Post by Magnet Man on Jan 28, 2008 11:56:06 GMT -5
Zen sesshins are intense week-long periods of concentrated meditation. They are usually conducted inside the zendo of a monastery under the strict supervision of a qualified Roshi.
Sitting in lotus from 4 a.m. to near midnight every day for seven days, with only short breaks between each 45 minute sitting to relieve the pressure, is a uniquely Japanese form of self-inflicted torture that can drive the psyche of the meditator to the extremes of self-control. Enormous amounts of pro-longed physical pain are experienced by oxygen-starved tendons in the hips, knees and ankles. This is especially so for westerners who are not accustomed to sitting in lotus pose.
The objective is Satori, the Zen state of no-mind, in which the is-ness if existence is experienced directly, uncontaminated by thought. Getting there is another matter. The barrier between the bliss of no-mind and the agony of endless reflection is the seemingly impenetrable jungle of accumulated thoughts, words and deeds that have taken pace in one’s life and the subjective judgments one imposes on them.
Unlike the pain caused by accident or by deliberate punishment inflicted on the self by others, there is no recourse to wallowing in self-pity or latching onto the rancor of victimization in a Zen sesshin. Prolonged physical discomfort that one has inflicted on the self, flushes the hidden self nakedly out into the open. The endless digging, hour after painful hour at the inner core of one’s being, opens up old cists that have formed over the congealed abscesses of long forgotten trespasses. Painful memories which one was unable to deal with before and were consequently buried, resurface in the consciousness. Some of them remain unbearable.
For this reason, doksan, several times during the course of a sesshin, is essential.
In a sense, doksan with the Roshi can have similar therapeutical properties that one experiences in a Catholic confessional, when one relieves the self of a psychological burden and shares the load with another. But doksan is more than just a confession of one’s sins - of acknowledging blame for them and receiving absolution via some form of penance.
There is no good or evil in Buddhism.
There is no I or ego in Zen.
Thus there can be no blame for anything, nor is there anyone there to receive absolution, or pay a penance.
Doksan turns out to be an abstract discussion about the illusions of one’s life; about a false ego that assumes it is personally responsible for ones thoughts, word and deeds. In a sense one is only recounting a dream. How can one take responsibility and be punished for actions taken in a dream?
This discussion is not really an avoidance of perceived physical realities. It is a direct confrontation with the abstract rationales that define the Laws of Cause and Effect. The great power of the healing psychology in doksan is that it removes the subjective self from the side-effects of causation, and allows one to try to objectively see the inconsequentiality of prolonging the past. Thus, instead of retaining the negativity of past action in present consciousness, or burying it for later self-recrimination, or investing uncreative energy in years of penance, the is-ness of past event is left frozen in past time. It is seen an action that determined the present, both negatively and positively, not just for the self, but echoing throughout the entire Cosmos. In a sense one is saying : The buck stops with God. Thus the self is set free from the past, to go on and live a more immediate life and plan more creatively for future event.
The goal of relieving one’s self from the egotistical addiction to personal mind and thus becoming aware of and melding with the Universal Mind is brought that much closer.
Sitting in lotus from 4 a.m. to near midnight every day for seven days, with only short breaks between each 45 minute sitting to relieve the pressure, is a uniquely Japanese form of self-inflicted torture that can drive the psyche of the meditator to the extremes of self-control. Enormous amounts of pro-longed physical pain are experienced by oxygen-starved tendons in the hips, knees and ankles. This is especially so for westerners who are not accustomed to sitting in lotus pose.
The objective is Satori, the Zen state of no-mind, in which the is-ness if existence is experienced directly, uncontaminated by thought. Getting there is another matter. The barrier between the bliss of no-mind and the agony of endless reflection is the seemingly impenetrable jungle of accumulated thoughts, words and deeds that have taken pace in one’s life and the subjective judgments one imposes on them.
Unlike the pain caused by accident or by deliberate punishment inflicted on the self by others, there is no recourse to wallowing in self-pity or latching onto the rancor of victimization in a Zen sesshin. Prolonged physical discomfort that one has inflicted on the self, flushes the hidden self nakedly out into the open. The endless digging, hour after painful hour at the inner core of one’s being, opens up old cists that have formed over the congealed abscesses of long forgotten trespasses. Painful memories which one was unable to deal with before and were consequently buried, resurface in the consciousness. Some of them remain unbearable.
For this reason, doksan, several times during the course of a sesshin, is essential.
In a sense, doksan with the Roshi can have similar therapeutical properties that one experiences in a Catholic confessional, when one relieves the self of a psychological burden and shares the load with another. But doksan is more than just a confession of one’s sins - of acknowledging blame for them and receiving absolution via some form of penance.
There is no good or evil in Buddhism.
There is no I or ego in Zen.
Thus there can be no blame for anything, nor is there anyone there to receive absolution, or pay a penance.
Doksan turns out to be an abstract discussion about the illusions of one’s life; about a false ego that assumes it is personally responsible for ones thoughts, word and deeds. In a sense one is only recounting a dream. How can one take responsibility and be punished for actions taken in a dream?
This discussion is not really an avoidance of perceived physical realities. It is a direct confrontation with the abstract rationales that define the Laws of Cause and Effect. The great power of the healing psychology in doksan is that it removes the subjective self from the side-effects of causation, and allows one to try to objectively see the inconsequentiality of prolonging the past. Thus, instead of retaining the negativity of past action in present consciousness, or burying it for later self-recrimination, or investing uncreative energy in years of penance, the is-ness of past event is left frozen in past time. It is seen an action that determined the present, both negatively and positively, not just for the self, but echoing throughout the entire Cosmos. In a sense one is saying : The buck stops with God. Thus the self is set free from the past, to go on and live a more immediate life and plan more creatively for future event.
The goal of relieving one’s self from the egotistical addiction to personal mind and thus becoming aware of and melding with the Universal Mind is brought that much closer.