Curious...

[Paul]

Does anyone here have a regular zazen practice?

[Johnny H.]

My background has been more Vipassana such as practised at: http://www.cs.unm.edu/~richards/sangha/ or http://www.santafevipassana.org/....

[Paul]

I was first trained in Soto zen (Suzuki Roshi style). I have been practicing Vajrayana since I have been in ABQ. How do you like Vipassina?

[Johnny H.]

Having had little exposure to other practises, I dont quite know how to reply. I've read a lot of books grounded in other practises and have tried to use some of their approaches. I was not very successful in applying the book learning.

The books I've read and the tools presented from the Vipassana (Theravada) approach gave me a foundation such that (during periods of daily practise) I become more "awake" and self aware and can "see" the precursors (craving, aversion, delusion) impacting my subconcious and therefore can try to make more skillful choices (of behavior or decisions) which cause less pain or stress for myself, those I care about and even those I actively dislike. later in my practise, I discovered local Sanghas which sponsored retreats and I found those teachers and their input did not conflict with the book learning and self practise. I also found Tai Chi and yoga helped to "see" into the body and realize the body/mind connection was important. My normal style was to be more cerebral and not in the body.

I found that combining daily meditation with Tai Chi, Chi Qong, Yoga and race walking gave me a very rich and self sustaining life.

Of late I have backslid into a less active practise (less meditation, Chi Qong etc) and have found that my choices are less skillful and therefore cause me (and those around me) more pain. I hope to turn my practise back as it used to be but so far have found that a lot of craving for past meditative experiences is getting in the way.

Is Vajrayana one of the Tibetain approaches and more in step with what Lama Surya Das presents in his books? Where in albuquerque is it practised?

[Paul]

Vajrayana "diamond vehicle" buddhism includes all four schools of tibetan buddhism, and can be found in Bhutan, Nepal, Mongolia, and the Shingon school in Japan. It's esoteric tantric buddhism, and seems very different than the stripped down approach of Theravada and Zen. Lots of ritual, visualization, mantras, mudras and "secret" teachings. In the end, it still boils down to what your earlier (the three poisons, four noble truths, ect). The place I discovered this is RigDzin Dharma on Washington. At the end of September a highly venerated Lama, Traga Rinpoche, will be giving a retreat on the basics.

[Johnny H.]

They have a web site which I will check out in a few days. I read a few books by sogyal rinpocke, lama das, tarthang tulku and a few others but at that time I was not able to use visualization and rituals to "crack open" my mind/body.

Most ritual has been stripped from the Theravada approach in this country and that did allow me to access the tools. Without some ritual involved it is more solitary and nonreligious such that it may be hard to pass it on to future youth in this society.

[Paul]

I have found that the visualization exercises are virtually impossible to learn from a book, and according to Tibetan tradition they should not be practiced without an empowerment ceremony from a lineage holder lama. Those ceremonies are really something to witness. I've been to Theravada and Pureland ceremonies, as well as sesshins in Soto and Rinzai, but the Tibetan tantric ceremonies are a class of their own. While Zen and Theravada leave me feeling more grounded in mindfulness, the tantric rituals leave me feeling like electricity is shooting up my spine. I think that is because Vajrayana has been roots in tantric yoga, working with kundalini, chakras and psychic channels. A few of these initiations are coming up here in ABQ.

[Paul]

Oh and I wanted to say Johnny that was an astute comment about ritual, as I've been thinking about that myself. My feeling is that when Vipassana and Zen were brought to this country 40 something years ago it appealed to Americans intellectually. Many removed the religious components and sold it as a philosophy or self help thing.
I think this was a mistake. However intellectually appealing the philosophy is, all Buddhist traditions are at their heart religion. The refuge ceremony, the sutra chanting, and all the prostrations and devotion are the emotional heart of practice. Meditation is not an easy path, and it does require faith, and thats where ritual comes in.