Posted by tabitha on July 4, 2002, at 2:10:22
In reply to Any other people into Zen out there?, posted by Roo on July 3, 2002, at 13:22:15
Hi Roo,
I don't have a regular practice but I like the books by Charlotte Joko Beck and Pema Chodron a lot. I had not heard of the book you mentioned, I'll check it out. It's really appealing to think of all the difficult emotional states as having some use, isn't it?
I'm really interested in the relationship between psychotherapy and zen practice. At one point (many years ago) I thought that practice would not be psychologically healthy for me-- it seemed too much like some kind of self-denial, sitting facing a blank wall, sitting thru pain and boredom, etc. Too much like my childhood experience of being neglected. So I started therapy instead. Lately my interest in zen seems to be revived and I've been trying to resolve for myself whether practice and therapy are compatible. I had some discussion with my therapist and a zen teacher about this recently, and they don't see a contradiction.
Where I stumble is on the discipline of daily sitting-- it's much easier to read books and think about Buddhist philosophy.
Great topic, I'm glad you started it.
-tabitha.
poster:tabitha
thread:348
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20020527/msgs/371.html