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A question about the 'Dangers of Meditation'
I am new to this stie but hope someone may be able to provide some insight into something I don't understand. I am an American in China - an English teacher at a small university - there are no other Buddhists here on campus or anywhere else I am familar with so I am unable to ask anyone here. I became a Buddhist in the Mahayana tradition on July 25th , 2011 and entered China on Sept 2nd, 2011. My expereince with meditation began on June 22, 2011. Prior to arriving here - I had an expereince in meditation which I have seen described on the internet as "dangerous". That is: not being able to speak after a mediation session - was described on more than one website as a "danger". I am not sure why this is/was, or even why this occured - or what this may mean if anything. I am a little concenred about practicing mediation with no teacher after reading that this expereince is "dangerous". Does anyone have any feedback, information, input, advice or thoughts on this matter? Any response to this question would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.
Shy Tsering Choedan
Shy Tsering Choedan
0
Comments
Really, you have to stand back and look at what you're doing. You're sitting quietly, doing nothing, and being aware of this. A safer activity does not exist. The mind you stand up with is the same one you sat down with. There has never in the history of meditation been anyone who got "stuck" in a meditative state. No, you won't forget how to talk, or eat, or remember your name. So it takes you a little bit of time to return to normal, busy activity like talking. Enjoy the silence and do a bit of walking meditation until you're ready.
There are various unexpected sensations and mental junk that can scare the meditator if they aren't prepared, such as emotions rising and weard thoughts intruding. It's even called "Zen Sickness" but again, it's nothing dangerous. It just interferes with your meditation until you learn to put them aside and your mind becomes comfortable with meditating.
So no, you are not going to get stuck unable to speak. Eventually, this won't happen at all, when you start to find meditation as familiar as brushing your teeth.
Hope this helps.
If, after meditation, you find yourself unable to speak ... well ... you're speaking now, it seems, so the condition is clearly not permanent. If not speaking frightens you, then approach your fears with respect -- not surrender, just respect. Find a time to practice when there will be a breathing space after meditation ... a time to reclaim your speech, so to speak. Bit by bit in practice, the differences between sound and silence become less worrisome. Just go forward, gently ... but firmly.
Yes, meditation can be dangerous.
And how meditation can be dangerous?: There is the case where some unpleasant (or pleasant) feeling arises, then the craving (i dont like that), then the clinging (thoughts and concepts about that), then the reaction (habitual tendency), then the birth of reaction, then the death of the event with sorrow, grief, lamentation, so on..
And the person remains not seeing this, with unproper attention, with aversion,not letting go, feeding every link.
And how meditation can not be dangerous?.
U can look for a teacher who can teach u how to recognice all this, and how to let it go !.
Hope it helps
what is healthy? no mental disturbances. ordinary boredom. ordinary unhappiness.
if there is anything else, then go see a therapist. then once those blocks are released then start meditation and spirituality.
meditation can be dangerous like anything else if used in the wrong way. it can cause a lot of spiritual bypassing, grasping in the form of letting go, meditation addiction, etc.
meditation should be undertaken with a teacher, study, and positive intention.
From the Christian tradition I am from the Dark Night of the Soul is very real. I have the book of Mother Theresas letters to read on this subject. I do not think that Buddhists are exempt. And meditation can bring up some powerful things, things that make it hard to move back and forth between daily life and meditation. I have felt very odd sometimes going back and forth which takes some practice doing.
I agree with a teacher, I am sure there are teachers somewhere but it may take some looking. If you are at a university check the religious studies department for a contact. if you want to meditate before then an idea is to keep it to very short sessions, they tend to be good and not cause more dramatic chagnes in consciousness.
The mind boggles.
lets not forget the whole PURPOSE of meditation as per the Buddha is to completely uproot the deepest part of your worldview and completely rearrange it. If you think you are going to meditate for long amounts of time and go back to normal life happy-go-lucky... good luck with that. some might view this as dangerous... some might view not doing this as dangerous.
really there are two types of meditators... those who meditate for stress relief & relaxation and those who meditate for insight and liberation. if you are the latter, long periods of meditation are likely to dredge up some pretty nasty stuff... because we all have some pretty nasty stuff deep down, its just a matter of who is willing to dredge it up and deal with it and who is not...but that's part of the process. the Buddha taught in detail exactly how to deal with all the crap that comes up, so if you keep with the whole of the Buddhas teaching you will be more than well equipped to deal with it.
Anyway if others are in Colorado check out the buddhist geek site,
I have some concerns becuse I am very new to mediation or any form of spiritual practice and I am on my own, circumstantially speaking, regarding this situation. The expereince I described happenned after sitting in group meditation for about half an hour.
I am in the process of learning Mandarin - but this will take me a long time I think(at least to be somewhat fluent). Additionally , I am about an hour and half outside of Guangzhow (Canton). So many of the locals speak Cantonese, not Mandarin.
This is a very small school and there doesn't appear to be religious studies department on this campus - unlike many unitversities in the U.S. and Europe, there does not seem to be a strong emphasis on research activities at this school. That may be the reason why there is a strong social science orientatio here. For the most part, many programs in the in the area of humanities do not seem to exist at this school either.
Again, most of the instruction is done by Chinese (Han) professors and I am not very familar with their porgrams. However, overall from what I gather, the offical perspective on various religious practices in the PRC is somewhat unsuppportive. So I am a bit hesitant to make inquiries.
So, at present, I am on my own in this and by nature tend to be somewhat cautions in matters that I am not very knowledgeble about. Cetainly , this in an area where I have very limited understanding and expereince. Hence my concern. That is why your input was so helpful.
This of course leaves me to wonder, is it viable to have a teacher over the Internet?
Again my thanks for your thoughtful and timely feedback, I am very grafteful for your input.
Sincerely,
Shy Tsering Choedon