Zen - Chanting 'What am I?'
Just a few years ago I wouldn't be caught dead chanting. I'm not a praying man, and seeing chanting to deities I don't know or believe in, that's not me.
Then, some time after participating in a Yong Mang Jong Jin (YMJJ) sesshin at the Providence Zen Center, I found that one of my fondest memories of the Zen Center was the chanting time. I'd often listen to audio recordings of their chanting sessions just so I could remember the pace of each "song" that we chanted.
Having the shakes in the morning after meditation and chanting
Phew, I meditated and chanted so hard and long last night, I ended up dreaming an entirely different life overnight, one of those long dreams that seems to be many times longer than the actual time you slept, in this case several days of leading another life. As I write this, it's now more than one hour after I woke up from those dreams, and my body and hands are still shaking from the experience.
Ghost dog
The word "unusual" probably has a different meaning for me than most people. At this point I've had more than 100 or 200 out of body experiences (OBEs), I've seen an orb with my own eyes, and had precognitive experiences that are hard to explain away. So "unusual" is a very relative term.
But last night I experienced something that was very unusual, even for me.
Seeing cards in a dream
Last night I was feeling very calm, and I was able to relax like I haven't been able to do in a long time. As I thumbed through an old book on Zen, I felt very calm, with no thoughts of the past or future disturbing me.
I thought I might be able to have an OBE, so I set things up for the card test. I did the usual thing, closing my eyes, shuffling the cards, taking one from the deck, placing it face up, walking away, then opening my eyes.
Calming phrases before evening meditation or sleep
Through most of my life I've used my thoughts to try to calm myself down before going to sleep at night, and before evening meditations. I thought I'd share some of those phrases here today.
In my teens
When I was in my teens and had too much energy, I'd lay in bed at night, unable to fall asleep, so I'd follow this pattern of thoughts:
Why OBEs happen more easily for me
It's been several months since I last wrote anything here, mostly because I've had a lot going on, and I was also dealing with some health issues. I'm finally back in an apartment that's quiet at night, and my health is fine, so I'm looking forward to having some OBEs again.
If I haven't written about this before, I thought I'd make a few notes here about why I seem to have OBEs so much easier than the rest of the population. Not including genetics, which I can only guess at, there are five factors that I think make me more prone to having OBEs than most people.
Lifting a house like Yoda
While the universe continues to remind me that this physical body is mortal and I'm just living here on borrowed time, my lucid dreams of late have been entertaining. Two of the last three nights I've had lucid dreams with friends and family members, along with a couple of people I don't know.
Moving the bed = new dreams
Just a quick note that due to a variety of circumstances, I ended up sleeping in a different area of the apartment last night, and as usual, my dreams seemed to change very dramatically, and were very vivid. The dreams themselves are irrelevant, but the point I want to make is that this happens very often, I move the bed and the dreams change.
Gone fishing
Sorry that I haven't written anything here for a while. A few things in my personal life are keeping me very busy right now.
With the busy-ness, nothing special has happened recently. There have been a few nights of bizarre dreams, but that's been about it.
I wish I could say when life will return to normal, but right now I'm just trying to "go with the flow" as much as possible. I'll share more about what's going on some day, but for now, just know that I'm busy, and I hope everything is going well in your life, and in your practice.
Dreams of family members
I haven't had any time to write lately, and don't have much this morning, so I'll keep this brief.
About five days ago I had a nightmare about one of my family members, and jotted a note about it in the notebook I keep by the bed. I hadn't spoken with her in a while, I don't remember exactly how long, but it was certainly days and possibly weeks. The next day she sent an email saying she would need surgery.
