I'm still a beginner in zazen myself. Sounds very much like what I do, except I only count on the exhale. (After some practice, I found that works better for me.) Sometimes though the counting can become very automatic...I have found myself going through 1-10 twice while having strayed off...
But you are doing zazen, right? Dogen and others in the Soto tradition boil it down to that...you must sit.
In the Fukanzazengi Dogen said:
"Hence, you should stop searching for phrases and chasing after words. Take the backward step and turn the light inward. Your body-mind of itself...
Glad to find Religious Forums. I'm a former evangelical Christian who was finally overtaken by his natural skepticism. I became a Christian at 25, after marrying my "preacher's kid" wife. I was a youth/college group leader and church elder, and I studied in a Reformed seminary. After 20 years...
I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're trying to say. Are you referring to the facts that Dogen died ~750 years ago and wrote in "medieval" Japanese? And that any interpretation into English would necessarily be problematic?
I'm a SZ noob, and i agree with DreadFish that the Fukanzazengi lays it out well. But when i first read Dogen (just a few months ago) i had no idea what the heck he was saying (and still don't w/o assistance!) :confused:
Then I found a weekly Skype study group originating out of the Atlanta...