Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
4 Noble Practices / very helpful techniques not very well known
When I first began studying Buddhism I practiced 4 simple techniques, these 4 techniques allowed me to attain incredible amounts of liberation.
To my surprise
These techniques are not directly emphasized in the noble eight-fold path.
I am going to start practicing these things strictly again, perhaps they can help some of you.
I was taught...
Mindfulness:
Awareness of every moment, this means to concentrate constantly and not judge anything, to never 'like' or 'dislike', never be 'for' or 'against'.
While being trapped within ones own karmic conditioning there is the 'self' which has personal preferences and desires therefore likes and dislikes. What helped me tremendously was to catch my self at the point of contact upon hearing/seeing sights and sounds; stopping the 'self' from immediately judging the experience, and not allowing yourself to put what it is you are experiencing into a box. Not liking or disliking - merely experiencing seems to sort of create a blank slate of being for a random point in the future creating liberation.
Patience:
We gain some freedom from our 'self' in one split second of patience. Before you make a decision or invest your energy into anything, slow down and really take a look. One split second of patience can open up other possible responses. Wait another minute, another hour, another day, another week, until you gain a better understanding of the dynamics of a project or relationship before forging ahead. The Patience that you gain over your mind will give you a lot more time and space to have wisdom emerge. Eventually the decisions you make will be much better ones.
Transcending Fear:
You will never have complete freedom until you have rooted out your fears, fear only has power if you act or react. If a state moves you to a thought, action, or emotion, then it has power over you. In the face of fear patience is your primary defense. While you are cultivating and fear arises, let it arise and patiently wait for it to pass, by not acting in mind, emotion, or thought. Do not repress it, if you repress your fears and are not willing to face them they will continue to fester and will sneak up on you during your next vulnerable moment.
True Listening:
When someone says something to you, try to drop all the built in reactions that initially surface, whether they originate from your own fatigue, your familiarity with that person, your perception of their differing view points and what the "right" view point is. Actually attempt to grasp the actual dynamics of what it is they are saying before reacting. (Unfortunately many people are very impatient when waiting for responses......)
By gaining that few extra seconds of non-response to the reactions that you have, you gain some freedom and stop yourself from falling into the same patterns over and over again.
This helps in defusing a volatile situation and in facilitating a good start to any conversation, if your reaction is not there, then that person has no where to strike.
Living these - what I call - The 4 Noble Practices, strictly. allowed me to dawn upon a joyous week long enlightenment, I did no extensive research, and at the time I did not even meditate...but i was undoubtedly free and learned more in that week then i did in my first 18 years of life before it. I have focused on just the noble 8-fold in the past and it does not do the job(it is without a doubt a good source of info but lacks practice techniques i find necessary)...as a matter of fact these practices i have written above eventually turned me into what the noble eight-fold path teaches without me even having to study what the noble 8-fold path was
To my surprise
These techniques are not directly emphasized in the noble eight-fold path.
I am going to start practicing these things strictly again, perhaps they can help some of you.
I was taught...
Mindfulness:
Awareness of every moment, this means to concentrate constantly and not judge anything, to never 'like' or 'dislike', never be 'for' or 'against'.
While being trapped within ones own karmic conditioning there is the 'self' which has personal preferences and desires therefore likes and dislikes. What helped me tremendously was to catch my self at the point of contact upon hearing/seeing sights and sounds; stopping the 'self' from immediately judging the experience, and not allowing yourself to put what it is you are experiencing into a box. Not liking or disliking - merely experiencing seems to sort of create a blank slate of being for a random point in the future creating liberation.
Patience:
We gain some freedom from our 'self' in one split second of patience. Before you make a decision or invest your energy into anything, slow down and really take a look. One split second of patience can open up other possible responses. Wait another minute, another hour, another day, another week, until you gain a better understanding of the dynamics of a project or relationship before forging ahead. The Patience that you gain over your mind will give you a lot more time and space to have wisdom emerge. Eventually the decisions you make will be much better ones.
Transcending Fear:
You will never have complete freedom until you have rooted out your fears, fear only has power if you act or react. If a state moves you to a thought, action, or emotion, then it has power over you. In the face of fear patience is your primary defense. While you are cultivating and fear arises, let it arise and patiently wait for it to pass, by not acting in mind, emotion, or thought. Do not repress it, if you repress your fears and are not willing to face them they will continue to fester and will sneak up on you during your next vulnerable moment.
True Listening:
When someone says something to you, try to drop all the built in reactions that initially surface, whether they originate from your own fatigue, your familiarity with that person, your perception of their differing view points and what the "right" view point is. Actually attempt to grasp the actual dynamics of what it is they are saying before reacting. (Unfortunately many people are very impatient when waiting for responses......)
By gaining that few extra seconds of non-response to the reactions that you have, you gain some freedom and stop yourself from falling into the same patterns over and over again.
This helps in defusing a volatile situation and in facilitating a good start to any conversation, if your reaction is not there, then that person has no where to strike.
Living these - what I call - The 4 Noble Practices, strictly. allowed me to dawn upon a joyous week long enlightenment, I did no extensive research, and at the time I did not even meditate...but i was undoubtedly free and learned more in that week then i did in my first 18 years of life before it. I have focused on just the noble 8-fold in the past and it does not do the job(it is without a doubt a good source of info but lacks practice techniques i find necessary)...as a matter of fact these practices i have written above eventually turned me into what the noble eight-fold path teaches without me even having to study what the noble 8-fold path was
0
Comments
If you find a good meditation teacher, they will teach a lot of meditation techniques that aid in developing this. Those you've mentioned I've heard mentioned by different teachers. Do you know Thich Nhat Hahn? I think you would like his teachings, he places a lot of emphasis on deep listening, transcending fear, and of course also patience and mindfulness.
Nice post! Those are really good techniques indeed.