What is your opinion of Buddhism, Zen and the like? Any practioners?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I just returned from a couple weeks in the Rockies where I was surrounded by practioners of Buddhism including zazen - “sitting meditation” and Tonglen. I was amazed at the concentration and sense of mindfulness displayed by the folks up there. It really made me think twice about how much people walk through life not being present at all…It was interesting to see how calm, cool, and collected everyone was. I suppose I was used to seeing people hurried all day, storming through life from one project to another, to another with little room to breathing.

After watching the folks at the Shambhala center do their thing in their own daily lives, I began to think that these people really understand what it means to be mindful and present. It made me think of how often I run through a day and have a million things to do, and not once do I slow down and listen to what is really going on. All the distractions and plugged in virtual crack we hear and see all day long. I suppose you could say I like what they had to say…which wasn’t much…but they certainly looked and felt a lot more calm than your average Joe or Jane.

So, are there any Dopers who are practicing Buddhists? If so, where do you practice and how do you like it?

2

I tend to think of Zen Buddhism as a leaf floating on a vast ocean. I’ve done a little zazen with my karate training, but it’s darn difficult to be calm and mindful after two hours of intense practice.

I recommend the book “Zen Way - Jesus Way.” It’s a very interesting take on the similarities and differences between religions.

3

I’m currently reading Practicing Peace in Times of War and Where ever you go there you are. Both are very good indeed. I really enjoy reading Pema Chödrön she writes very succinctly and to the point.

4

I would recommend Buddhism Is Not What You Think:Finding Freedom Beyond Beliefs by Steve Hagen. A kind of practical, if not somewhat abstract look at the limitations of western thinking with respect to eastern philosophy.

I’d begun a kind of discovery journey in late 2000 that took me all over the place with respect to religion/philosophy and found that Buddhism and its’ many variants are, generally most in line with the way I feel and believe. Sitting zazen isn’t merely difficult, it’s almost impossible for someone like me who has so much to do so many hours of the day, my brain almost never shuts off. It takes a long time and a lot of meditation to get it done.
That said, when I am able to simply focus on nothing, and connect with a part of the universe I usually don’t connect with daily, I end up with a burst of calm energy that lets me just sort of float through the day while getting everything done.

Of course, enlightenment is the unattainable goal of some schools of Buddhism, but the journey is the purpose.

5

I used to have a very low opinion of Buddhism based on some Western distortions of Buddhist Philosophy and a gut wrenching hatred of the Idea that the World is an Illusion. Of course it isn’t! It’s very real!

Then one day last fall I had an epiphany while driving around late at night.

The World is an Illusion. Oh, not the Earth, not Life, not Existence. These are real. But “The World” as we see it and define it is an illusion. The way we live, the way we behave, the things we believe, the things we think we need to do moment to moment are all choices we have made based on other choices. It’s all a house of cards, built piece by piece on beliefs, illusions, falsehoods and decisions. It does not at any time “have” to be this way.

Of course, I’m explaining it poorly. Because moments of true enlightenment are fleetingly brief. In that moment of Epiphany, I understood it all with the clarity of God. Then in a few seconds, I got distracted with one aspect of it and that moment of brilliance faded, leaving only the basic understanding.

6

I incorporate a great deal of Buddhist philosophy and practices into my daily life. However, I don’t have a religious Buddhist perspective or engage in Buddhist religious practices.

7

I took a quarter of Zen Buddhism in college. Ever since, I’ve liked it and wished I had more time to look into it. But the mindfulness is something that I strive to attain in my daily life, meditation or no meditation.

I’ll have to pull up the books that all y’all have recommended and add them to the stack of To-Read books (which is teetering somewhat dangerously :smiley: ).

8

I’ve been practicing meditation in the Theravada Buddhist tradition for about a dozen years now. I can’t imagine how I ever got along before I got into Buddhism; it’s done a great deal to smooth out my rough edges and make me a more contented and (usually) accepting person. But it’s a lifelong journey.

I don’t have a particularly religious approach to Buddhism, although meditation certainly looks, and to some extent feels, religious. I consider it to be extremely profound psychology, and it offers tools for looking at the mind, and at the world, that work very well for me. It’s not so much about answers as in ways of looking at the questions, if that makes any sense.

Meditation on a retreat, which you observed, is demanding, but you get into it and your mind gets into a state where you are more relaxed and concentrated. The trick is to maintain that to some extent in day-to-day life. About the most jarring thing in the world, to me, is leaving a retreat and getting back into the real world. Just getting onto the highway to drive home is like sitting by a still mountain pond and then suddenly getting thrust into a metal concert.

9

This is exactly what happened to me. I got off the plane in CT, and it was Hot and Humid, people buzzing about everywhere, surly shuttle drivers, angry travelers…I was not liking that at all. The only thing that saved me was my iPod, it was loaded with all of my favorite songs, and even a couple books.

The bit abuot psychology is embodied in transpersonal psychology - a field hopefully gaining notoriety among professionals. I know some collegues that look at it as fool hearty, but the obviously have not sat with a sangha and meditated on being present. Oh what a power lies in breath!

10

Another book people might like is Stephen Batchelor’s Buddhism Without Beliefs. It’s an agnostic, philosophical discussion of Buddhism and how it can apply to someone’s life regardless of their religious beliefs or lack thereof.

11

I’ve been a practicing Zen Buddhist for about 6 years.

I found Buddhism when I was nineteen. After carefully deconstructing a harmful fundamentalist Christian outlook (thanks, Nietzsche!) I was basically starting from scratch, so I researched religions and decided which one I wanted to be. It took me a long time to decide that I wanted to be a Buddhist, and it took me an even longer time to decide that I wanted to practice Zen Buddhism. I actually had to practice awhile before I decided that’s what fit. Zen is one of those things that makes little sense to hear about it – it only makes sense to do. When you do Zen, you have this ‘‘aha’’ moment, a moment I have every time I meditate. The translation of Zen is ‘‘meditation,’’ which means Zen Buddhism = ‘‘meditation Buddhism.’’ It’s like I constantly am forgetting what Zen really is until I am sitting on the meditation cushion. Then it is something so meaningful to me I can only think of it in terms of religious ecstasy.
The moment of discovery, when you realize everything is perfect just the way it is, and that you lack nothing… it’s WOW.

I don’t have a regular sangha (community) but there is a local temple I attend occasionally. I usually have panic attacks when I go, because I have issues with public spaces and social interaction on occasion. I am mature enough in my practice to know that this is not really a good excuse anymore. One of my major goals is finding a good community in my new neighborhood in NJ. I have a temple set up at home with some statues of Kwan Yin and Green Tara, a meditation cushion, incense. It’s nice having a sacred space at home. Some months I meditate constantly, other months I don’t formally meditate at all. The intensity of my practice ebbs and flows, but it always grows. I practice shikantaza meditation which is ‘‘only just sitting’’ and it basically means you sit there and pay attention. I love it. I learn so much from just sitting.

The trick is most definitely moving what you learn in meditation into real life. When I first started meditating I learned to focus on the breath – this is a cool trick to learn, because no matter where you are–in traffic, at work, hiding under your bed as an asteroid hurtles toward the earth – you’ve got your breath to come back to. The breath is an excellent check point when you’re overwhelmed by real life. I meditate all the time in real life, little mini-meditations of present awareness that help me get a grip on things and find peace in the midst of chaos. All I have to do is breathe and I remember my body, I feel where I am and I see the moment and I realize that’s all I’m really facing, that one moment in time, and then I know I will get through it, and I feel at peace. I do this all the time. Hourly. Impermanence is the key to my existence.

The biggest difference Zen has made for me is learning to live in my body and to experience myself rather than avoid sensations and feelings. Where I used to feel unease, I feel peace and acceptance. Whatever’s going on, that’s okay. For someone like me, this is the greatest freedom I could ever imagine. To suddenly have everything be okay is the greatest gift the world could ever give me. I kinda believe in god and I kinda don’t, but Zen has made me feel obligated to the universe in some way, like I owe it big for what it’s done for me.

Not saying I never get pissed off, or terrified, or sad, or caught up in stupid drama. But so much of the reason we suffer are the judgments we pass on those feelings and actions and attitudes. ‘‘I shouldn’t be sad, I shouldn’t be mad, I shouldn’t blah blah.’’ With Zen, I do that less and less often every day. Being in a bad mood is no longer the end of the world, nor is making a mistake. It’s just a bad mood, a mistake, the ebb and flow of life, and there is joy in it too. With Zen, I’m never a horrible person or a wonderful person, I’m just a person deserving of compassion. I finally feel safe with myself, to just be who I am and accept that person–and to accept others for who they are too. Seeing yourself in other people and other people in yourself, and yourself in the Universe and Universe in yourself… this is equanimity to me, and it makes sense.

And for mental health and therapeutic benefits… well, I could write a set of books on the value Zen has in treating depression and anxiety, but Cheri Huber already did that, and Zen concepts are the foundation of many evidenced based therapies–Dialectical Behavioral Therapy being the most obvious and notable. Sufficed to say Buddhism really has changed my life and enabled me to heal in a lot of ways.

When I first started practicing, I was hesitant to call it my religion, because I’m a kind of spiritual shapeshifter and I always expected I would eventually move onto a different way of thinking. But each day I am surprised to find it’s more and more relevant to my life. Buddhism is a wonderful paradigm for me, I guess it has stuck. And the passion I feel is really a kind of religious ecstasy. So I am definitely a Buddhist.

If you’re interested in an easy but powerful introduction to Zen, try ‘‘Being Zen’’ by Ezra Bayda and its sequel ‘‘At Home in the Muddy Water.’’ Phenomenal books that were my first introduction to Zen practice and really helped me bridge the gap between understanding and doing. And if you have any issues with anxiety or grief, or really just want to read something mind-blowingly beautiful, read Thich Nhat Hahn’s ‘‘No Death, No Fear.’’ There is a reason he’s such a prolific writer.

ETA: Chimera, you didn’t explain it poorly. You explained it perfectly.

12

Chimera and OlivesMarch summed it up succinctly and I can only add a bit more. Buddhism is less a “religion” and more a philosophy. It will calm you, make you more aware and, I believe, more compassionate to yourself and others. Thich Nhat Hahn is my favorite buddhist author.

I have gone to meditate at a temple in my city, but from it gained only camaraderie. There was, for me, no other benefit to going.

13

Currently, I’m a rather lapsed Buddhist, in the fact that I don’t have a sangha, and don’t practice as much as I should/used too. Recently, though, I find the need to get back to more studies and sincere practice. A bit off moorings, lately.

I went through an intense exploration and practice in my 30’s, with good teachers. I find that foundation has held pretty well, in ways that surprise me. The tenets of Buddhism changed my mind at a fundamental level, and still serve as an anchor in rough times, especially in how to view others, and extend compassion. I’ve got plenty of work to do, of course.

Phlosophr, from what I know of you here, I’d recommend B. Alan Wallace, especially “Choosing Reality: A Buddhist View of Physics and the Mind”. A pretty dense and chewy read, from one of the first Americans to go and learn at length from Tibetan teachers. In reading and hearing him teach, he’s one of the best at giving a clear meaning of Buddhist concepts to our Western minds.

And, Chimera, you put it very well. It is Glimpse after Glimpse after Glimpse for most of us.