Hello, Domyo here again with a short greeting and some recommended episodes for you to listen to while I’m on my August sabbatical from Zen teaching and writing.
In Zen and many forms of Buddhism, our primary practice is meditation. For most of us, meditation continues to be a rewarding but challenging activity. Even if our form of meditation is very simple and straightforward – most forms are, after all – we inevitably find ourselves wondering whether we can do better at it. We ask ourselves: Am I giving enough of myself to my meditation? Do I need to try harder? Unfortunately, many of our efforts to improve our meditation fail to give us the results we seek. Should we just be satisfied with our meditation the way it is?
Your chosen form of meditation may be what I call “Directed Effort” meditation, or “Letting Go” meditation (I discuss Directed Effort versus letting go in Episodes 83 and 84: Two Paths to Meditative Concentration: Directed Effort Versus Letting Go – Part 1 and Part 2). In either case, you may find some useful tips in Episodes 184 and 185: 14 Ways to Enliven Your Zazen. When my zazen gets dull, lazy, restless, or distracted, these are the ways I try to engage my meditation more wholeheartedly. I hope you enjoy.
I’ll offer one more recommendation before the end of the month, and then I’ll be back in September with regular episodes! Thanks for listening.
