If you do zazen the only way I described in the Sitting Zazen post, your
enthusiasm most likely will be weakened soon: your interest will be weakened -
that's why the practice should be as diverse as possible.
Every day you solve different internal problems, so the topics of your internal dialogue also constantly change: what you were worrying about, yesterday - certain memories, etc. - is no longer relevant today (the reasons may be different including the influence of the media, for example.) In other words, every day your unconscious manifests itself in different ways, ie, its interaction with your conscious constantly changes. As a result, every day we do zazen in different ways - zazen that we did yesterday wasn't like today's - so to insist on doing a certain type of exercise if you've already lost interest in them is just silly.
There are two main types of zazen: (1) you can concentrate on your body (on your tanden, palm, etc), (2) you can concentrate on some external object. How to do the former type I described in the Sitting Zazen post; now I' going to describe the later.
Every day you solve different internal problems, so the topics of your internal dialogue also constantly change: what you were worrying about, yesterday - certain memories, etc. - is no longer relevant today (the reasons may be different including the influence of the media, for example.) In other words, every day your unconscious manifests itself in different ways, ie, its interaction with your conscious constantly changes. As a result, every day we do zazen in different ways - zazen that we did yesterday wasn't like today's - so to insist on doing a certain type of exercise if you've already lost interest in them is just silly.
There are two main types of zazen: (1) you can concentrate on your body (on your tanden, palm, etc), (2) you can concentrate on some external object. How to do the former type I described in the Sitting Zazen post; now I' going to describe the later.
Sit
in any posture as described but now put in front of you on the
floor
some object: a candle, tennis shoe, water bottle, etc, unless you
want to stare at the floor - at a distance of one to five meters. Some
prefer
staring at the wall, but I don't like that. The main thing is the object
must not be above the level of your eyes: it's on the same level or
below (when I lived in Bulgaria, I used to meditate in the mountains at
night while looking down at the glowing Sofia.) I keep the eyes slightly open
without focusing too much on the object.
About the hands: I usually pinch and hold with my right hand the point Seika no Itten (below the navel at a distance of the thickness of three of your fingers: index, middle, and ring) with my left hand on top.
Otherwise, there is a classic mudra.
So, if you're tired of focusing on your body, try concentrating on an external object. It's up to you what to choose since what you need at the moment you know better than anyone else (any teacher.)
About the hands: I usually pinch and hold with my right hand the point Seika no Itten (below the navel at a distance of the thickness of three of your fingers: index, middle, and ring) with my left hand on top.
Otherwise, there is a classic mudra.
So, if you're tired of focusing on your body, try concentrating on an external object. It's up to you what to choose since what you need at the moment you know better than anyone else (any teacher.)
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