During Buddhism's 2,500 year history, several thriving sects have emerged, each with a unique take on the teachings of Buddha and daily practice. Zen Buddhism-that grew out of Mahayana and has gained increasing popularity in the West. Zen Buddhism treats zazen meditation and daily practice as essential for attaining Enlightenment and deemphasizes the rigorous study of scripture. On February 24th, I had a chance to go to the Clouds In Water Zen Center on 445, 445 Farrington St, St Paul, MN 55103. I got there around 1:25 pm as my classmates gathering around the greeter. Besides the building is not what I expected; I impressed with the teaching of living in the present, and properly sit meditation. Clouds In Water Zen Center building structure
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After waiting for us to sit down comfortably, the greeter began to introduce about Zen Buddhism. She described Zen Buddhism’s main purpose was to find peace in ourselves. Like my last visit to Phat An temple, the monk was talking about the same thing. I wondered the teaching might be similar since Zen Buddhism grew out from normal Buddhism. The greeter then proceeded to talk about accepting the present as she giving an example. People often get angry while waiting in a long line, whether in traffic or shopping in a grocery. By accepting the present, we accepted the action happening at the moment, thus, we accepted that anger wouldn't do goods to nobody. In my opinion, this teaching is practical and realistic. Because a person is responsible for his/her own action, that person has the ability to choose the direction for his/her action. It is thus, the main teaching of living in the present is to accept the present, and the easy way to do that is …show more content…
We learned the most important things of sitting meditation were sitting and breathing. To meditate properly and get the best results, we needed to learn how to sit correctly. The greeter began to introduce various forms of sitting while meditating such as kneeling, normal sitting or sitting with your feets crossed an x..etc.. The point of sitting properly was to sit with a straight back, opened chest and relaxed shoulder. Also the hands had to be crossed with two thumbs touching the top of each other. After we all got in the right form, we learned how to breathe properly. I had to breathe in a beat, but slowly as I felt my chest moving up and down. After that, the greeter began the meditation for 10 minutes. I closed my eyes as being told, then followed by 3 beats of a bell. The greeter kept on instructing us on what to do during the mediation. She told us to focus on our breathing and if anything popped up in our head; we just accepted it and moved on. After a moment, I couldn’t feel my body as a whole, but only my nose and chest focused on breathing. In a blink of an eye, ten minutes were over. We got a 5 minutes break then we came back to continue learning. The meditation was a good experience and worked well for me as I learned how to accept my thoughts during the
After waiting for us to sit down comfortably, the greeter began to introduce about Zen Buddhism. She described Zen Buddhism’s main purpose was to find peace in ourselves. Like my last visit to Phat An temple, the monk was talking about the same thing. I wondered the teaching might be similar since Zen Buddhism grew out from normal Buddhism. The greeter then proceeded to talk about accepting the present as she giving an example. People often get angry while waiting in a long line, whether in traffic or shopping in a grocery. By accepting the present, we accepted the action happening at the moment, thus, we accepted that anger wouldn't do goods to nobody. In my opinion, this teaching is practical and realistic. Because a person is responsible for his/her own action, that person has the ability to choose the direction for his/her action. It is thus, the main teaching of living in the present is to accept the present, and the easy way to do that is …show more content…
We learned the most important things of sitting meditation were sitting and breathing. To meditate properly and get the best results, we needed to learn how to sit correctly. The greeter began to introduce various forms of sitting while meditating such as kneeling, normal sitting or sitting with your feets crossed an x..etc.. The point of sitting properly was to sit with a straight back, opened chest and relaxed shoulder. Also the hands had to be crossed with two thumbs touching the top of each other. After we all got in the right form, we learned how to breathe properly. I had to breathe in a beat, but slowly as I felt my chest moving up and down. After that, the greeter began the meditation for 10 minutes. I closed my eyes as being told, then followed by 3 beats of a bell. The greeter kept on instructing us on what to do during the mediation. She told us to focus on our breathing and if anything popped up in our head; we just accepted it and moved on. After a moment, I couldn’t feel my body as a whole, but only my nose and chest focused on breathing. In a blink of an eye, ten minutes were over. We got a 5 minutes break then we came back to continue learning. The meditation was a good experience and worked well for me as I learned how to accept my thoughts during the