Sunday Meditation Class

went to a great meditation class on Sunday.
the monk talking was great. he talked a lot, and to a lot of different levels.
he tossed out a lot of pearls.

here are two.

1. there should be no difference between your meditation and your daily life. it should be "seamless" what you are practicing is awareness and stillness. what you do within is planting seeds for without.

what a great idea. what a great truth. this idea extends beyond meditation and non-meditation. what he's saying is, "seamless" and in order to be seamless, there can be no distinction between the quality of any state of awareness or activity of "self". once again, what a beautiful truth.

2. set a regular time for your meditation, rather than trying to do it for a "goal" amount of time that you can not achieve, or for more than what is comfortable. Meditation itself is the goal. if you set a regular time, then you have a "corral" so the horse can be calm, or excited, or running about, but there is a corral for it. then you will be able to watch and observe the rise and fall

what a great idea and justification for consistency. isn't it true that consistency is such an important factor in building character and developing the ability to raise ones consciousness?

3. this one is actually from jack kornfield. he said that it doesn't matter (paraphrase) how often you get distracted or your mind wanders in meditation. what's important is each time you realize you have drifted off and you bring yourself back.

this is beautiful, becasue it almost deifies drifting off. for each time you drift off, you have a new invitation to become aware, be aware and bring yourself back. how wonderful! i can't help but to think of the "ox herding" series of zen pictures. we are all seeking the cow. then we find the tracks (if you are fortunate), and get a hold of the rope, and calm them, and then walk with them, and then walk freely together and then sit silently together and then move off on our own, aware and in love with one another, but sitting silently and no longer at odds.