Zen and Walking Light

[The Weasel]

I think JAK has hit exactly what I was trying to say. "Listening" is an active verb. It means you're trying to do something. No, we don't need to listen to nature. But it is good to hear nature. Sometimes listening serves as a filter - as in when one is at a party, listening to just one person while to the exclusion of the crowd.

"Hearing" simply means that the sounds hit your eardrum; you're not filtering them, much as "splatter vision" works (q.v.). It's sort of the distinction between "doing" and "being". It's a good thing, and hiking is ideal for it: While you are, in fact, "doing," you can let all your senses and consciousness allow the world to touch them without actively needing to focus. Not always, of course: When you ford a stream, it helps to focus on where you step. But much of the rest of the time, the Buddha in your backpack will let you exist in the world just fine.

Or not. Doesn't really matter.


TW

[GGS2]

Suzanne by Leonard Cohen. Credit where credit is due. And with Leonard, it's always due. Great poet, singer, man.

[chief]

No it's not possible, at least for me, to listen to the Pachelbel Canon for 1000 miles (or anything else baroque). That's a special and individual talent...

Like this guy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM

[prain4u]

I like Pachelbel's Canon in D. This is one of my favorite (and very different) versions of the song. It doesn't REALLY get "good" until 20-30 seconds into the video. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wam-oMub8EU&feature=fvw

[prain4u]

I was once hiking in the rain (a non-stop rain that covered portions of three consecutive days) on Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior. It was the rare type of rain where no type of clothing and no type of gear was able to keep you dry. Everyone--and everything--was COMPLETELY soaked. In 30+ years of camping and hiking--I have never seen a time when EVERYTHING was this wet.

As I reflect upon it today, hiking in those three days of rain was a "Zen" experience.

It was easy to put one's head down and just trudge along through the rain--getting into a steady hiking rhythm--"the Zone". There were very few sounds other that the sound of the falling rain. It was too rainy and too hazy to be distracted by any spectacular views. Most animals had hunkered down. There were no distractions--other than the mesmerizing sound of the falling rain and the rhythmic cadence of my own footsteps.

I was soaking wet. (There was no possible way for me to get any wetter). The ground was completely saturated with moisture. The grass, leaves and trees were drenched. The wild animals were soaked. The humidity was 100%--so even the air was wet.

Every plant, every animal, every mineral--and nearly every molecule on that entire island--was bound together by the common experience of being totally, completely and undeniably--SOAKING WET.

There was no real sense of where I (the individual)--ended or began. I was merely just another part of the complete moisture which had enveloped everything.

[Tipi Walter]

The Buddha? Right after the Buddha's first son was born, he got up in the middle of the night and looked at his son and then snuck out of the house, to head for the mountains to seek enlightenment. He didn't wake the wife because he figured she try stop him. Twenty years later, he came back and said " I found enlightenment, I'm the Buddha". Believe it or not, his wife was still pissed at him. So when you're weighing responsibility vs hiking, ask yourself, "What would the Buddha do?"

You left out his wealthy home life and his realizations that life consists of old age, illness and death. But you bring up a good point. For this reason, the great guru Ramakrishna said to his monks to avoid marriage and children as you would avoid a pit of snakes. Then again, there's the tradition of the Four Ashramas in Hinduism(Buddha followed Hinduism):
** Celibate student.
** Householder(married with kids)
** Forest Dweller with wife--a life of meditation and minimal food in the forest.
** Sannyasin--wandering monks, begging food, to be done with your wife.

Last year I took a MP3 player with me. I was hoping to listen to some music everyonce in awhile. I found myself liking the quietness and peacefullness of the mountains better. The music can wait, right now I want to listen to nature..

Graywolf

Problem is, in the Southeast US there is hardly any quietness in the mountains. Why? Because of the near constant overhead jet traffic and the zooming screaming motorcycles on the roads below the ridges. The only time I can find true peace and quiet is during a blizzard or big snowstorm(even the jets can't be heard), in a mean windstorm, and camping next to a waterfall or roaring river.

No trying, K2, just doing or not doing. Actually that's from Star Wars. But you won't get anywhere with struggle. Just noticing and not reacting, not caring. I am, the world is, here I am, on it goes. The best part is when it is boring and then it is not boring. Leave the earbuds behind and get a little bored. Then just watch your mind. Plod, plod, plod.

Won't get anywhere with struggle? You must of forgotten Buddha's 7 weeks sitting under the pipal tree and vowing to remain until enlightenment. Does anyone think sitting like this meditating would be without struggle? Go ahead and try it and see what happens. A seeker's life is all about struggle. It's the battle with Lust, Greed and Anger. Concentrating the mind is one of life's hardest struggles.

MILAREPA
Another interesting figure in Meditation is Milarepa, the Cotton Clad One. He traveled from cave to cave and ate nettles and would instruct his students to go out in the mountains and live on nettles inside caves. And meditate, of course. To paraphrase: "Meetings end in separation. Birth ends in death. Building ends in destruction. Therefore meditate."

[earplug94]

The Buddha in your backpack is an illusion of your mind. At least the middle way negates him riding on your back. Thank goodness-because he was a little chubby at times. But, he sure did smile and that would make a good trail partner.

[chiefduffy]

Suzanne by Leonard Cohen. Credit where credit is due. And with Leonard, it's always due. Great poet, singer, man.

I am on the staff of a retreat program that was partially created from, and used Cohen's songs for meditation.

[JAK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1KtScrqtbc

He ain't heavy, he's my buddha.

[GGS2]

Won't get anywhere with struggle? You must of forgotten Buddha's 7 weeks sitting under the pipal tree and vowing to remain until enlightenment. Does anyone think sitting like this meditating would be without struggle? Go ahead and try it and see what happens. A seeker's life is all about struggle. It's the battle with Lust, Greed and Anger. Concentrating the mind is one of life's hardest struggles.

Hi Walter,
The problem with struggle is that it blocks the very progress you aspire to. However, it does set up the denouement. The advance occurs when, in frustration, you give up. Then, suddenly, there you are. The trick is to struggle with no struggle, to be frustrated without frustration, so the moment of acceptance just comes with a minimum of delay. The struggle you speak of comes at the very beginning of sadhana, when the gross delusions and confusions must be confronted and overcome. In this phase, there is no peace, continual struggle, no rest. This only lasts about twelve years from the first opening, if the intent is true. After that comes the first true peace (the peace that surpasses all understanding. Yes, from the Bible.), and then you have to chase the remaining confusions. How many decades must pass until you become a Buddha is open to speculation.

The way through is to be mindful with equanimity. Not to struggle, but to overcome struggle. The preceding paragraph is full of so-called turning phrases. Whole ways of practice have been based on each one, but the truth is that we have to go through all of them.

I'm a minimalist, not a Buddhist. Buddha began his teaching with just the core of his understanding, the four noble truths. Here they are lifted from the wikipedia article:

1. There is suffering (dukkha).
2. There is a cause of suffering (craving).
3. There is the cessation of suffering (nirvana).
4. There is the eightfold path leading to the cessation of suffering.

This is what he first taught, and all that he taught at first. Those that were ready recognized what he taught immediately, but as the sangha grew, and as less advanced people joined, he found the need for more teachings, to reach those not ready for the simple statement. Those subsequent teachings are like training wheels, but those who wish to learn to ride a bike soon dispense with them, because the bike stays upright by itself when you ride with confidence. Odd that one of the leading Buddhist journals of America is called Tricycle. A trike is sort of a bike with permanent training wheels.

I see only two people are still reading, so I'll stop now. Buddha's last teaching was to work out your salvation with diligence. Peace to you, and struggle diligently.

[GGS2]

I am on the staff of a retreat program that was partially created from, and used Cohen's songs for meditation.

Leonard is a good Zen Buddhist, which is to say he is no Buddhist, who studied under a grand master. They finally gave up together, which says something. Leonard's songs and poems are full of insight and a wonderful lightness of heart. He's kind of our junior Milarepa. What retreat program is that, may I ask?

[The Weasel]

While it is good for GGS2 to have posted about the simplicities of Buddha's teachings, my initial post (and others) are more pointed towards Zen, which is based on meditation, rather than the more active Buddhism of learning. Hence, my suggestions that Zen - and the rather special kind of "Buddha" who sits in my backpack - is about what we are, not what we do. That's why the more I don't think about him (or anything else), the lighter he gets. Yes, until he (if not I) is flying.

TW

[The Weasel]

And yes, the Isle Royale post hits it, both as to Zen AND what ISRP can be like when it rains (and rains, and rains!).

TW

[GGS2]

Hey Weasel,

Are you a student or practitioner of Zen?

[prain4u]

And yes, the Isle Royale post hits it, both as to Zen AND what ISRP can be like when it rains (and rains, and rains!).

TW

What is ISRP?

[FritztheCat]

I never achieved wordless thoughts and feelings. Instead, my head was filled with pesky earworms. Did you know you can listen to Pachelbel Canon for a 1000 miles? And Dan Fogelberg for anther 1000? It's true.

I don't know about 1000 miles but I could listen to this for a while: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkV...os=HqPzQp5Wy1E

Funny stuff!

[K2]

Oh dear, I forgot to credit Leonard Cohen, sorry about that. I guess each one finds their own path to inner peace and enlightenment. Some find it easy, some find it difficult. I guess it's a lot like HYOH, isn't it? It's not something that needs to be debated; it's just the way it is. K2

[GGS2]

What is ISRP?

Isle Royale State Park?

[Windcatcher]

Be the trail.

[prain4u]

Isle Royale State Park?

I was also wondering if that is what they meant when they typed "ISRP". However, that would mean that not only did they transpose the letters (ISRP instead of IRSP) but they also had the name incorrect (It is "Isle Royale NATIONAL Park"). So, I thought that I would at least ask the question. (Frankly, I also didn't know if ISRP is perhaps some Buddhist thing).