practice5

What is NOT zen?

|>|sitting in zazen silently and in stillness is wrong sitting in zazen.

there is no 'wrong sitting in zazen'

|> What is this obsession with Zazen?  :)  

sitting absorption is simply the most intense and conducive of awakening

|...Where is the line between obsession and concientiousness,...? 

indicated clearly by embarassment


What Do Buddhists Eat?

|...do Buddhists have a special diet? 

yes.  buddhists are traditionally vegetarians, likely vegans, though
 there are tales of monks eating anything given to them in their
 begging bowls (and legend has it the Buddha ate something bad, some
 say poisonous mushroom, others bad pork, before he entered 
 parinirvana (superheaven))

|Are there food practices or rituals you follow? 

I am not traditional Buddhist, but I do follow these practices as 
 often as possible:

	eat simple, bland food, which does not heavily impact
	the consciousness (low in sugars, most fats), and try
        to eat low on the food chain as well as early in the
        processing cycle.  eliminate red meat consumption,
	minimize chicken/fish/egg (eliminate if possible)
	focus on grains, fruits, vegetables and legumes.
	lately I've been exploring tofu (soybean), which does
	appear to taste better when marinated.

        (I won't kid you I don't always stick to that diet, but
	 for extensive periods I have continued it, and enjoyed
	 it immensely)

|Are there major differences in these practices between the 
|varying types of Buddhism and nations? 

I imagine that most Buddhists are vegans if they are serious.
 my own lazy ways are serving only as learning examples.  if 
 I can do this, so can you (he says, after having completed
 two large Kit-Kat bars and a few cookies after a microwave
 cheese pasta this evening; I am but an ugh)


|Who/what are the sages.   Can we not become our own sages?  

no.  sage to oneself is not typically described in the texts of old with
 which I'm familiar.  it is something one speaks about with respect to others,
 an ideal, a prototype.  speaking of it with respect to oneself is not
 conventional and may be seen as comic or rude

|We can, do, will quote from those before us; however, at a time we might 
|learn to quote from ourselves.

quotation has its benefits.  just as does repeating the motion of the
 ideographic painter, the swishing circle, may allow the state of mind
 necessary to transcend all barriers and awaken