Don’t worry about feeling/looking foolish or doing things incorrectly- it’s expected that you’re learning the rules and process, and you’ll understand it all in time. Take any reminders or corrections as friendly-- nobody should be using a harsh tone with you, especially since you’re a newbie. Also, I find that seiza position gets easier when you do it on a regular basis-- it still is numbing, but it encourages you to sit up straight much more effectively than the cross-legged position, and you’ll feel better afterward, even if you’re a little numb from the knees down.
I don’t know how the Buddhists feel about this, but my class suggested just using a chair. Something that allows you to sit up straight with your feet flat on the floor, preferably without resting your back against the chair. That has worked best for me. I was surprised that even lying down on a squishy mat for 30-40 minutes, my ass would fall asleep!
You could try a medium or large Peace Bench from this place, and do “sky position,” so there’s less pressure on your legs.
You can also take some advice from my physical therapist, who is trying to undo the damage of my slouching ways. Practice sitting properly at home, at work, and in the car. You can roll up a towel, and put it behind you right where your back curves in (this is higher than most “lumbar support” seats put their bulge), or you can sit on a wedge shaped cushion, so your pelvis is tilted forward, and you can’t really slouch. It’s amazing how weak my mid-lower back had gotten, and between PT and my coincidental interest in zazen, it’s getting better, but yeah, you have to work up to it.
Well, in a chair you still have to sit up straight with your pelvis forward and a curve in your back, so I don’t really see the difference - I think my lower back is just so weak it’s literally incompetent. I can’t really bend it. Guess I should try yoga again.
I’m actually considering getting one of those tilt seats from the link there, funnily enough, for the office. That’s one place where my posture is at its absolute laziest. It would hurt like a motherfucker for a while, though.
Trust me, I understand. I would just start with 10-15 minutes and go from there.
There is one position I haven’t tried - the “blast off” position. Lie on your back on a padded surface, with your calves and feet resting on the seat of a chair. Everything is supported. Disadvantage is it’s easy to fall asleep. My husband does this position with one arm raised with the elbow on the floor. That way if it starts to flop, he wakes up.
Oh, and the other thing about the back pain - I thought I was sitting up straight, and that area of my back was killing me. Then my Pilates instructor told me to sit up straight. “No, straight.” “No, straight puts me straight.” Turns out I was leaning forward. When I’m straight, it feels a bit like I’m tilting back. I can’t say it was perfectly comfortable, but that did help with the back fatigue.
My understanding of do not “eat meat” was historically based on not having animals slaughtered for you. Some Buddhist live in regions that need a meat diet to survive.
Sorry to drag up an old post, Spice.
It is important to have definitions for mystical. People tend to talk about different things when using that term.
From Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism The Nature and Development of a Spiritual Consciousness.
This is a book studying the Christian Mystics.
“Mysticism is essentially a movement of the heart, seeking to transcend the limitations of the individual and to surrender itself to ultimate Reality ”
Characteristics of Mysticism
a. Mysticism is practical, not theoretical
b. Mysticism is an entirely Spiritual Activity
c. The business and method of Mysticism is Love
d. Mysticism entails a definite psychological experience.
True Mysticism is never self-seeking
.…it even had a name perhaps makyo
*Zen holds nothing sacred; it is the great equalizer. *
language is important here. “Nothing” has a different connotation in Zen.
It can also be said, " Zen holds everything sacred."
“Those who regard the mundane as a hindrance to the sacred,
only realize that in the mundane, nothing is sacred.
What they have not yet realized is that
in sacredness, nothing is mundane.”