Soooo.... what's new? Well, zazen is one major new thing since then. I have been sitting nearly every morning since the beginning of last March. I was reading this guy's second book, "Sit Down and Shut Up", after reading his first book, "Hardcore Zen - Punk Rock, Monster Movies & the Truth about Reality", and about 10 pages in I realized that either I put the book down or I get my rear end to a cushion. So I did. I went on to read his last book, "Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate: A Trip Through Death, Sex, Divorce, and Spiritual Celebrity in Search of the True Dharma" In the last few months I found a group, sangha, that meets the Saturday of the month to sit then talk. The group is lead by Kevin Bortolin, who like Brad Warner studied and received his Dharma transmission from Gudo Nishijima. Some interesting sychronicity there, I thought. I just finished reading Roshi Nishijima's book "To Meet the Real Dragon", as suggested by Kevin. One thing looking back that still makes me chuckle every time I think of it is how I set up in my mind these various goals/milestones. My first goal was to make it through a week, then a month, then 3 months, at which point I would be enlightened. Not really, obviously, but it was such a defining point that I made the joke with a friend on the 3 month morning that I hadn't achieved enlightenmet yet. So my next major milestone is coming up in a couple of weeks, my one year mark. That is pretty kewl. My zazen has evolved pretty radically in some regards and yet it is still just sitting in front of a wall. I definitely have moments of wondering what the heck motivates me to get up at 5am everyday to go sit and stare at a wall for a half hour. Even crazier is how I continue to increase how long I sit and have a goal of another 30 minute sit at night. The one thing that zazen has definitely done is put to rest the quiet, unquieting voice that said I should do zazen or meditation.
Where am I with my Gentle Way to Self Realization via the Art of Perseverance? Well, I have been studying Judo for almost 5 years now. I think I started back in March of 2005. My judo has definitely changed since then. Granted, the "end" is just as faraway as it was on day one. Of course, I do not believe any of these things have an "end". They are all about the journey and not the destination. A few months ago I got my ikkyu rank, the rank before shodan (black belt). One really kewl thing about being where I am with Judo, is that there are many people above me in skill and many people below me. It is a neat feeling to be aware of this and participate in it, in class. I do not feel anywhere near being ready for my shodan, and I am grateful, that is not my decision to make. In the coming days, weeks, months I will be adding blips of training sessions that stand out and I wish to remember. Neil Ohlenkamp, my instructor, teacher, and sensei at the Encino Judo Club, in Oxnard has recently started teaching these really incredible series of moves. Not that there wasn't great things to learn before, but I am thoroughly enjoying these. Judo continues to move beyond the mat in its scope for me.
Series 1 - right ouchigari > left hand kuchiki taoshi > knee over guard pass entry into newaza > kesa gatame > bridge and roll escape > arm post to block the escape > push hand over head and get the back
Series 2 - tate shiho > hands and knees top/bottom (slide to butterfly turn over) > tai otoshi > counter with kosoto gake > hands and knees turnout defense
So what's with this union of body, mind & spirit thing? Yoga. Apparently it's more than stretching. So in blog reading I found out I have been doing Yoga now for about three years. My teacher, Zan, from Zanzilla, teaches us twice a week at the city. So I did a bit of reading when I first started practicing yoga regularly. There a few perspectives regarding meditation and yoga. The one that stands out was I believe by Iyenger which stated that yoga and meditation were the same thing. I struggled with this for a while as it related to zazen. However, my teachers have told me and I am in agreement that zazen and meditation are not the same. Currently my focus has been on greater awareness of whatever area of the body we are working on.
Last bit about Disc Golf. Great sport that I commonly describe as hiking with a frisbee. That's about all I have at this time about disc golf.
This entry has taken me about three days. Hopefully that is not how they will all be.
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