All posts by brian@brianschell.com

Daily Buddhism

Sleepy Legs in Meditation

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Question:

I’ve started to meditate a lot, but my legs keep falling asleep. Any advice?

Answer:

There’s no magical solution to this very common problem, but here are a few tips that may help:

1. Stretch before meditation. Basic yoga or a few good stretching exercises can be a big help. Just because you’re sitting on your butt doesn’t mean meditation isn’t physical; a warm up is a good idea.

2. Try a different cushion; if you aren’t using a cushion, get one. People who meditate for long periods of time often use a cushion called a ‚Äúzafu.‚Äù It’s a small cushion that raises your butt and back off the ground by about four to six inches, while your legs stay at floor level. Imagine your body as the hands of a clock: If your legs and butt are flat on the floor and your back is straight, that is ‚Äú3:00.‚Äù By elevating your body with a zafu, you sit in the ‚Äú4:00 position‚Äù instead of the ‚Äú3:00‚Äù position.

3. Straighten up your posture if you find yourself slouching. Using the clock metaphor again, if you’re sitting at 3:05, that’s putting extra pressure on your legs.

I’m also assuming you are running into this problem after just a few minutes. If you are sitting for an hour or more, then your legs falling asleep would be perfectly normal. Get up and do some walking meditation for a while, and alternate between the two every so often. Naturally, if the problem is severe, or you just cannot work around it, talk to your doctor and see if there is any medical solution.

Announcements

Daily Buddhism’s Rebirth

Welcome to the Daily Buddhism.

The signup form is on the right-hand side of the page. Each day you will get some bit of Buddhist brilliance in your mailbox to start your morning (or afternoon).

Nothing fancy, nothing complex. Just some Eastern beauty to brighten your day and just maybe make you think.

Koans

Koan: Publishing the Sutras

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Publishing the Sutras

Tetsugen, a devotee of Zen in Japan, decided to publish the sutras, which at that time were available only in Chinese. The books were to be printed with wood blocks in an edition of seven thousand copies, a tremendous undertaking.

Tetsugen began by traveling and collecting donations for this purpose. A few sympathizers would give him a hundred pieces of gold, but most of the time he received only small coins. He thanked each donor with equal gratitude. After ten years Tetsugen had enough money to begin his task.

It happened that at that time the Uji Rive overflowed. Famine followed. Tetsugen took the funds he had collected for the books and spent them to save others from starvation. Then he began again his work of collecting.

Several years afterwards an epidemic spread over the country. Tetsugen again gave away what he had collected, to help his people. For a third time he started his work, and after twenty years his wish was fulfilled. The printing blocks which produced the first edition of sutras can be seen today in the Obaku monastery in Kyoto.

The Japanese tell their children that Tetsugen made three sets of sutras, and that the first two invisible sets surpass even the last.

Koans

Koan: A Smile in His Lifetime

Mokugen was never known to smile until his last day on earth. When his time came to pass away he said to his faithful ones: “You have studied under me for more than ten years. Show me your real interpretation of Zen. Whoever expresses this most clearly shall be my successor and receive my robe and bowl.”

Everyone watched Mokugen’s severe face, but no one answered.

Encho, a disciple who had been with his teacher for a long time, moved near the bedside. He pushed forward the medicine cup a few inches. That was his answer to the command.

The teacher’s face became even more severe. “Is that all you understand?” he asked.

Encho reached out and moved the cup back again.

A beautiful smile broke over the features of Mokugen. “You rascal,” he told Encho. “You worked with me ten years and have not yet seen my whole body. Take the robe and bowl. They belong to you.”

Koans

Koan: Three Days More

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Suiwo, the disciple of Hakuin, was a good teacher. During one summer seclusion period, a pupil came to him from a southern island of Japan.

Suiwo gave him the problem: “Hear the sound of one hand.”

The pupil remained three years but could not pass this test. One night he came in tears to Suiwo. “I must return south in shame and embarrassment,” he said, “for I cannot solve my problem.”

“Wait one week more and meditate constantly,” advised Suiwo. Still no enlightenment came to the pupil. “Try for another week,” said Suiwo. The pupil obeyed, but in vain.

“Still another week.” Yet this was of no avail. In despair the student begged to be released, but Suiwo requested another meditation of five days. They were without result. Then he said: “Meditate for three days longer, then if you fail to attain enlightenment, you had better kill yourself.”

On the second day the pupil was enlightened.

Koans

Koan: Eshun’s Departure

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Koan: Eshun’s Departure

When Eshun, the Zen nun, was past sixty and about to leave this world, she asked some monks to pile up wood in the yard.

Seating herself firmly in the center of the funeral pyre, she had it set fire around the edges.

“O nun!” shouted one monk, “is it hot in there?”

“Such a matter would concern only a stupid person like yourself,” answered Eshun.

The flames arose, and she passed away.

Reviews

Book: Practical Meditation with Buddhist Principles

We have something a little different today, a guest reviewer! This time, Matt Siegrist tells us about a bargain discovery he recently found. If you would like to do a review of some Buddhism-related product, drop me a note and we’ll move on from there!

Practical Meditation with Buddhist principles

By Venerable Thubten Lhundrup
Hinkler Books, 64 pages, full color
ISBN: 978-1-7415-7772-3
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1741577721/?tag=askdrarca-20
msiegrist2
Reviewed by Matt Siegrist

This book and DVD boxed set offers an introduction to meditation and Buddhist principles. Throughout the book are numerous beautiful pictures, covering everything from statues, paintings and bowls to close-ups of quilts and other exotic fabrics. Written by a Mahayana monk, the book covers all aspects of Buddhism, Theravadin and Mahayana to Zen and Pure Land Buddhism. It also covers many (I hesitate to say all) aspects of Buddhism, from a short history to the Four Noble Truths, suffering, the Eightfold Noble Path, all the way to mindfulness, karma, and the path to enlightenment. The last fifth of the book offers phrases to meditate upon. The DVD offers a brief introduction and short guided meditations with audio and video.

The Good:

The book is constructed of high-quality glossy paper that will last for many thumbings through. The pictures are incredibly colorful and clear, and cover many different subjects. If you want a quick refresher on Buddhism, the book can be read in an hour. The DVD didn’t appear to be of studio quality to me, but it was very peaceful to watch. If you meditate with your eyes open the guided meditations offer many pictures different from the book that are just as equally striking and mesmerizing.

The Bad:

The cover is little more than cardboard stock, and the ring binder doesn’t give it much appeal to leave around as a coffee table book. While the author does attempt to cover everything, there are many aspects in which he doesn’t provide much more than a short synopsis of the principle. The pictures, while amazingly beautiful to look at, have no background information supplied about them. If you are new to Buddhism, you aren’t even sure what you are exactly looking at.

Bottom Line: If you have listened to the first ten podcasts of the Daily Buddhism the book will not offer you any new information. However, if you want a reference book that is short and concise this book will serve you well. The guided meditations on the DVD are short, so if you have been meditating for any length of time they probably are too short for you. I found this boxed set book and DVD package while walking through the local Borders bookstore where it was on clearance for $7.99, and if you can get it at that price I would definitely purchase it.

Reviews

CD Review: Buddha Moon, by Chinmaya Dunster

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CD: Buddha Moon
Artist: Chinmaya Dunster
Publisher: New Earth Records
Run time: 4 tracks, 58:30 Minutes
Buy Amazon CD
Buy Amazon MP3
Or buy it through the Apple iTunes store

A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed a CD by Deuter, which I said “felt” Japanese due to the style and the instruments he used. This one is similar in many respects, but this on uses Indian instruments played by classical Indian musicians to give a very strong Indian feeling to the music.

From the cover: “Fusion maestro Chinmaya Dunster teams up with two virtuoso Indian classical musicians for a live performance of two morning ragas. The whole CD remains stately and tranquil, rooted in the meditative atmosphere surrounding dawn on a full moon night. This is hypnotic music to unwind to, to use as a background for a massage, and careful listening reveals a trance-like depth. Timeless.”

There are only four tracks on this CD, all of which are between 13 and 16 minutes long. They are all “Moon themed,” with tracks called New Moon, Waxing Moon, Full Moon‚ and Waning Moon. To be honest, they all sound very much alike, and as the cover quote above states, it is very trance-inducing. This would be another excellent addition to a “meditation music” library. There is plenty of pleasing, relaxing background sound without a distracting tune, which is perfect for covering up outside noises while trying to meditate quietly.

I know some people call Indian music “whangy-twangy” due to the unique stringed instruments, and there is a lot of that here. If you are “anti-twang,” then you might want to skip this one. If, on the other hand, you are looking for authentic-sounding Indian music to make your meditations more “Eastern,” then give this one a try. It’s very soothing in my opinion, but it’s not going to put you to sleep.

I have included the usual link to buy the CD from Amazon above, but this music is also available from Amazon in MP3 format or from Apple through iTunes, so you can buy and listen to the music immediately without paying and waiting.

Daily Buddhism

Question: Disappointment

5 Comments

Q&A #5

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A Reader recently wrote:

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I’m not sure if this is the correct email address to ask a question but here goes…

How does someone who is trying to practice Buddhism handle disappointment? I understand the 4 Noble Truths regarding suffering but it seems like I can’t get past constant disappointment in my life. Are we supposed to quit having a desire for anything more in our lives to successfully attain Enlightment?

Thanks for your insight.

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My Response

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Yup, this is the right address for questions, comments, or anything else: dailybuddhism@gmail.com

Anyway, as we discussed way back in the beginning, the Four Noble Truths tell us that all suffering comes from ‚Äúdesire.‚Äù This is a little confusing, since if we didn’t have desires, nothing would ever happen; no one would have goals. That’s obviously not the way things are.

‚ÄúDesire,‚Äù from the Buddhist point of view, is more correctly translated as ‚Äúgrasping,‚Äù or an overly strong form of attachment and desire. Holding on to things that we know cannot last or being disappointed when things change are examples of this. Nothing is permanent and everything changes, there is just no way to avoid it, and hoping against hope that things won’t change is always doomed to failure.

You weren’t very specific in your description of your disappointment, so I will address the question as if you are disappointed in life in general. You are disappointed that your life/relationships/job/income/health/whatever isn’t what you want. Why? The world is what it is. In many cases, we assume that our lives will meet our expectations. Sometimes it happens, but quite often it doesn’t. But the ‚Äúgrasping‚Äù that causes suffering are not limited to just material goods. Sometimes clinging to internal expectations causes suffering in the form of disappointment.

This is one reason we say that Buddhists can ‚Äúshape reality.‚Äù You cannot change the world, but you can control your own outlook on the world. By realizing that you are too bound up in expectations (realistic or otherwise) you can start to live life in the real world, here and now, and not in some perfect world of your imagination. Your life may really suck, I don’t know; but it is your life to make of it what you want. Take control of your own outlook.

Look around you and realize that you are a part of the world. Things are the way they are and that is good. We can try to ease suffering of others and ourselves, but there are some things that we cannot change. It sounds somewhat stoic, but Buddhists are realists; they take the world as it is and work within it.

Daily Buddhism

Questions: Daily Buddhism Schedule

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Q&A #4

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A Reader recently wrote:

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My name is Brian as well, and I recently joined your site, and subscribed to your podcast also. I have just recently become interested in Buddhism, and find the information invaluable.

I have been soaking up info from as many different sites, reading groups and podcasts as I can. I stumbled onto your show from searching in iTunes, and am very pleased with what I have heard so far. I found your website from there.

My first question is: By daily mails, do you mean weekday? or including weekends? I’m only curious because I am eager to learn as much as I can, and was happy to see my first email arrive this morning, Monday.

My other question is regarding the free e-book you offer on your website’s join page. Is this offer still available? I’m sure it would prove an invaluable source in my quest for knowledge. If it isn’t, can you suggest where I might be able to find this book? Is it in print, as well as available electronically?

Thanks for any attention and time you can afford my questions, and I look forward to learning with you, via your emails and podcasts.

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My Response:

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Thanks for the note, I always like hearing from readers/listeners.

The emails are usually just weekdays. Most of the time there are five a week, but once in a while I get busy ad miss a day. If you want to read all the “back issues” of the email, you can see them all on the http://www.dailybuddhism.com website, just look in the “archives” section.

The podcasts don’t have a fixed schedule; I record them whenever I’ve finished covering a subject in the daily mails. It usually works out to about one a week, but there’s no rule.

You can download the free “Essence of Buddhism” ebook at

http://www.arcanethings.com/the%20arcaneum/books/Essence_Of_Buddhism.pdf

Have a good read!