This morning my meditation began to close with the sound of chirping birds. It reinforced the precious existence. Yesterday I took a class called "free stroke." It was an ink on paper class taught by a former president of the Zen Community of San Francisco.
The class was interesting and I came away with something I didn't expect. At the end of the class I walked up to Sensei ("teacher" in Japanese) and thanked him for the class. I also thanked him for his comment "religion has no rules" during our midway meditation. He responded "You think religion has rules?" I said "I guess so." Then I said goodbye to him, gathered my things and left.
I kept thinking about that comment. While I do branch out and try many different spiritual practices, I normally stick to the form that I am taught because it works. But I have often thought about mixing things up to combine various practices, and even modify components of those practices. In a way I guess he gave me the permission I was seeking to do so. Maybe that is why I took the class.
On a final note, during our meditation, Sensei gave us a tool to help quiet our minds. To reduce discursive thoughts and center attention on breath he suggested visualizing the breath coming in like a breeze that flows through our bodies. I tried that this morning and liked it very much. I was riding my breath.
Peace this day.
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