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the oldest zafu
Couple of years ago one of the folks working at Samadhi Cushions found one of our zafus at a yard sale on the other side of the state and bought it just for fun. We have it from our president Jeanine Greenleaf that it dates back to the company’s first or second year, ca 1976-77.
Most of the time it stays up on a shelf in the shipping department, but once in a while we let it hang out with its old pal Pencil Sharpener and watch the rain fall on ... continue reading
My Avoiding Sitting Meditation Journal
Tuesday: I’m too tired. I really am. Yes, I got plenty of sleep. I don’t know what it is. Perhaps a bug, perhaps allergies, low blood sugar or something more serious. Need protein. Need to conserve my energy. Meditation means sitting up, unkind at this point.
Friday PM: New Yorker Magazine. Spent 1½ hours learning about the drug trade. Addiction is so terrible, a destructive thing pretending to be good for us. I have compassion for those people, I really do. New restaurant in mid-town. Read too late, no time to sit.
Saturday ... continue reading
Ten Ways to Support Your Meditation Practice
1. Lighten Up. Meditation is making room to be kind to yourself (and by extension to others). Sure, in this economy it’s good to have extra work, but being hard on yourself is a job you can afford to quit. Just “let it be” a little. It’s simple: breathe, look, listen. It’s a long story. Let it go.
2. Tell the Truth. In sitting meditation you face facts (other things too). Scheming doesn’t help; you’re only fooling yourself. Choose your words, but say how you feel. Don’t defend your point of ... continue reading
 Meditation Space: A House?
Let’s face it. A house is not Zen.
I never really wanted a house. It was my wife’s idea.
My ideal scenario was to live in a van. There are many advantages to a van. Maybe it’s a guy thing.
For one, who ever heard of painting a van? I mean the inside. This just wouldn’t come up. There is something beautiful about steel, whatever color it’s painted.
Second, keeping the van clean would be easy. Cleaning my house is like cleaning the Potala Palace in Lhasa. There are more rooms than I care ... continue reading
 Meditation Space: Yours, That Is
The Zen Novice finished his first meal at the monastery. Anxious to begin his journey to enlightenment he asked his Master “Now What?” The Master replied, “Now wash your bowl.”
—-Zen Parable
Michael, Can We Talk?
Michael, my dear, we have to talk. No, I didn’t say “Tawk” I said “Talk.” Seriously, have you noticed something? It’s getting crowded around here. It’s like you’re running out of room. It almost feels cramped. Why is that? I think you know.
The last time you sat down to practice mindfulness meditation, before ... continue reading
Zafu Limerick
OK, so perhaps this isn’t the finest moment in my career as a booster of meditation. I just happen to have a soft spot for limericks. And as anyone who knows something about limericks will attest, one limerick deserves, nay demands, another.
Dear Reader, the snow is about to fall in Vermont. Potentially stressful holidays loom. The economy is poised on the brink of something, but it’s hard to tell what. In these moments the mind turns to meditation. Ah well, yes very important. This time ... continue reading
The Cool Kids
Recently the New York Times published an op-ed piece on a conference for Social and Affective Neuroscientists (or “Neuros”) which took place in New York this past week. According to David Brooks, the writer, “the leading figures at this conference were in their 30′s, and most of the work was done by people in their 20′s.” And all of them, he pointed out, were “young, hip and attractive.”
Mr. Brooks went on to write, “many of the studies presented here concerned the way we divide people by in-group and out-group categories ... continue reading
Maybe You’d Better Sit Down
Scientists in Germany reported Thursday that the often-described sense of lost-hiker déjà vu, of having inadvertently backtracked while wandering in the woods — is real. “People really do walk in circles,” said Jan L. Souman of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tubingen. – The New York Times, August 2009
The path of meditation shines a light on habitual patterns that keep us lost, both to ourselves and the world we inhabit. For meditation to move forward, however, orientation is essential. As the article from the Times on lost ... continue reading
Meditation: Your Cup of Tea?
Sometimes, the formal practice of sitting meditation feels like a stretch. What does sitting quietly, upright on our meditation cushion, have to do with, well, anything, we ask ourselves? Life is moving fast. It seems to require speed and efficiency. Meditation practice is about slowing down. Aren’t these two heading in opposite directions? We feel trapped in a choice of our own making — life and living it — and our discipline of meditation, which doesn’t relate.
There is the vague sense that the regular practice of meditation had been important ... continue reading
Coffee to Compost
Last Saturday morning was busy with a long list of errands. First stop was the Farmer’s Market to visit a booth selling compost supplies. We needed a new filter for the compost bucket that sits on the kitchen counter.
As I drove to St. Johnsbury along the empty interstate, I remembered something my friend Mary Anne had mentioned to me recently. “It seems like the farmer’s market has really grown,” she was saying, “there are more booths, new sights and smells, fresh coffee, food cooking…”
The simplicity of Mary Anne’s comment must ... continue reading
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