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Is This Genuine Buddhist Meditation ?
Angus
Vietnam Explorer
in Meditation
I usually practice anapanasati and vipassana meditation but having moved to a new country find this is one of the only meditation groups around .
I am interested in Tibetan Buddhism in fact all Buddhism , but not sure about this . What do you think ?
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After 2,500 years, Buddhist meditation is a large umbrella. I gather others here are more qualified to comment on the specific method, tradition and organization. The aims of the method he demonstrated differ in their focus from those of the methods you mentioned, but they sound legit. I didn’t see any red flags. Even when he elevated their method above other, less esoteric ones, he didn’t dismiss them as wrong or misguided. On its face seems genuine enough to me.
If you want to check out what the Tibetans are doing, get a book called The New Meditation Handbook by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. It lays out how to practice Lamrim meditation in a couple hundred pages.
Sorted.
I cannot say if the video you have presented talks about valid meditation techniques.
All I can say is that my own local teacher does not teach these forms of meditation (my local teacher is an elder Buddhist monk from Tibet, with a Geshe degree, trained in the Dalai Lama's monastery ... Namgyal).
However, I have heard from many Tibetan individuals .. monks and non-monks both ... that Tibetan Buddhism is only for someone who has a qualified in-person teacher to guide them. That practicing Vajrayana on your own can "drive you crazy" (their choice of words, and they all say that).
And I have heard from many Buddhist sources (Zen, Tibetan, and Theravadan) that Theravadan is the only form of Buddhism safe and productive to practice without a direct teacher.
So keep up the Vipassana.
Remember that Buddhism is the proverbial slow-boat-to-China. It can take years to start to gain insights. Buddhism is process-oriented more than it is goal-oriented so focus on the process rather than goals.
Now there's 'Buddhism in a nut-shell' if ever I saw it.....
You could become a rhinoceros ...
https://accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.1.03.than.html
... however failing that choose your spiritual friends wisely
https://buddhism-controversy-blog.com/2014/06/30/propaganda-the-making-of-the-holy-lama-ole-nydahl/
Both Geshe Kelsang Gyatso (who is not in fact a Geshe, since he was expelled from his monastery in Tibet) and Lama Ole Nydahl, have been involved in very ugly controversies.
The latter has been accused of sexual abuse...
But I guess @lobster's link above probably explains that...
Thubten Chodron has a wonderful book on Lamrim that can also be downloaded in PDF:
https://www.google.ch/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://thubtenchodron.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/MeditationOutline.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjl3Na8tITZAhWSDuwKHTmSBwAQFjABegQIDxAB&usg=AOvVaw3HYmNFCw4ba9FD8pbUHI8A
I don’t know. That shell looks too small to me. I don’t see Buddhism as more process- than goal-oriented. Instead, I see it as a continual balancing of the two. A process-oriented focus is practical when an understanding and appreciation of the goals have been internalized, allowing for mindfulness of them to guide the process. But, the process deepens those understandings and appreciations. So, it should be constantly re-evaluated, according to the goals.
"What do you think, Kalamas? Does greed [or hate or delusion] appear in a man for his benefit or harm?" — "For his harm, venerable sir." — "Kalamas, being given to [these defilements], and being overwhelmed and vanquished mentally by … [them], this man takes life, steals, commits adultery, and tells lies; he prompts another too, to do likewise. Will that be long for his harm and ill?" — "Yes, venerable sir."
…
"What do you think, Kalamas? Does absence of greed [or hate or delusion] appear in a man for his benefit or harm?" — "For his benefit, venerable sir." — "Kalamas, being not given to … [these defilements], and being not overwhelmed and not vanquished mentally by … [them], this man does not take life, does not steal, does not commit adultery, and does not tell lies; he prompts another too, to do likewise. Will that be long for his benefit and happiness?" — "Yes, venerable sir."
…
"Therefore, did we say, Kalamas, what was said thus, 'Come Kalamas. Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumor; nor upon what is in a scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon another's seeming ability; nor upon the consideration, "The monk is our teacher." Kalamas, when you yourselves know: "These things are bad; these things are blamable; these things are censured by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill," abandon them.' [Or,] Kalamas, when you yourselves know: 'These things are good; these things are not blamable; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness,' enter on and abide in them.
The process refines discernment, which makes subtler choices based on goal-oriented criteria. Over time the goals may become so ingrained that differentiating them from the process becomes difficult, but really there are two things, goals and process, walking hand in hand.
Edited to emphasis greed, hatred and delusion, which was the primary point in quoting that. Duh.
I didn't say it was the absolute definition of Buddhism; I just said it was in a nutshell; by its very definition it can be expanded upon, it's not the be-all and end-all. But as a pointer, it's pretty good.
I would say the goal is very much in the process.
If the goal is about cessation of suffering, that can only happen as the process unfolds, as we tread down the path.
We should not lose sight of the path by focusing on the goal, because life happens in the present moment, here and now, not in a distant future or upon attainment of certain goals.