tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27560333.post7870778856596231084..comments2023-12-16T16:12:08.051-08:00Comments on Self-Knowledge and Self-Realization: Ed Muzikahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13214241089861837159noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27560333.post-20811369894323274272010-07-13T23:02:20.107-07:002010-07-13T23:02:20.107-07:00"Practice doesn't cause liberation, but d..."Practice doesn't cause liberation, but does precede it (in the appearance of things), so it's absolutely necessary. Best may be to completely forget about freedom, yet practice living in silence always, whether though formal sitting meditation or some other means. Rather than practice with the mindset of attaining something, practice can be an offering of love to who and what we really are, now and always." <br /><br />Wow!!This is a really beautiful message to us.This mind in us tricks us in all subtle ways to expect things out of meditation or any effort.True devotion can help us overcome this tendency of the mind, I feel..Thank you very much for this very useful post Edji..<br />My heartfelt thanks to Rajiv bhaiya for all his help..Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08458200190015431416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27560333.post-23406316681595781052010-07-13T10:02:45.092-07:002010-07-13T10:02:45.092-07:00"The easiest way to get here is strong sittin..."The easiest way to get here is strong sitting meditation, like Shikantaza with a Zen master at a mountain retreat, or sitting with a great teacher in satsang at an ashram."<br /><br />Yes, for those who have the predisposition to do it, a strong sitting meditation is easiest. There's certainly no point in fooling around with pranayama or lower forms of meditation if one is able to practice zazen effectively. Sitting with an open heart at the feet of a realized master is even better. Of course, this is Kali Yuga, and this is a kindergarten planet. The number of realized masters with ashrams is very few and far between, and many people have strong rajasic tendencies that make meditation difficult, if not impossible. Each individual's needs and path are unique, and what will be beneficial to one will be a waste of time for another. And of course, in the ultimate sense, there is no easiest, hardest, fastest or slower way. There is only the Way. Absolutely everything, including which sadhana one will practice at any given time, is predetermined, and no practice is causally related to attaining liberation (or anything else). Realization always is, and at the appointed time, we wake up from ignorance and know this.<br /><br />There are apparently stages that people go through prior to waking up, but no practice or event can ever make realization occur, and it can be counterproductive if one feels otherwise. The jiva no more makes anything happen or controls his destiny in any way than does a character in a novel. But it is as you say: At some point, we simply stop identifying with the drama and become the mountain with all happening around us. Human pleasure and pain, samadhi bliss, doomsday cataclysms -- all come and go, but the Self remains untouched ... unmoved. Even as the mountain is slowly eroded and carried away into the sea, still ... untouched ... unmoved.<br /><br />How to get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice! Even more so to reach the place we already are. Practice doesn't cause liberation, but does precede it (in the appearance of things), so it's absolutely necessary. Best may be to completely forget about freedom, yet practice living in silence always, whether though formal sitting meditation or some other means. Rather than practice with the mindset of attaining something, practice can be an offering of love to who and what we really are, now and always.<br /><br /><br />"You see, there is no final state to realize."<br /><br />Yes! Realization is: no beginning, no end, all things in no thing, no thing in all things ... fathomless, fathomless mystery of love.<br /><br />Be Well, Ed.<br /><br />DavidEd Muzikahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13214241089861837159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27560333.post-72871666527243228322010-07-13T09:49:47.554-07:002010-07-13T09:49:47.554-07:00Group sitting is just more powerful. There is more...Group sitting is just more powerful. There is more there than just you. It is easier to sit strongly, and easier to sit strongly alone after a period of strong group sitting. The same thing with chanting. The same thing with Satsang versus reading a book.<br /><br />Zen stresses this a lot because so much emphasis is placed on strong meditation in all Zen schools.Ed Muzikahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13214241089861837159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27560333.post-16433839651879965692010-07-13T09:13:31.179-07:002010-07-13T09:13:31.179-07:00Thank you very much Edji!
For those of us who doe...Thank you very much Edji!<br /><br />For those of us who doesn't manage the padmasana. This video has very good instructions of how to get there. Just like meditation you just have to put in the hours.<br /><br />http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Get-to-Lotus-Padmasana-79727444<br /><br />Greetings S.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27560333.post-46723436572190878902010-07-13T00:49:53.935-07:002010-07-13T00:49:53.935-07:00Ed......
By "padmasaana", are you refer...Ed......<br /><br />By "padmasaana", are you referring to the sitting postures characteristic of Yoga?(because that was the definition I saw on Google).<br />And does doing this in the group sitting serve as a kind of catalyst to awakening experiences more than solo sitting ever could as you describe this?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com