I’m writing lately about proprioception and sitting the lotus; I write for myself, first and foremost, but I’m hoping this approach will also serve for Westerners who want to learn to sit the lotus. I don’t sit many sesshins, and I don’t care if my sitting is ten minutes or 50; maybe I average about 30. It’s about stretch, ...
The Link Between the Waking and the Sleeping States
Trance as I am sure you understand is anathema to Zen teachers. The notion of someone on a cushion entering into a state where they might be suggestible, vulnerable to someone like Bela Lugosi in a kimono and fright wig is bound to be repudiated in any zendo.
The really odd thing is that in the earliest records we have of the teachings of Gautama ...
Crossing the Line
When I first started to sit, I couldn’t sit cross-legged in any posture for more than about 5 minutes.
After awhile I was able to get in the posture and experience some kind of ease and even absorption, and that kept me at it. The fact is, it’s a stretch, and the appropriate stretch is an involuntary function of the location of awareness ...