Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Sign In Register
Examples: Monday, today, last week, Mar 26, 3/26/04
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.

a question about "I am" meditation

rachMielrachMiel
edited September 2010 in Buddhism Basics
greetings. :-)

does anyone have experience using Advaita's/Nisargadatta's "I am" approach to meditation? i find "I am" meditation to be very powerful, and would like to know if it is compatible with Buddhist meditation techniques.

thanks,

rachMiel

Comments

  • beingbeing Veteran
    edited August 2010
    Not so sure what exactly is that "I am" approach about, but it doesn't sound very compatible with Buddhism. Actually it sounds very much the opposite of Buddhist teachings.
    A read that might enlighten you on what I exactly mean - http://www.buddhanet.net/budsas/ebud/whatbudbeliev/115.htm
  • rachMielrachMiel
    edited August 2010
    thanks, being. :-)

    as far as i understand, "I am" doesn't mean "I/ego/self am" rather: pure existence, AMness. so it's not incompatible with Buddhism in that sense.
  • beingbeing Veteran
    edited August 2010
    Ok, if you find a way to interpret it without any correlation to self.
    For me the expression 'I am' is hardwired to the illusion of self/to the acceptance of 'me' being a separate self.
  • SherabDorjeSherabDorje
    edited August 2010
    http://www.maharajnisargadatta.com/


    "At MaharajNisargadatta.Com, we try to disseminate the message of Nisargadatta and provide a platform for all seekers who are in search of their true identity, the Pure Awareness.

    "That which permeates all, which nothing transcends and which, like the universal space around us, fills everything completely from within and without, that Supreme non-dual Brahman -- That Thou Art.""

    ...The ‘I am’ concept is the last out post of the illusion, hold on to it, stabilize in the ‘I am’, then you are no more an individual.

    Moving out of a country, at the border, there are check-posts and then it is ‘no-man’s land’ till another country begins its check-post. Similarly to move out of this country or illusion the ‘I am’ is the last and only out post, there is no other way out. Stay at this out post, stabilize yourself over there in the ‘I am’, and when you do so you are no more an individual."

    Tomayto, tomahto. This looks like it's based in old Vedic practice to me. Whatever floats your boat.
  • AllbuddhaBoundAllbuddhaBound Veteran
    edited August 2010
    Jack Kornfield studied under him and he says he was a wonderful man, and enlightened even though he smoked cigarettes. This I read from your link SherabDorje. Thank you.

    "Meeting Nisargadatta Maharaj
    Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield's encounter with Nisargadatta Maharaj
    Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield describes his encounter with Nisargadatta Maharaj in "The Eightfold Path for the Householder."
    I remember a very powerful moment with the old guru who I studied with"

    "He was this 80-year old cigarette-smoking man. He had a little cigarette stand. He was kind of a combination like Krishnamurti and Fritz Perls."

    "One day we were in a room about this big. People were coming in and asking questions. Somebody came in and asked a question and was a little bit dissatisfied and left. And another person raised their hand and said, "Maharaj, what will happen to that person who came and asked that question and left? Is it all over for them in this life? They didn't stay here. You are a great guru, and they weren't interested, and they went home." And he twinkled at that moment, he really lit up, and he said, "It's too late. Even the fact that they put their foot in this room, even if they hadn't asked the question, means that somewhere in there there's a seed of really knowing who we are and what this life is about. Not what you were taught in elementary school or what's on TV or the newspapers, but a deep seed of knowing our true nature, that wants to discover; it's like coming home. The fact that he just walked in the room means that that seed has started to sprout. And no matter if he tries to forget it and goes back and gets lost, sooner or later that will manifest in awakening."

    ...I'll read you a passage from Nisargadatta Maharaj, the old bidi wallah who I studied with in Bombay; wonderful old teacher. He sold little Indian cigarettes on the street corner, and he was fully enlightened somehow at the same time. He had these classes. He died a couple of years ago. He was a wonderful old man.


    Article Source : http://nisargadatta.net/kornfield.html"

    I would trust Jack Kornfield to be honest and if he considered him a teacher, I would take that under consideration and if the teachings are beneficial to you, why not.
  • jinzangjinzang Veteran
    edited August 2010
    The self-inquiry meditation practiced in neo-advaitin circles is similar to some of the insight meditations practiced in mahamudra and dzogchen. Starting with these meditations is putting the cart before the horse. You need a firm basis in tranquility meditation before moving onto insight meditation, or else it just becomes an intellectual exercise. The point where you can switch over is when there are clear noticeable gaps between thoughts in meditation, where you are aware of your mind without thoughts,
  • rachMielrachMiel
    edited August 2010
    being wrote: »
    Ok, if you find a way to interpret it without any correlation to self.
    For me the expression 'I am' is hardwired to the illusion of self/to the acceptance of 'me' being a separate self.
    that's pretty much exactly my problem: the hard wiring. it's as if i were trying to meditate on "Jesus [whatever] ..." even if the intended meaning of Jesus were pure consciousness, it would be really tough for me to get beyond the powerful (and, for me, negative) associations with christianity.
  • xabirxabir Veteran
    edited September 2010
    rachMiel wrote: »
    greetings. :-)

    does anyone have experience using Advaita's/Nisargadatta's "I am" approach to meditation? i find "I am" meditation to be very powerful, and would like to know if it is compatible with Buddhist meditation techniques.

    thanks,

    rachMiel
    Nisargadatta and other Advaita approaches focus on self-inquiry as their main technique. Ch'an Master Hsu Yun, and many other Ch'an and Zen masters, teach people to inquire 'Who am I?', 'Before my parents were born, what is my original face?'. This form is self-inquiry is very common in Advaita, but it is certainly not unknown in Buddhism. This koan is not the 'final koan' in Zen, it is a beginning koan, but it does lead to an initial direct realization of your essence. There are further realizations (and koans, if you're into Zen) to do after that.

    Personally I used to inquire 'Before birth, Who am I?' since 2008. It took less than two years before realization occurred, of which I wrote about it in my self-inquiry journal 'Who am I?': http://www.box.net/shared/3verpiao63

    p.s. your name sounds familiar. I must have spoken to you before... in e-sangha perhaps?
Sign In or Register to comment.