Individual wrote: ↑Wed Mar 11, 2009 4:35 am
In reaction to mindfulness of my life, I had recently decided to attempt to follow an extreme form of morality.
It failed, of course. I have not been able to give up my addictions to contentious speech, alcohol, pornography, laziness, or lack of meditation, and have even been neglecting my daily ritual of offerings to the Buddha, and I will suffer tremendously for this....
...But... I have been sleeping on the floor. And I've strangely noticed that it seems to be more comfortable, in a way.
When a person lays down on something soft, like a bed, the spine isn't in proper alignment. The body is like a pile of jello, with the spine being twisted and sinking through it, instead of a spine sitting on a pile of well-placed stones. So, when I sleep on the floor, I seem to sleep better, it feels more cozy in a way, and when I wake up, my posture seems to be better. I slouch less and sit up more straightly, which is good for avoiding back pain in the long-term (a study on the comparative degrees of back pain among monastics vs. the general population would be interesting). I also like it because, in the possibility that I might one day not have a bed, I am preparing myself for the possibility that I might have to sleep without having a bed because the floor is about as soft as the earth. The lion's posture (similar to the fetus position), too, seems to be the best posture to sleep in, when it comes to proper circulation and proper placement of the body, although I am not used to it, from having never slept in it before.
When monks and Buddhists on uposatha days observe the ninth precept, where and how do they sleep? Does anyone observe this precept of avoiding soft beds and what has been their experience?