Pia was once again guardian, that afternoon. She had a busy week, volunteering to take over from others while having already two shifts herself! The comments are hers, and so is the title.
Greetings of a bigger crowd than I expected.
Fael Illyar: Hi Pia
Dakini Rhode: until i get around to it… half kneel and half sit crosslegged
Delani Gabardini: hi pia
Delani Gabardini: now i am happy
Delani Gabardini: but u did a great job, dak
Dakini Rhode: if anyone has a handy switching script, I’ll be happy too :)
Dakini Rhode: Hi Pia!
Pia Iger: Hi, everyone
Gambhira Skytower: hi Pia
Faenik: why not?
Dakini Rhode: Solobill is the official guardian of today’s session, but he may not be here
Delani Gabardini: hi quilty
Fael Illyar: Hi Quilty.
Quilty Bookmite: Hi all.
Dakini Rhode: hello quilty
Gambhira Skytower: Hi Quilty
Pia Iger: Hi, Quilty
Dakini Rhode: I ‘m happy to log the chat, but i need to leave on the half hour
Dakini Rhode: i’ll be grateful if someone can pick up for me…
Delani Gabardini: i am going to be leaving early also
Pia Iger: oh. I said I would log
Dakini Rhode: ok Pia thanks!
Dakini Rhode: perfect :_)
Dakini Rhode: * :-)
Dakini Rhode: my nose slid there
Pia Iger: hehe
Stim appeared for a minute and was noticed he only has one shoe on.
Fael Illyar: Hi stim
Delani Gabardini: hi stim
Pia Iger: Hi, Stim
Dakini Rhode: hi Stim :)
Quilty Bookmite: hi Stim.
Stim Morane: Hi all!
Gambhira Skytower: Hi Stim
Stim Morane: Sorry to interrupt
Quilty Bookmite: I don;t think we have started, have we?
Dakini Rhode: not an interruption at all… we’re just starting
Quilty Bookmite: Unless I missed something.
Stim Morane: Good. I’ll see you later, I’m just dropping in …
Dakini Rhode: ok!
Stim Morane: Bye!
Dakini Rhode: thanks for saying hi
Delani Gabardini: stim - u have only one shoe on
Fael Illyar: Bye Stim :)
Stim Morane: Bye
Delani Gabardini: bye
Dakini Rhode: that’s my fault Delani
Dakini Rhode: i gave Stim an outfit from one of the newbie packs, but i think the other shoe was lost from the database :(
Delani Gabardini: i thought it was a new fad
Quilty Bookmite: :-)
Quilty Bookmite: it’s an interesting look.
Dakini Rhode: we could start one…
Delani Gabardini: excuse - phone
Dakini Rhode: wear only the right shoe
Quilty Bookmite: Done. :-)
Dakini Rhode: makes it quicker to take off the shoes for zazen :P
Quilty Bookmite: Isn’t peer pressure wonderful :-)
Dakini Rhode: in fact, if you take off the one that shows, you can probably get away with keeping the other on :)
Dakini Rhode: lol yes
Fael Illyar: :)
Faenik: ah :)
Dakini Rhode: ah :)
Time to get serious.
Quilty Bookmite: Does anyone have a topic to discuss?
Dakini Rhode: gets hard to come up with new material, but the nature sounds are nice :-)
Quilty Bookmite: Yes. :-)
Fael Illyar: Definitely.
Faenik: could be
Quilty Bookmite: You have these meetings 4 times a day?
Dakini Rhode: Gam, have you been with this group yet?
Gambhira Skytower: yes
Dakini Rhode: have you tried the playasbeing exercise?
Gambhira Skytower: the 9 seconds?
Dakini Rhode: yes
Gambhira Skytower: kind of
Fael Illyar: kind of?
Gambhira Skytower: i’m not sure if i do it right
Gambhira Skytower: i don’t write down anything
Fael Illyar: I rarely write anything either.
Dakini Rhode: I think it would be interesting to sort of go around the table and say what we “do” during the 9 secs
Quilty Bookmite: Are you supposed to write something?
Dakini Rhode: i often get the notion we all have our own flavor
Pia Iger: ok. we can do it.
Dakini got an idea: let’s share how each of us does the 9 secs.
Dakini Rhode: hmmm who first?
Gambhira Skytower: i haven’t really changed my practice since learning about PaB, i just focus on my breath alot
Gambhira Skytower: throughout the day
Quilty Bookmite: Me! Me! Pick Me!
Quilty Bookmite: Just joking. :-)
Pia Iger: hahah
Pia Iger: Gamb already started.
Dakini Rhode: Gam, so you take the 9 secs to do your usual practice?
Gambhira Skytower: yes, but i try to do more than 9secs
Fael Illyar: My method … well, I started doing it before I heard about concentrating on breath so that’s not included. I just try to let go of everything I possibly can.
Fael Illyar: The bell sound is starting work as a sort of a trigger by now.
Fael Illyar: takes effort not to stop if I hear it
Gambhira Skytower: what do you mean let go?
Fael Illyar: mentally let go of anything that feels like it wants to drag me somewhere
Faenik: なるほど^^
Fael Illyar: and well, even if it doesn’t and I notice it, I try to let it go :P
Gambhira Skytower: so emotions and thoughts you let go of?
Fael Illyar: yes
Gambhira Skytower: do you feel relief?
Dakini Rhode: In some systems, emotions are thoughts (just more forceful maybe).
Fael Illyar: I tend to keep at it until I no longer feel like there isn’t anything I have to do.
Fael Illyar: umm
Fael Illyar: that came out wrong
Quilty Bookmite: It’s very difficult to actively let go of thoughts and emotions.
Fael Illyar: until I no longer feel like there is anything I have to do.
Dakini Rhode: one too many negatives :)
Dakini Rhode: there
Dakini Rhode: What do you do, Quilty?
Quilty Bookmite: Well, I haven’t really got into the 9 second meditation…
Fael Illyar: Quilty, yes, I might very well miss some that I don’t notice.
Quilty Bookmite: I do it when I am here when I hear the bell…
Dakini Rhode: and what do you do then?
Quilty Bookmite: Basically what I do is my normal Zen meditation. Similar to what Fael said. Just naturally letting thoughts drop off.
Quilty Bookmite: I should actually get into such a practice more. I find it very helpful and doesn;t have quite the same pressure as Zen meditation.
Fael Illyar: Speaking of which, the way I do my morning meditation is a bit different. I tend to concentrate on my breathing at first.
Fael Illyar: … which finally makes me realize what was different about this morning, I forgot about the breath. No wonder it felt strange :)
Quilty Bookmite: Isometimes do that. I concentrate on the first 3 breaths, imagining a point which moves from the hara, up the spine to the top of the head and down the front.
Gambhira Skytower: i learned from a teacher years ago to do what he called “one minute mindfulnesses”, he taught to focus on breath for a minute every hour.
Quilty Bookmite: But it is only to start hte meditaiton session.
Fael Illyar: Gam, that’s quite similar to PaB I think :)
Quilty Bookmite: Was this a Theravadan teacher Gambhira?
Gambhira Skytower: yes Quilty, Bhante Gunaratana
Quilty Bookmite: Sorry, I don’t know of them.
Faenik: ah :)
Quilty Bookmite: I know a little about the Theravadan tradition. There are a lot of similarities to Zen.
Dakini Rhode: I’m happy to hear these variations in our practice… which it seems to me are slightly different ways to be mindful
Gambhira Skytower: Dakini, what do you do?
Dakini Rhode: The way I was taught, i learned a variety of meditation techniques…
Dakini Rhode: what i do
Dakini Rhode: is I stop and look
Dakini Rhode: I might focus on something internal, if i’m thinking
Dakini Rhode: or if i’m not particularly engaged in thinking, i might look around and just look
Dakini Rhode: well not looking around particularly
Dakini Rhode: just looking
Two strangers walked by. Then Dakini left.
Tele Porta: hello
Dakini Rhode: Hello Fides and Tele
Fides Torres: Hello..
Fael Illyar: Hello Tele, Fides.
Delani Gabardini: hi
Quilty Bookmite: I’m sure that is probably quite revealing. We tend to miss so much through inattention.
Tele Porta: meditation?
Quilty Bookmite: Hi Fides and Tele
Gambhira Skytower: hi Fides, tele
Delani Gabardini: would u like to sit?
Dakini Rhode: I notice things do seem to become more lively, brighter, and more informative if that makes sense
Tele Porta: i will if fides will
Dakini Rhode: I must say i need to leave now
Delani Gabardini: sorry to see u go dak
Dakini Rhode: thanks for the chat :-)
Quilty Bookmite: Bye Dakini
Delani Gabardini: see u tonight?
Dakini Rhode: me too, this is interesting :-)
Dakini Rhode: yes!
Fael Illyar: This is a Play as Being meeting.
http://playasbeing.wordpress.com/
Tele Porta: i think we will go explore.
Fides Torres: Sorry want to walk along.. Have fun.. Bye :)
Delani Gabardini: ejoy
Tele Porta: im sorry if we disturbed your group
Delani Gabardini: enjoy
Pia Iger: bye, Dakini
Quilty Bookmite: Bye.
Tele Porta: bows
Delani Gabardini: bye tele
Quilty Bookmite: Random strangers. :-)
Fael Illyar: apparently :)
Delani Gabardini: nice though
Quilty Bookmite: Yes.
Pia Iger: happens since we have open space.
Quilty Bookmite: I’m not complaining.
Delani woke up from her SL snooze…
Delani Gabardini: i apologize - i miss everything
Quilty Bookmite: You looked like you had fallen asleep. :-)
Pia Iger: Mmm, it is Delani’s turn
Delani Gabardini: i can read the log
Faenik: ah :)
Delani Gabardini: haha
Delani Gabardini: i did
Gambhira Skytower: we have been talking about what we do for the 9second periods
Quilty Bookmite: In RL?
Delani Gabardini: no only in sl
Quilty Bookmite: :-)
Fael Illyar remembers being swamped in IMs or talking on phone during meetings and not being able to participate really.
Delani Gabardini: well i have not been too faithful to the PaB process but I did use it during the camp
Faenik: indeed?
Delani Gabardini: and it was challenging there
Fael Illyar: Did you make any observations?
Delani Gabardini: actually since I was also doing Zen (Zen camp) - I was more involved with just being
Delani Gabardini: and wondering what being really is
Fael Illyar: Well, I’m sort of doing Zen both with meditation and explorations.
Fael Illyar: Although they’re somehow different
Gambhira Skytower: you mean you felt you were ‘doing’ less Delani?
Delani Gabardini: yes - I was just trying to be and not be Delani (which is my rl name)
Delani Gabardini: i have to play so many roles in life it was kinda refreshing
Quilty Bookmite: What where you trying to be?
Delani Gabardini: well - I don’t know but I did realize that I do not really know my true self very well
Delani Gabardini: lots of wells there
Delani Gabardini: sorry if I don’t make too much sense
Faenik loves wells!
Delani Gabardini: love u too faenik
Quilty Bookmite: Did your meditation show you anything about your true self?
Fael Illyar: I can’t believe it, that line was suitable for once :)
Quilty Bookmite: :-)
Gambhira Skytower: lol
Quilty Bookmite: I thought you had programmed it to pick up on certain words.
Fael Illyar: no, it’s random line, random timer
Quilty Bookmite: Maybe not as random as you think. :-)
Delani Gabardini: well - i realized how much I identify myself by what I do and not who i am
Fael Illyar: Well, who knows where SL gets it’s random numbers for scripts :P
Delani Gabardini: such as I am a Mom and a teacher and a Buddhist and so forth
Gambhira Skytower: i think that is good Delani
Delani Gabardini: so it was nice just to be this being who had no identity
Quilty Bookmite: I think many of us do that.
Delani Gabardini: well it made me cry and I rarely cry
Gambhira Skytower: the philosopher Sartre said “being is doing”
Delani Gabardini: nice Gam
Quilty Bookmite: So maybe we aren’t any more than what we do?
Delani Gabardini: that scares me
Gambhira Skytower: my teacher says it is impossible to know a self, but we can know our karma or body, speech, and mind
Quilty Bookmite: Maybe it should be disturbing.
Gambhira Skytower: *of
Delani Gabardini: hmm
Delani Gabardini: kind of shakes u up
Quilty Bookmite: My own teacher says we should always be disturbed by the truth
Delani Gabardini: like peeling an onion and what is left
Delani Gabardini: Quilty what is your practice
Quilty Bookmite: Dissolving the layers until there is Nothing.
Quilty Bookmite: Soto Zen.
Delani Gabardini: ah
Gambhira Skytower: Pia, we haven’t heard about what you do
Pia Iger: oh. I usually just not doing anything, at 9 sec
Quilty Bookmite: Does your mind do anything?
Delani Gabardini: but are not the 9 secs supposed to stretch until you are in one continuous 9 secs
Delani Gabardini: that did not make sense did it
Quilty Bookmite: And there was another 9 seconds. :-)
Gambhira Skytower: Delani i think the idea is to do it more than just 9 seconds eventually, it becomes a habit
Pia Iger thinking Dalani’s question.
Delani Gabardini: what I mean to say was it Pema’s intention that with practise we eventually are always in a state of Playasbeing
Delani Gabardini: could that be the intention
Fael Illyar: I think it is
Pia Iger: yes. 9-sec leads to 15min
Gambhira Skytower: i think so Delani, whatever we practise in those seconds, we are developing that mental habit to be stronger
Delani Gabardini: then that is good
Faenik: could be
Fael Illyar: And I think it’s working. I don’t recall how I spent my time before starting with much clarity anymore but I’m feeling clearer headed now most of the time, that I’m sure of.
Delani Gabardini: i am happy to hear that fael
Gambhira Skytower: that’s great Fael
Quilty Bookmite: Is that the aim, Fael?
Delani Gabardini: everyone - I apologize again but I have to leave
Fael Illyar: Ok, see you later Delani :)
Pia Iger: bye, Delani
Gambhira Skytower: goodbye Delani
Quilty Bookmite: Bye Delani
Pia Iger: so we are constantly doing mind cleansing
Fael Illyar: I’m not sure how much more I can advance but that really is secondary. Doing these upkeeps my current clarity.
Fael Illyar: That’s my primary reason for doing these at the moment.
Fael Illyar: Same holds for my morning meditation
Quilty presented a deep question, then levitated from the pillow.
Quilty Bookmite: Do you know what the primary purpose is of playasbeing?
Quilty Bookmite: I seem to be levitating for some reason. :-)
Pia Iger: as I understand is to find “who we are”
Pia Iger: yes. we have magic pillows, Quilty
Quilty Bookmite: :-D
Quilty Bookmite: Have I reached some higher plane?
Fael Illyar: Sure, you’re a few feet higher than the rest of us :P
Gambhira Skytower: lol
Gambhira Skytower: you’re levitating!
Faenik: ah :)
Quilty Bookmite: As long as I don’t go too high. I’m not good at heights.
Pia Iger: back to Quilty’s “Does your mind do anything?”
Quilty Bookmite: Yes. :-)
Gambhira Skytower: lol
Pia Iger: I let my mind not do anything, or take off whatever assumption my mind ususally have
Fael Illyar: “wind is not moving the flag, mind is moving the flag”
Gambhira Skytower: can you explain taking off an assumption?
Pia Iger: It can be related to “what we have” or our normal identification.
Pia Iger: I let them go and see what is beneath that, who I am.
Faenik: why not?
Quilty Bookmite: It sounds like you are doing more than just nothing. :-)
Pia Iger: nothing is very confusing word.
Quilty Bookmite: even more confusing when spelt witha capital letter.
Pia Iger: haha
Quilty Bookmite: :-)
Faenik: could be
Pia Iger: many times I felt I am going “home” at 9-sec
Fael Illyar: To see the truth, you should not be attached to any particular idea of truth.
Pia Iger: or my mind goes to its origin.
Quilty Bookmite: The finger that points at the moon is not the moon.
Fael Illyar: that’s a good one :)
Quilty Bookmite: Thank you. Not mine I’m afraid. :-)
Quilty Bookmite: I think I should go now, even though i have enjoyed talking and floating very much.
Fael Illyar: Ok, see you later Quilty :)
Pia Iger: bye, Quilty
Quilty Bookmite: Bye and thank you.
Pia Iger: do you think we are sort of similar in our 9sec practice? from what we share today?
Fael Illyar: I’m not sure
Gambhira Skytower: not sure either
Faenik: ah :)
Gambhira Skytower: seems difficult to say
The end.
