Re: without teaching that pain is valid-

June 5, 2005

>

> If pain is real there is no God. If God is real there is no pain.

>

> [FB] It is true? There is no pain. Is that true? How do you feel

> about having your hand in a fire? I can only assume that it is as

> distasteful to you as it is to me. Does that mean that God is not

> real?

>

Hi ,

Thanks for the interesting questions

I don't know if you know much about Zen Buddhism, but one of their

core pactices is zazen - just sitting. Sometimes these periods of

sitting are carried out for long periods of time, several days or

even weeks. If you have tried sitting motionless for any period of

time you will probably be aware of how painful it can become. Most

people can barely sit still for five minutes without moving let

alone sit for days at a time. LOL ...

Now if you talk to someone who practices zazen a lot, you will find

that they are not in pain when they sit, on the contrary they find

it quite restful. So what is their secret? When sitting you are

encouraged to do two things. 1. Label every thought which arises,

then 2., return to the awareness of the breath or your body. So

instead of pain in the foot we have awareness of the foot and a

believed thought " I can't stand this any longer! " . The thought seen

as just a thought with no belief soon passes away, so all we are

left with is a peaceful awareness of our foot.

So if you asked someone in zazen " How do you feel about having your

hand in a fire (sitting motionless)? " , they would probably smile and

say " What fire (pain)? " . This is not denying what is, rather it is

the gift of freedom a moment of clarity can give. This freedom does

not even require that you undo your belief in a separate " I " .

LOL ... how good is that!

Have a beautiful day

" So, how do you get back to heaven? To begin with, just notice the

thoughts that take you away from it. You don't have to believe

everything your thoughts tell you. Just become familiar with the

particular thoughts you use to deprive yourself of happiness. It may

seem strange at first to get to know yourself in this way, but

becoming familiar with your stressful thoughts will show you the way

home to everything you need. " Byron

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