My Practice

Recently I had a dialog with a practitioner friend about whether I was Zen "through & through" and why it's sometimes difficult for us Westerners to develop a consistent sitting discipline.

I wanted to share my response just so folks get a better idea of where I'm at right now in my Buddhist practice.

...for right now, I feel most "at home" when practicing Soto Zen. However, I also feel "at home" to a great degree with TNH's practices as well. Luckily, my teacher teaches both. For now I'm sticking with these two Zen traditions. This may change in the future, but for right now I'm not actively looking to other traditions for my Buddhist practice. So, the short answer to you’re question is yes, I consider my self Zen through and through.

To the question of why developing a sitting discipline is so hard. For me, I would have to say that it's because my mind and body has gotten so used to constant external stimulation (food, music, books, internet, sports, etc.) that it finds the quite, motionless experience of zazen to be very uncomfortable. But then again, there is sort of a paradox that exists for me because I actually feel "right with the universe" (so to speak) when I sit zazen. We just need to remember to be patient with ourselves and keep at it as best we can given our life's circumstances. These habits we've formed over the years can be quite hard to work with can't they?