addition to increasing my sit time, I've decided to supplement my practice in some other ways. From the moment I began sitting with my teacher, he suggested that we read about Zen Buddhism to complement our zazen. We also chanted in Japanese, which I adored (chanting deserves a blog devoted exclusively to its splendor), and listened to a dharma talk from him each week. Those were lovely perks from belonging to a sangha (all these Buddha words! Sangha refers to a group that sits and studies Buddhism together).

I sat with these ideas during and after zazen last night while my ego wrestled with the question of whether or not broadening my practice in these ways represented a typical Westerner's desire to be excessive in everything. We tend to jump into things zealously, churn like hell for a while, then burn out and quit. That won't do, being as how I have 316 days left to fulfill my promise. I wanted to be certain that my motives were not in the category of attainment, or competition, or over-achievement. I concluded that my desire was simply to deepen my practice - learning in several modalities is conducive to keeping a perpetual "Beginner's Mind."

I can't imagine what will happen when I expand "Sit/Blog" to "Sit/Chant/Read/Blog." I'd better toss in "stretch" as well, because my Buddha Belly is impeding my pedal stroke! And Julie thought roasting a duck was intimidating. Guess I'll begin. Starting with SIT.

Gassho,
CycleBuddhaDoc