Anxiety Time: Stress vs the Buddha

Anxious: up at night.
Thinking, stressing, waiting - Thin…
(Sleep is for the weak.)

Oddly nauseous.
Fighting for my right to stay
Really not all fun.

Up early In the morn' —
Or is it still late at night?
Is there a diff'rence?

Get-ing there early:
Good, right? Please tell me that's good!
Either way: moving.

Move - Stop — Go - Stoplights - ...
Early buses take longer;
All move as one now.

People take too long!
*Fidget wheels fidget further*
When you feel like this …

Move - Keep moving! - MOVE! - move?
Moving in slow motion, eh?
I see what you do … !

“Mindfulness is it.

Meditation will help you!

Focus on the breath …

Examine the breath.

It’s okay to be like this,

We will help you through.”

Sitting firm, upright.
Zazen shuts the mind right down -
Waves of stillness work.

No one can move oceans
The depth brings the stillness home —
Silence is your friend.

Breath stills the big things
And makes all things quieter
out in out in out …

Meditation from Thursday 24 September 2015

It is Thursday 24 September 2015 - some interesting big things have happened recently. You are up now - the house is quiet, it's dark, it's 1 o'clock in the morning here. The air is pregnant with possibilities.

You were annoyed.
You listen in the dark quiet to your body.
You hear the thunder - the noise is infectious.
You smile.
This is you.
You are sitting ill.
You can't lie down - that makes your illness worse right now.
You smile your subtle smile.
This is a gift.
You sit like you sat before.
You sit and listen to yourself.
You smile at the noise.
What happens happens.
Such a way to experience your body!
Listen to it groan and moan in it's pain.
Feel it do what it needs to rid itself of illness.
This body is not you.
It is a vessel you are given the opportunity to express yourself with and in.
Take care of it.
No gift lasts for ever.
You were annoyed.

Someone made you ill.
You saw many people recently.
It most likely was the person you know that had a recently ill family and discovered they could be ill themselves.
Was it them?
It could have been anyone else though too.
Your illness may not be their illness.
It matters not.
You are ill.
You need to to what you need to get better.
Let that process occur.

You learn from your body.
You learn the signs of your body in stress, your body in pain.
This is what it feels like to be ill like this now.
All ills are different.
This one is unique.
This one will never occur like this again.
Smile.
Sit.
Bow.
Take reverence in the moment.
What this moment is sharing with you now is fleeting.

This message - this text - will never be taught upon like this again to anyone ever.
Sit.
Bow.
Smile.

If something this ... uncomfortable can teach you, then all can teach you.
When you open your ears and hear - there is opportunity to learn.
Learn.
Share.
Grow.
Use this ill - use this lesson to increase your knowledge of you.
Your power.
Your understanding.

When the lesson ceases only the idea remains.
Beyond words - remember.
Use the idea wisely - use it sparingly.
That is how you get better.
Idea of a person can never be touched or handled with human contact, with human words.

You remain untouched, lighting the way of the world - being the mirror reflecting the light.
You are light.
You are ill.
You are you.

The illness of this world will not cease while this world continues.
You may use it to debase yourself - to spread the dis-ease.
You can use it to reflect the world back on itself.
You can use it to reflect the light, the way of the world back on to the world.
Light the darkness and shine forth.

One Thing at a Time

It is wonderful to learn to do one thing at a time. When we do formal zazen, we just sit; this means we do not add to the sitting any judgments such as how wonderful it is to do zazen, or how badly we are doing at it. We just sit.

When we wash the dishes, we just wash dishes; when we drive on the highway, we just drive. When pain comes, there is just pain, and when pleasure comes, there is just pleasure. A Buddha is someone who is totally at one with his experience at every moment.

- Francis Dojun Cook, How to Raise an Ox, Wisdom Publications