Poll for Buddhists (& allies)

In My Humble Opinion
21

Let’s see. After our recent discussion, I decided to go ahead and call myself a Buddhist.

I try to meditate every day, usually for about 20 minutes. If I’m lucky I’d like to get in 30-45 minutes, but there is no time lately. I try to blog about my experience too, but again, time is a barrier.

Because of the way my life runs, I meditate in public all the time. There’s just no other way I’ll get it done. So I sit in the lounge area of the locker room at the Y, plug in my earbuds and blast Naturespace to drown out Rachel Ray on the TV, and try to pay attention to my breathing. It has definitely been like exposure therapy for self-consciousness. Most of my thoughts at first were what people must be thinking of me, but I’ve mostly gotten beyond that.

I like the idea of joining a group, but I must admit I’m a lot more comfortable at the prospect of the UU mindfulness group, which will most likely be ex-Christian WASPy types, over barging into the new temple in Raleigh, which is mostly Chinese folk, and which is a melding of Zen (cool!) and Pure Land (:rolleyes:).

Which leads to . . . I have no belief in anything supernatural. I voted that I do believe in Oneness. Not only is it factual that we all come from the same singularity, but it is useful to reflect on this fact, IMHO.

I am striving toward Buddha-nature: it is wonderful to let go of some of my clinging, to be much more compassionate, and to experience life as I go along. So if I can cultivate all that and more, great. Again, not as something supernatural, but as an acknowledgment that this system unlocks potential that seems to be inherent in the human mind.

My practice is vital to my mental health. My stress levels are lower and my depression is kept at bay, in part due to mindfulness. I could never make CBT work very well, and now I realize that’s because you have to first “hear” what you’re thinking, before you can do something about it. And paradoxically (like so much in Zen), just hearing thoughts is often enough to defuse them, without using CBT.

22

I’m the same way. There’s a lovely place not far from here but I’m not going alone and nobody I know would go.

23

If you’re in a metropolitan area you could probably scare up a Doper to go along. Hell, I’d go if I were in the area.

24

By the way, your blog is awesome. I enjoyed reading your thoughts and am glad you’ve found some peace with your practice.

25

I couldn’t check any of the choices that begin “I believe…”

26

Yeah, I was of two minds about that. On the one hand, yes, to a certain significant extent, Zen and most other Buddhist schools doesn’t focus on beliefs at all, but in the other thread someone brought up a rhetorical question about whether you’re a “real” Buddhist if you don’t follow certain trappings, including karma, reincarnation, etc. [Wikipedia article on Faith in Buddhism, for the curious] Note I often paired the “belief” statements with an “experiential” equivalent, and I just remembered that forgot to add “Have you personally recalled events from a past life?” to the poll (so if anyone wants to give examples of that, knock yourself out).

27

I try to do at least an hour of sitting a day. 25 minutes in the morning, 25 at night, and 10 minutes of walking meditation.

I sit in either half lotus or sometimes (when I do a lot of stretching beforehand) full lotus. I’ve got a Zafu and Zabuton, made from Kapok.

If I sit for longer periods of time I might use a Seiza bench to give my legs a break.

28

Zen is 100% about being human.

29

Anyone who proclaims “I am a buddhist” is not a buddhist.

Meditate on that!