Best Of
Re: Two minutes of meditation?
Is one or two minutes of meditation, in the office or the car or the doctor's office, an actual meditation?
Yes ...as long as you don't close your eye while driving ...Thus have I heard, this can be a bit tricky 
On a more serious note... From what I gather meditation practice is a 24/7/365 thing, it is not restricted to cushion time....it's good to pop back into the present moment every now and again throughout the day...
In less than one minute one can do a quick body scan which helps to bring one's wandering thoughts back from the there and then into the present, the here and now...
Shoshin1
Re: Selflessness and Altruism
@IdleChater & @Jason, I appreciate the respectful correction. I'm a secular practitioner, and I approach Buddhism from a philosophical and psychological perspective. I think, maybe, I should begin some of my posted thoughts with a disclaimer 😜
You folks might not agree with this idea, but as far as I know there are lots of folks, who consider themselves to be Buddhists, who practice generosity in order to gather merit/"good karma" . Isn't that correct? If so, isn't that self-incentive?
Probably would be more skillful for me to leave descriptions of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to folks who've learned more than I. Now I'm curious... What's the most efficient way to find how the Buddha described himself?
ScottPen
Re: Selflessness and Altruism
From the perspective of non-duality, altruism is incoherent because, as John Lennon said, "I am he as you are he as you are me, And we are all together." Fine, but it's valuable to explore from another POV.
Is there an inherent problem with there being a self-incentive aspect to generosity? I don't think so. I'm not a biologist, but as far as I know there's a self-incentive for almost every action that every organism, including a Buddha or Bodhisattva, takes. There's a self-incentive built into the 4NT, people! Karma, rebirth, enlightenment... All of them have a self-interest component.
We can care about our own well-being and that of others simultaneously. It works better that way.
ScottPen
Re: Selflessness and Altruism
From the Buddhist perspective of the gradual path, teachings on generosity start with giving where you feel inclined; and even if it is done with an expectation of some personal benefit, it's better than not being generous at all (e.g., SN 3.24, AN 7.49). And eventually, when one breaks down their attachment to self and sees the interconnectedness of all tbings, the distinction between self and other disappears and generosity becomes 'altruistic,' done without expectation of praise or reward, but spontaneously out of kindness and compassion. The path is often started for self-interested reasons, but ends with selflessness—our well-being becomes everyone's well-being. And this is the foundation of the golden rule to treat others as yourself, whether it be Mt 7:12 or SN 3.8.
Jason
Re: Selflessness and Altruism
@ScottPen said:
Karma, rebirth, enlightenment... All of them have a self-interest component.
I dunno. According to Buddhist teachings (again), karma, rebirth, and enlightenment, do not include a "self" component. Our interest in such things involves self-interest, but not the things, themselves.
We can care about our own well-being and that of others simultaneously. It works better that way.
In Buddhism, is compassion, and the ideal, pure compassion is without giver, given, or gift. Again, no self, as such.
I'm not a biologist,
Cool! What are you? Lolz
but as far as I know there's a self-incentive for almost every action that every organism, including a Buddha or Bodhisattva, takes
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are beyond notions of self. They are beings of pure compassion.
Re: Two minutes of meditation?
I'd even go as far as to say that the benefits per minute are greater with micro-meditations than longer ones. This is often true with any endeavour - the law of diminishing returns.
marcitko
Re: Two minutes of meditation?
@Ren_in_black said:
@Jeroen said:
Then I start losing track of time and relaxing just being in a kind of eternal meditative space.That's interesting. When you say eternal, do you mean that it's there the whole time and you return to it when you meditate?
No, it’s just the feeling of timelessness which comes over me.
Jeroen
Re: On giving unsolicited advice
I think there is an element of wisdom involved in knowing when to do which actions. The more we step into the current moment rather than being so led by rules or habituated responses, the more we are able to emotionally read the situation and respond skillfully. This isn't an intellectually learned ability, it is skill developed slowly through meditation.
person
Re: Ozempic
@IdleChater said:
I think the difference between what you're saying and Buddhist teachings, is that you're talking about synapses firing and Buddhism is about mind. The brain is an organ, while mind is a phenomenon.What I wonder about, sometimes, is that we can observe synapses firing for something like "craving". My question - is mind (craving) caused by the brain, or is the brain reacting to the craving?
I like this question and have spent a fair bit of time learning and thinking about it. Clearly there is a strong link between the two, but I am now of the opinion that the relation is something like a projector and the film. Where the brain is like the film with all the information and the mind is like the light of the projector that gives that information a field of experience. Like the difference between unconscious and conscious thoughts, why isn't everything we do unconscious?
Mostly though I just don't know and am curious about what is going on.
person
Re: On giving unsolicited advice
@Vastmind said:
…It’s not that ‘I’m not ready’…
The "not ready" bit was a little presumptuous embellishment on my part due to the limitations of a message board format. 😉 I would have preferred to first ask you questions so that I actually understood you better. I appreciate you giving me grace regarding that. In fact, I didn't even read your earlier post, which would have clued me in to your actual perspective. Oops! Since i missed the post, I didn't read the article until just now. I'm so grateful you posted it, and I hope others take it to heart. It's an expanded version of what I was getting at.
I'm definitely not always successful at being the best listener. It's the part of "right speech" that's often the most challenging for me: recognizing the moments when my words don't add value.
This thread feels, to me, like the broader topic at hand is right speech - and holy hell that's a tricky one. At least it is for me. Alas, my poor little ego has yet to be dissolved and I tend to be reactively defensive. That's the feeling that's happening when I wish someone would just stop complaining and save it for their therapist. I grew up in a family where everyone was competing to say the funniest, or smartest, or most profound thing. It was like living in a Reddit topic thread. People were "debating" all the time. But, that didn't help my social skills with peers, and I got a reputation as a self-righteous and arrogant communicator. When I learned that was how people saw me, I was crushed. Unfortunately, my parents didn't have any idea how to guide me through that. They played up my feeling of being a victim, essentially saying my critics were haters.
So now, when I find myself in a conversation that I think I have some insight on, or one in which the context suggests I'm obligated give an opinion or take a side, my nervous system puts my body in a state of danger-awareness that's two-fold: I feel driven to prove myself like I did in my family growing up, and simultaneously fearful that doing so will cause people to think I'm an asshole. My core muscles and neck muscles tighten, I lean forward, my shoulders sort of bunch up, my heart beats faster, my breathing quickens, and my brain starts spinning in order to both prove my worth and defend it from being undermined. It's an adrenaline rush!
This is when the body-awareness cultivated in vipassana helps me tremendously. When I notice the tension I take deep diaphragmatic breaths to loosen my stomach muscles and slow my heart rate. I slowly roll my shoulders backwards and down. I make sure I'm not clenching my jaw. I relax my forehead and eyebrows. This whole thing doesn't take more than a minute or two unless I'm already agitated. Then, when I've convinced my sympathetic nervous system that I'm not in danger, I'm enabled to keep my mouth shut and be a good listener. Then, maybe, I can be a tacit yet helpful example of a nervous system in homeostasis.
Thanks for reading. I love you guys.
ScottPen