Zen Meditations Class!

I woke up naturally at 7 or 8 a.m., which was a surprise because I thought I would oversleep today. I did sleep early yesterday, at 1 a.m., after having a call with my friends.

In the morning, I ordered take-out since my sister still wasn't home. I got a really good deal on a bunch of food and I was playing Overwatch at the time to keep my mood going. I had a very hearty breakfast consisting of beef shawarma rice and that Umami Burger, and that was honestly the best meal I've had in a while. I also talked to my friends for a bit in the morning. I continued playing Overwatch and ended on a win, almost before my time to leave for that zen meditation class I took up. I was a bit panicked because it was already noon and I still haven't booked a ride, and even then I left at around 12:30 p.m. or so. I asked the driver if he could go a little faster and, thankfully, we got there in around 30 minutes, which was a surprise. He kept talking to me on the way there and I could barely hear him, and I didn't even play any songs on the way there.

When I got to the monastery, I was surprised at the amount of people there. There were so many of us gathered at the start of the building. I asked where group 1 would be and they gave me an ID and I took my picture. I got a locker for the few stuff that I had and placed my phone inside since I didn't want to distract myself from this experience. I went to the second floor for a bit to have my seat, then we went to the third floor to where the real meditation class would begin.

By the time we got to the third floor, we were asked to remove our shoes and we got into this large room with mats and other meditation stuff on the floor. It looks pretty comfortable and very clean, the whole place was really well-kept and there were a lot of Buddhist things placed around the room. We then met our "Shi Fu" for this lesson and it was a bald Buddhist nun. I forgot her name, only that she would be called a "Shi Fu" and that she was Taiwanese. I've heard that Buddhist monks had no hair and my friend told me about the women as well having no hair, and seeing one up close was surprising to me. But she looked nice and everyone looked really welcoming. We were briefed a bit on Buddhist etiquette, bowing practices, the proper way to sit on a meditation mat, and so on. Then the real meditation began.

We were initially guided to close our eyes, take deep breaths, and to start counting them. The room was very quiet and I was trying my best to count my breathing, but my mind kept talking to me and was fully alert. While I was trying to meditate, I kept hearing my inner voice talk to me, come up with scenarios for the future, and so on. It was funny because, while this was going on, Shi Fu told us to focus on the present as the past was gone and the future has yet to come, therefore an illusion. I tried my best to keep my mind calm and empty, but I couldn't really do it. I already knew this because I have a hyperactive mind that runs on a million things at once, like how an operating system would. I guess this is the real reason why I took this meditations class. Once we were done, we were asked to stand up and go to the second floor to listen to a discussion about meditation and how to properly meditate.

I got 2 bottles of water and the lecture eventually started when Shi Fu pulled up her presentation slides. I learned a lot about her and Buddhism, how this one was a chan monastery because it is Chinese, that she went to New York, that monks and nuns don't touch each other, the founder of the monastery, and what amituofo means. The presentation was pretty engaging because she talked about real-world examples and applications of the topics she presented. She also told us that this zen meditations class would be around 20 sessions overall, with 17 attendances needed to get a certificate of completion. Naturally, I'm aiming for a complete certification but then I realized that I would have to free up all of my Saturdays for the next 5 months. The great news is that the class would be free, so I was thankful for that. I just have to be wary of whatever plans I have in the upcoming future.

When the lecture ended, we went downstairs and I purchased a zen meditations book out of my own volition. I was interested in seeing the books they had and, while everything was mostly free, the book wasn't. But I was fine and happy with the book I bought. When going home, I played Passenger Seat by Stephen Speaks and it was really fitting for the day. I saw the bright sunshine light the road and I got into a happy mood from it. By the time I got home, I was exhausted so I rested for a bit on my bed and showed my sister the book I got. In the evening, nothing much happened other than me getting KFC for our dinner and my sister and I were shocked at the bill and how expensive KFC now is. But after eating, I mostly took it easy and slept the night off.