Monday

The Helix Nebula captured by NASA'S Hubble space telescope.

I go in phases and fads, obsession and preoccupations. When they float over to my dharma practice, it's good, when it's binge watching AP Bio, it's not as great. I don't even really like the show, but I'm ripe for being absorbed into something and gratifying myself about it. Binge watching Netflix is a guilty sin, I think the biggest problem is neglecting activity, you need to move around more than just occasionally getting up to go to the bathroom or get food. 

Today Shams was only 15 minutes late, and discussed ordinary things. I said, "say something dharmic before we meditate." He said, "If you see the Buddha on the road, kill him!" That's about this line of thought: Instead of worshiping the Buddha for doing something amazing, you trod the path hard and get that something worthy for yourself. Only you can get yourself enlightened, or closer, there are levels, it's a complicated concept, and not universally agreed upon. My friend used to say, "deep meditation," instead of that huge concept. Going for deep meditation is understandable, that's the transformation vehicle for Buddhists, and honestly it's not that amazing to have amazing experiences, they are challenging. Few people want to meditate 2 hours a day to really progress on the path, most people are doing preliminary practices.

I took a day off and only meditated 40 minutes plus some park meditation. Felt lazy. Keeping the balance between vigilance and pacing myself isn’t easy.