Greetings!
I'm curious if any of you use or recommend a zafu/zabuton set, seiza bench, or anything similar? To date I've been using the floor or a chair when I sit and I think I would probably be more comfortable with some proper meditation gear. Thoughts or advice?
What do you sit on?
What do you sit on?
"To reach beyond fear and danger we must sharpen and widen our vision. We have to pierce through the deceptions that lull us into a comfortable complacency, to take a straight look down into the depths of our existence, without turning away uneasily or running after distractions." -- Bhikkhu Bodhi
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." -- Heraclitus
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." -- Heraclitus
- Modus.Ponens
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Re: What do you sit on?
Hey. Good to see you here.
To paraphrase Ajahn Thanissaro, zafus are mostly a waste of money. Try using one or two couch pillows, or folded blankets to the height that is most confortable to you.
Metta.
To paraphrase Ajahn Thanissaro, zafus are mostly a waste of money. Try using one or two couch pillows, or folded blankets to the height that is most confortable to you.
Metta.
'This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.' - Jhana Sutta
Re: What do you sit on?
Hi, Tex - long time no see!
I use and recommend a large thin cushion (cotton blanket folded in 4 or 6 layers) with a smaller thicker firm cushion on it. Most couch cushions and pillows are too soft and you just sink into them, where you need to sit on them to keep your hips at least as high as your knees.
Sitting flat on the floor for any length of time is beyond me and, I think, beyond most westerners.
Kim
I use and recommend a large thin cushion (cotton blanket folded in 4 or 6 layers) with a smaller thicker firm cushion on it. Most couch cushions and pillows are too soft and you just sink into them, where you need to sit on them to keep your hips at least as high as your knees.
Sitting flat on the floor for any length of time is beyond me and, I think, beyond most westerners.
Kim
- lyndon taylor
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Re: What do you sit on?
At the immigrant community Thervada temples I've attended, the monks might sit on a thin square cushion, but the lay followers pretty much all sit on the floor(matt or carpet), admittadly they're usually there for chanting, not so much meditation, but if you're comfortable with it, it seems to me sitting on the floor without a cushion is always an option.
18 years ago I made one of the most important decisions of my life and entered a local Cambodian Buddhist Temple as a temple boy and, for only 3 weeks, an actual Therevada Buddhist monk. I am not a scholar, great meditator, or authority on Buddhism, but Buddhism is something I love from the Bottom of my heart. It has taught me sobriety, morality, peace, and very importantly that my suffering is optional, and doesn't have to run my life. I hope to give back what little I can to the Buddhist community, sincerely former monk John
http://trickleupeconomictheory.blogspot.com/
http://trickleupeconomictheory.blogspot.com/
Re: What do you sit on?
Various cushions, as long as the hips is at same height or higher than the knees, and the cushion slants forward a little ( or otherwise tuck a folded towel under the tailbone).
Re: What do you sit on?
A gigantic big armchair lazy boy, I sit my 6 ft 5" frame down cross legged across the chair, it's that big.
"For a disciple who has conviction in the Teacher's message & lives to penetrate it, what accords with the Dhamma is this:
'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70 Kitagiri Sutta
Path Press - Ñāṇavīra Thera Dhamma Page - Ajahn Nyanamoli's Dhamma talks
'The Blessed One is the Teacher, I am a disciple. He is the one who knows, not I." - MN. 70 Kitagiri Sutta
Path Press - Ñāṇavīra Thera Dhamma Page - Ajahn Nyanamoli's Dhamma talks
- imagemarie
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Re: What do you sit on?
Zabutons are really overpriced. I made my own by cutting off the end of an old sleeping bag. It's very soft and works fine. I wouldn't be without my own zafu either - familiarity breeds content It's filled with malleable buckwheat hulls that support wherever you need it - butt wise.
Re: What do you sit on?
I've got a couple of futon cushions that I've been using for over ten years and are now ready to be superannuated.
When I am not at home I use whatever is available. Last night it was a doubled over blanket and when I have been camping I've doubled over my thermarest.
Welcome back, Tex.
Ben
When I am not at home I use whatever is available. Last night it was a doubled over blanket and when I have been camping I've doubled over my thermarest.
Welcome back, Tex.
Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725
Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global Relief • UNHCR
e: [email protected]..
- purple planet
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Re: What do you sit on?
i sit on my bed - with a pillow behind me with a straight back - i have a big pillow between me and the wall and a very small pillow that i put for my lower back
but the most important things that help me are sitting on a bed - legs crossed - not lotus or half lotus - and to lean a bit on the wall with a more or less straight back - this is what works for me - not sure it will work for you
but the most important things that help me are sitting on a bed - legs crossed - not lotus or half lotus - and to lean a bit on the wall with a more or less straight back - this is what works for me - not sure it will work for you
Re: What do you sit on?
I primarily use a meditation bench with folding legs; it fits into a backpack. The trick is to get your knees to rest comfortably below your hips so that your back curves properly.
- "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting oneself one protects others? By the pursuit, development, and cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness. It is in such a way that by protecting oneself one protects others.
"And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, goodwill, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others one protects oneself.
- Sedaka Sutta [SN 47.19]
Re: What do you sit on?
i use a blanket folded like a small pillow shape, a friend suggested that i not waste money buying something i can sit on when essentially i can sit on nearly anything for free, also i will not be dependent on a special device if i want to sit...
Re: What do you sit on?
chairs
Just keep breathing in and out like this. Don't be interested in anything else. It doesn't matter even if someone is standing on their head with their ass in the air. Don't pay it any attention. Just stay with the in-breath and the out-breath. Concentrate your awareness on the breath. Just keep doing it. http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Just_Do_It_1_2.php
- mydoghasfleas
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Re: What do you sit on?
I used a bath towel folded into thirds lengthwise and then rolled up. It ends up the same size as a standard meditation cushion and no matter where I travel, there's always a bath towel available.
Re: What do you sit on?
I have been using two big fluffy pillows to support me while I sit on the floor. I have tried using a folded blanket but found it too hard and uncomfortable. I am thinking of switching back to the folded blanket so I can get used to it, and I think it will prove to be the best option in the long run given that it elevates the hips to a higher and more stable position than the pillows.
A lot of the discomfort can be dealt with by just sitting it out while the body gets used to the new position. I even found two pillows uncomfortable for a while, but now it does not bother me at all.
A lot of the discomfort can be dealt with by just sitting it out while the body gets used to the new position. I even found two pillows uncomfortable for a while, but now it does not bother me at all.
"If beings knew, as I know, the results of giving & sharing, they would not eat without having given, nor would the stain of miserliness overcome their minds. Even if it were their last bite, their last mouthful, they would not eat without having shared."
Iti 26
Iti 26
- lyndon taylor
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Re: What do you sit on?
With reference to right speech and the precept against lieing, I would have to say mostly my computer chair!! I've got a bit of a phobia about sitting meditation, I used to be big into sitting meditation, no cushions, just straight on the floor, but heard too many voices, and ended up in the hospital many times, so now I do my meditation lying down, and just everyday awareness 23/7!!
Sitting meditation, as opposed to chanting, is not always recommended for people with mental illnesses that involve voices, voices tend to be quieter than our thoughts, and quieting our thoughts through meditation, makes the voices seem louder or more obvious, every time I have let myself get into hearing and following voices, I end up in the psych ward. So this is just a personal problem, not advice for anyone, except those just like me......
Sitting meditation, as opposed to chanting, is not always recommended for people with mental illnesses that involve voices, voices tend to be quieter than our thoughts, and quieting our thoughts through meditation, makes the voices seem louder or more obvious, every time I have let myself get into hearing and following voices, I end up in the psych ward. So this is just a personal problem, not advice for anyone, except those just like me......
18 years ago I made one of the most important decisions of my life and entered a local Cambodian Buddhist Temple as a temple boy and, for only 3 weeks, an actual Therevada Buddhist monk. I am not a scholar, great meditator, or authority on Buddhism, but Buddhism is something I love from the Bottom of my heart. It has taught me sobriety, morality, peace, and very importantly that my suffering is optional, and doesn't have to run my life. I hope to give back what little I can to the Buddhist community, sincerely former monk John
http://trickleupeconomictheory.blogspot.com/
http://trickleupeconomictheory.blogspot.com/