I know there are those among us that have taken up the mental activity as described by the zen masters. Please come forward and share your experiences!

I don't mean sitting. Don't tell me about your posture or pillow! Tell me about the very first time you ceased having and seeking. I distinctly remember when I finally stopped reading and thinking about it and did it. In my bewilderment I wondered how to even do such a thing, like I was trying to wiggle an invisible ear or flare an invisible nostril. Impossible! But even still I applied effort with a breath in to not dwell or join and exhaling not seeking.

The sensation that first time was abrupt. . . Almost exactly like that sensation of falling on flat ground when you think there's an extra step on a staircase and if you're going up you raise your foot too high and step into nothing or if you're coming down you step into the ground expecting space.

Just like that I was separated from my thought-stream for a brief moment.

It felt like a pacifier had been pulled from my mouth. Of course I jammed it right back in. The world without my binky is terrifying and the old snakeskin of my past is like a cherished baby blanket.

Zen master Daian one's mind must be like a wall then you can enter the way.

I realize my mind is not like a wall, more like a single line of stones, but for my part I'm encouraged by the realization that for even a moment I broke the seal and created a little space to turn around within. The work continues.

I'm getting stronger, if that is such a thing, and a sensation like a cool breeze on my brain accompanies every moment I stay "seated".

Anyways, come on in and spit in my face!

Also, here's a dried bone to chew on:

Daian said: . . . "Surely you have read this: "At the Shurangama Assembly the World-Honored One Shakyamuni said to Ananda, 'Even if you go for eons augmenting your learning, it is not as good as one day of stainless study." "But tell me, how do you cultivate 'stainless study'? If you say it has cultivation and realization, this is a vulgar lie. If you say it has no cultivation or realization, you are befuddled about buddha-nature. "Zen worthies, when you get here, to succeed you must investigate with your whole being according to reality, and find someone else who is already enlightened [Where you at?!] to sort you out. "Tomorrow we begin our period of intensive practice during the summer retreat, and set a date to get realization. For these ninety days, don't take it easy. Time does not wait for people. Each of us must work hard. Then Daian struck a blow with his whisk. Zen Under The Gun, Wisdom Publications, 2010, pg. 163-164