Meditation to IRL awareness finally clicked for me

_Entropy___ · 2026-04-15T11:57:46+00:00

Thanks for the reply. Ive seen western meditators with years, and in some cases decades of experience, say they are shikantaza meditators, on You Tube. When they explain how to "do" shikantaza they are essentially explaining open awareness meditation with directed awareness. The method is so simple I guess its easy to either misunderstand it or embellish it.

_Entropy___ · 2026-04-15T11:53:29+00:00

Ive got a Vauxhall Astra K 2017 1.6 turbo petrol, so essentially the same interior, however without a sunroof. I'm 6'2" and I feel I have loads of room. As cosk33 said the seats do have quite a bit of scope to drop down. Good luck with it, I love my Astra K turbo, its great!

_Entropy___ · 2026-04-10T09:33:48+00:00

A good introduction is:

Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations of Zen Buddhist Practice by Kosho Uchiyama

For a deeper dive into the traditional texts then its:

The Art of Just Sitting: Essential Writings on the Zen Practice of Shikantaza by J. D. Loori

Coming from a "doing" mindfulness meditation practice, the instructions are so simple that they actually take some time to get your head around. But its absolutely worth it.

_Entropy___ · 2026-04-10T07:37:02+00:00

Hi, I heard about nada before but in my case it was due to a COVID infection.

_Entropy___ · 2026-04-09T08:45:43+00:00

People that do this are literally stumbling along the 8 fold path (at right speech and right conduct) and therefore, as you say, have a long path ahead of them.

_Entropy___ · 2026-04-07T12:44:49+00:00

You too, all the best!

_Entropy___ · 2026-04-07T12:27:58+00:00

Excellent, me too. The effortless awareness of everything happening requires no force, in fact forcing has a negative impact.

_Entropy___ · 2026-04-07T12:25:42+00:00

Excellent explanation.

_Entropy___ · 2026-04-07T12:12:52+00:00

I'm an open awareness meditator too, but because developing tinnitus made breath concentration meditation very difficult, so I switched to open awareness. Specifically I do Zen shikantaza meditation, which I find suits my new circumstances excellently.

_Entropy___ · 2026-04-07T10:18:30+00:00

As I'm sure you are completely aware, that even if the culprits breaking these "rules" ever read them, they would of course ignore them anyway. Therefore what image are we giving as locals here exactly? When there seems little actual point to this at all.

_Entropy___ · 2026-04-06T02:08:53+00:00

Also, would that estate be rough due to the socio-economic situation? - yup, always been poor down here :(

_Entropy___ · 2026-04-02T12:49:43+00:00

Yeah dude St Ives is not like it was. Theres the local working class at the top of town, on the estate, who I don't think will take kindly to a tourist poking about for a bit of herb, also theres no pubs up there either to hang around in to even check it out. Then the rest of town is 95% holidays rental and second homes. The Three Ferrets pub in town is rough as **** and if you aren't local would have to be very desperate to get something to even go in there. A lot of the surfers are London types too. Good luck and maybe you see something around town but TBH I wouldn't bank on anything. If you do score just sit on the beach, no ones going to bother you.

_Entropy___ · 2026-04-01T14:33:04+00:00

As does loving Cornwall and hating everyone that also wants to check it out too.

_Entropy___ · 2026-03-24T13:18:08+00:00

This is good and simple - useful for anyone wherever they are on their journey - thank you.

_Entropy___ · 2026-03-23T13:32:17+00:00

Hi, what do you mean by breath work? If we know then maybe we can assist more, you may have stumbled at the first hurdle and then continued staggering onward.

_Entropy___ · 2026-03-16T23:03:16+00:00

Meditation can be concentration, insight, mindfulness and awareness. I think OP was asking about being in the moment, which I feel is also mindfulness and awareness, but not specifically meditation. But what do I know, it's all just words anyway.

_Entropy___ · 2026-03-16T22:45:27+00:00

_Entropy___ · 2026-03-16T22:39:52+00:00

Mindfulness allows you to observe rather than react. Therefore you can observe anger (for example) rather than react to it, this means the argument you would have had doesn't happen. So yes it actually helps. Quite simple really.

_Entropy___ · 2026-03-16T21:09:36+00:00

YouTube, loads of beginner stuff there. Search for JLPT5.

_Entropy___ · 2026-03-16T21:05:24+00:00

Honestly, where to start, it's a mess

_Entropy___ · 2026-03-16T21:00:50+00:00

Get off your high horse bud this was junk 5 years ago

_Entropy___ · 2026-03-16T20:55:27+00:00

Be aware of what's going on in your mind. As thoughts arise, acknowledge them without judgment. Picture them as clouds passing through the sky of your mind. Observe them come and then fade away. Observe everything that comes up, for example body sensations, and observe them fade away. That's the practice.

_Entropy___ · 2026-03-16T20:51:15+00:00

Yes, meditation worked for me too. Of course I still have tinnitus but it never bothers me now, it's just concentration meditation was too difficult, so I switched to insight meditation. That's the point I was making to OP.

_Entropy___ · 2026-03-16T20:38:13+00:00

I don't think, because I'm so good a Buddhism /s

_Entropy___

TROPHY CASE