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How to meditate properly, and hopefully avoid wasting your life in dead end practices
How to meditate properly, and hopefully avoid wasting your life in dead end practices
[This is a very brief outline, and only meant to summarise the key points. Taking comments into account, I will rewrite another version for my school website some time in the future.]
Basics: meditation cushion [zafu]
a reasonably quiet space [you don't need total silence]
pen and notebook [not a computer or personal organiser]
Sitting: You will need to learn about finding a simple, comfortable posture for sitting on your meditation cushion, and it could be a full lotus, or half lotus, or the so-called Burmese lotus. You can check out various videos on Youtube, and pages on the web, for details on how best to seat yourself, and what type of zafu to buy. The outcome should be that you find a way of sitting with a straight back, relaxed shoulders, and head held up, but with a relaxed neck. You then focus, or stare, at a point on the floor in front of you, at a comfortable distance. The focus doesn't have to be intense, but your eyes shouldn't be darting about. If they drift off your point of focus, then just bring them back. You keep your eyes open at all times, and keep yourself wide awake, and alert. Don't meditate when you're sleepy, there is no point. You need your mind in full working order. The optimal posture is one that you can hold for at least half an hour, without the least discomfort and, more importantly, without generating any kind of chronic aches and pains. To that end you have to learn to listen to your body. You need to be able to push yourself to a certain extent, but not to the point where any part of the process becomes agony.
If you a quite new to meditation, you can try to get into the habit by setting aside a certain time every day, preferably first thing in the morning. Ten to fifteen minutes to begin with, and then you can increase it to whatever you want. After every half an hour, you should get up and move around, not only to stretch your legs, but to give your mind a rest. Use a timer to set the periods of half an hour, so that you don't lose track of what you are doing.
The point of meditation is the creation of an environment for thought and thinking, where one did not exist before. And not just any type of thought and thinking, but one which encourages a profound inner enquiry, one which is striving to come to grips with the mystery of the human condition. Meditation is a kind of formalised gesture towards real pondering, or ruminating, or contemplating, and a gesture which you employ to push yourself, artificially, into a certain frame of mind. In other words, by means of a ritualised discipline, you try to jump start in yourself a specific type of deep thinking process.
Actual meditation: Having adjusted to the right sitting position, what are you supposed to do with your mind ?
Preparation: if your mind is racing, and your thoughts are scattered, and jumping, there are certain simple exercises for calming things down. You can run a mental 'body scan', that is, mentally focus on each part of your body, and feel how it is at that moment, and try, if you feel any kind of tension there, to relax it.
Or you can focus on your breathing, and simply watch yourself breathing slowly in and out.
But once you can think clearly, and have achieved a degree of relaxed alertness, with a measure of focus, then you can begin meditation proper:
Meditation is about gaining insight into the human condition. But what is the human condition ? What are its features ? How can you verify your findings in this regard ? Where is all this taking you ?
What are you trying to do, when you are meditating ? How will you know when you have achieved it ? How will you know you are not mistaken, or self-deluded ? How can you know for yourself, and not have to depend on other people to tell you, what the situation is ? How can you be sure of anything ?
These are some of the questions you can start with. You turn them over in your mind, and try to answer them as best you can. See where these questions take you. But even when you think you have grasped something, you should try to undercut it by asking yourself, how can I be sure ? Could there be something I've missed ? And what is this all about anyway ? Keep looking for ways to go as far as you can. And then try again. Keep nagging at your mind to deliver insight. And when it does deliver insight, you push it to one side and ask, how do I know I'm not deluded ? Never be satisfied. Never think, 'I've done it.' Always say to yourself, I'm sure I've got it wrong, let me check that again. Why is it that your mind keeps playing these tricks ? Keep asking, keep looking. Why is this whole quest for enlightenment so impossibly confusing, and so mystifying ?
Writing things down: Now, after a period of meditation - a day's session, or a week's - you should try and commit the best of your thoughts to paper, in a clear and very concise form, just a few words or sentences, avoiding religious jargon and Buddhist technical language. You should do this regularly, or at least, whenever you have a thought which marks a step forward from your previous thinking. You should avoid spewing out pages and pages of emotional revelations and wonderful realisations. Just keep it simple, and keep it flat. You make a written summary of your best ideas, in as simple a form as possible, but without being cryptic, and in a form which someone else could read and understand; someone who wasn't a meditator, or even interested in meditation. This exercise in 'objectifying' of your thoughts is very useful not only as a record to check your progress, and as a stimulus to further thought, but also as a means of preventing you falling into a sentimental frame of mind, and treating meditation as a kind of hallucinatory adventure. That's not what meditation is all about - proper mediation is a serious undertaking, in which you are working at trying to understand your metaphysical predicament: how is this lucid being trapped in the world ? How can the situation it finds itself in be resolved ?
In time, you might have several notebooks full of jottings. Every now and then you should have a look at them, and decide whether or not you are wasting your time. If you are wasting your time, why are you doing so ? What should you be doing instead that would be more to the point ? What would be a better way of getting to grips with the human condition ? These questions should always be a part of what you are doing as a meditator.
[Don't use a computer to record your ideas, because it's too easy to become glib with a keyboard. There is something more elemental about handwriting, something altogether more primitive and basic. You want your thoughts elemental and naked as well, not polished and glib and flowing like any of a million blog posts.]
Right preparation: As a counterweight to your solitary meditating, you should always be feeding you mind with new thoughts, and new angles on the human condition. Read books, watch television, talk to people. Go for the most challenging ideas other people have of themselves, life and the world, and set them against your own. Keep asking yourself, how do other people think, and why do they think like that ? Forget about your own superiority, just observe the way other people's minds work. What does this tell you about your own mind ? This is not about getting into futile arguments with all and sundry, but about taking the human condition, in all its perplexing mystery, seriously.
Caution: self-obsession: some people treat meditation as an opportunity to self-obsess, in which they replay in their minds, all kinds of emotional upsets, humiliations, traumas, abuses, and the rest. And if they are struck by anxiety or fear, or any kind of intense temporary madness, they wallow in it in meditation, believing this wallowing will deliver them of the negativity they are suffering. This is not only foolish, it is potentially dangerous. Meditation has nothing to do with emotional self-obsession, whether positive or negative in character. It is about using your mind to come to grips with itself, through increased insight. So if your mind really gives you a hard time, and turns on the psychic explosion in full force, then stop meditating for a while, until everything has calmed down. Nobody is going to give you a medal for having faced the psychic furies on your own, and won. Or lost. Nobody really cares about your own psychedelic imaginings, if you really think about it. Because these imaginings never translate into anything anyone can do anything with. You have to judge your own psychological disturbances for yourself, with sanity, and maturity.
Caution: mind games: there are many forms of meditation which involve fixing on certain thoughts, or visualising certain images, or hunting for ethereal states of being, or repeating magical mantras, and all the rest of it, to the furthest degree. Some forms advocate nothing more than 'just sitting'. All these forms of meditation are just mind games, and they don't advance one's insight in the slightest. Believing you have been absorbed into the ocean of bliss is all very wonderful, but it is just a passing fancy, and no more miraculous than being an ordinary person. Mind-game types of meditation should be avoided, not because they are especially dangerous, but because they are fantasy and make-believe. Ordinary, slightly oppressive and tedious existence is where you start, and where you should remain.
A teacher: ideally, one should have a meditation teacher who can keep you on the straight and narrow, and encourage you, as well as criticise you. This is often impossible in reality, as most Buddhist teachers are just 'jargon jockeys' and exoticists, and they have little understanding of the teaching, or how to put it into practice. For them, it's all about Buddhist terminology, without which they would be completely lost, and rudderless. Most Buddhist forums would collapse in a day if there were ever a moratorium on oriental jargon. This being so, you will likely have to be your own teacher. You can check your understanding against others on the internet, but as your own ultimate judge and jury, you should try to be as harsh with yourself as possible. This is not about masochism, it is about striving for excellence. Of course you are not going to climb the mountain as easily as that, and if you make a big error of mental judgment, then just take a rest, and pick yourself up. Have another go later, when your strength of spirit returns. Keep asking yourself, what is this existence all about ? What's it for ? Why is it hiding its secrets from me ? How is it managing to doing so ? What's the point of it all ? That's the essence of genuine meditation. It's what the Buddha taught. You don't need formal sitting to do it, but it can help at the beginning.
Progress: Unfortunately, there is only one sign of progress. It may take a year or two, or it may take a lifetime. All the other signs of progress are just clouds in the sky, bits of imagining, coming and going. Real progress is strangely simple. One day you will notice that, instead of everything being all over the place, and confusion and mystification being the order of the day, the whole universe, good and bad, wonderful and terrible, is sitting quietly in front of you. It was there all along, but it had not announced itself. This has nothing to do with cosmic consciousness, or anything like that. It has nothing to do with mind games, autosuggestion, the intellect, or living in the 'now'. This is a very ordinary perception, but with a tiny adjustment, which does not belong to us as individuals, but to the universe itself. We can't get our individual hands on it to manipulate it. And also for the first time, the universe quietly lets you know that, when it decides the time is right, it will take you home. In Chan Buddhism, we believe that all the preparation leads to this simple situation, but in truth we don't know if it does. There seems to be some kind of causal connection, but it can't be proved. If someone knows of a better and more effective way, then let's take a look at it. [No need to lecture us about prayer, faith, submission, morality and so on, we know all about that.]
Failure: Let's suppose you meditate according to the system I've outlined here, maybe for years and years, and you fill up your notebooks, get into a lot of heated arguments, and yet start to feel that you've been wasting your time. You don't feel that anything has changed. So you pack it all in. Well, at least you tried, with a clear mind, not believing all kinds of religious nonsense, and not indulging in mind games. You've at least gained a certain type of knowledge, even if it has a negative aspect to it. Your mind is still in good shape, alert and informed, and it hasn't been corrupted and weakened by make-believe. You were never conned into believing anything, submitting to anything, or parting with any money. You can simply close the chapter and still live the rest of your life the way you want.
[This is a very brief outline, and only meant to summarise the key points. Taking comments into account, I will rewrite another version for my school website some time in the future.]
Basics: meditation cushion [zafu]
a reasonably quiet space [you don't need total silence]
pen and notebook [not a computer or personal organiser]
Sitting: You will need to learn about finding a simple, comfortable posture for sitting on your meditation cushion, and it could be a full lotus, or half lotus, or the so-called Burmese lotus. You can check out various videos on Youtube, and pages on the web, for details on how best to seat yourself, and what type of zafu to buy. The outcome should be that you find a way of sitting with a straight back, relaxed shoulders, and head held up, but with a relaxed neck. You then focus, or stare, at a point on the floor in front of you, at a comfortable distance. The focus doesn't have to be intense, but your eyes shouldn't be darting about. If they drift off your point of focus, then just bring them back. You keep your eyes open at all times, and keep yourself wide awake, and alert. Don't meditate when you're sleepy, there is no point. You need your mind in full working order. The optimal posture is one that you can hold for at least half an hour, without the least discomfort and, more importantly, without generating any kind of chronic aches and pains. To that end you have to learn to listen to your body. You need to be able to push yourself to a certain extent, but not to the point where any part of the process becomes agony.
If you a quite new to meditation, you can try to get into the habit by setting aside a certain time every day, preferably first thing in the morning. Ten to fifteen minutes to begin with, and then you can increase it to whatever you want. After every half an hour, you should get up and move around, not only to stretch your legs, but to give your mind a rest. Use a timer to set the periods of half an hour, so that you don't lose track of what you are doing.
The point of meditation is the creation of an environment for thought and thinking, where one did not exist before. And not just any type of thought and thinking, but one which encourages a profound inner enquiry, one which is striving to come to grips with the mystery of the human condition. Meditation is a kind of formalised gesture towards real pondering, or ruminating, or contemplating, and a gesture which you employ to push yourself, artificially, into a certain frame of mind. In other words, by means of a ritualised discipline, you try to jump start in yourself a specific type of deep thinking process.
Actual meditation: Having adjusted to the right sitting position, what are you supposed to do with your mind ?
Preparation: if your mind is racing, and your thoughts are scattered, and jumping, there are certain simple exercises for calming things down. You can run a mental 'body scan', that is, mentally focus on each part of your body, and feel how it is at that moment, and try, if you feel any kind of tension there, to relax it.
Or you can focus on your breathing, and simply watch yourself breathing slowly in and out.
But once you can think clearly, and have achieved a degree of relaxed alertness, with a measure of focus, then you can begin meditation proper:
Meditation is about gaining insight into the human condition. But what is the human condition ? What are its features ? How can you verify your findings in this regard ? Where is all this taking you ?
What are you trying to do, when you are meditating ? How will you know when you have achieved it ? How will you know you are not mistaken, or self-deluded ? How can you know for yourself, and not have to depend on other people to tell you, what the situation is ? How can you be sure of anything ?
These are some of the questions you can start with. You turn them over in your mind, and try to answer them as best you can. See where these questions take you. But even when you think you have grasped something, you should try to undercut it by asking yourself, how can I be sure ? Could there be something I've missed ? And what is this all about anyway ? Keep looking for ways to go as far as you can. And then try again. Keep nagging at your mind to deliver insight. And when it does deliver insight, you push it to one side and ask, how do I know I'm not deluded ? Never be satisfied. Never think, 'I've done it.' Always say to yourself, I'm sure I've got it wrong, let me check that again. Why is it that your mind keeps playing these tricks ? Keep asking, keep looking. Why is this whole quest for enlightenment so impossibly confusing, and so mystifying ?
Writing things down: Now, after a period of meditation - a day's session, or a week's - you should try and commit the best of your thoughts to paper, in a clear and very concise form, just a few words or sentences, avoiding religious jargon and Buddhist technical language. You should do this regularly, or at least, whenever you have a thought which marks a step forward from your previous thinking. You should avoid spewing out pages and pages of emotional revelations and wonderful realisations. Just keep it simple, and keep it flat. You make a written summary of your best ideas, in as simple a form as possible, but without being cryptic, and in a form which someone else could read and understand; someone who wasn't a meditator, or even interested in meditation. This exercise in 'objectifying' of your thoughts is very useful not only as a record to check your progress, and as a stimulus to further thought, but also as a means of preventing you falling into a sentimental frame of mind, and treating meditation as a kind of hallucinatory adventure. That's not what meditation is all about - proper mediation is a serious undertaking, in which you are working at trying to understand your metaphysical predicament: how is this lucid being trapped in the world ? How can the situation it finds itself in be resolved ?
In time, you might have several notebooks full of jottings. Every now and then you should have a look at them, and decide whether or not you are wasting your time. If you are wasting your time, why are you doing so ? What should you be doing instead that would be more to the point ? What would be a better way of getting to grips with the human condition ? These questions should always be a part of what you are doing as a meditator.
[Don't use a computer to record your ideas, because it's too easy to become glib with a keyboard. There is something more elemental about handwriting, something altogether more primitive and basic. You want your thoughts elemental and naked as well, not polished and glib and flowing like any of a million blog posts.]
Right preparation: As a counterweight to your solitary meditating, you should always be feeding you mind with new thoughts, and new angles on the human condition. Read books, watch television, talk to people. Go for the most challenging ideas other people have of themselves, life and the world, and set them against your own. Keep asking yourself, how do other people think, and why do they think like that ? Forget about your own superiority, just observe the way other people's minds work. What does this tell you about your own mind ? This is not about getting into futile arguments with all and sundry, but about taking the human condition, in all its perplexing mystery, seriously.
Caution: self-obsession: some people treat meditation as an opportunity to self-obsess, in which they replay in their minds, all kinds of emotional upsets, humiliations, traumas, abuses, and the rest. And if they are struck by anxiety or fear, or any kind of intense temporary madness, they wallow in it in meditation, believing this wallowing will deliver them of the negativity they are suffering. This is not only foolish, it is potentially dangerous. Meditation has nothing to do with emotional self-obsession, whether positive or negative in character. It is about using your mind to come to grips with itself, through increased insight. So if your mind really gives you a hard time, and turns on the psychic explosion in full force, then stop meditating for a while, until everything has calmed down. Nobody is going to give you a medal for having faced the psychic furies on your own, and won. Or lost. Nobody really cares about your own psychedelic imaginings, if you really think about it. Because these imaginings never translate into anything anyone can do anything with. You have to judge your own psychological disturbances for yourself, with sanity, and maturity.
Caution: mind games: there are many forms of meditation which involve fixing on certain thoughts, or visualising certain images, or hunting for ethereal states of being, or repeating magical mantras, and all the rest of it, to the furthest degree. Some forms advocate nothing more than 'just sitting'. All these forms of meditation are just mind games, and they don't advance one's insight in the slightest. Believing you have been absorbed into the ocean of bliss is all very wonderful, but it is just a passing fancy, and no more miraculous than being an ordinary person. Mind-game types of meditation should be avoided, not because they are especially dangerous, but because they are fantasy and make-believe. Ordinary, slightly oppressive and tedious existence is where you start, and where you should remain.
A teacher: ideally, one should have a meditation teacher who can keep you on the straight and narrow, and encourage you, as well as criticise you. This is often impossible in reality, as most Buddhist teachers are just 'jargon jockeys' and exoticists, and they have little understanding of the teaching, or how to put it into practice. For them, it's all about Buddhist terminology, without which they would be completely lost, and rudderless. Most Buddhist forums would collapse in a day if there were ever a moratorium on oriental jargon. This being so, you will likely have to be your own teacher. You can check your understanding against others on the internet, but as your own ultimate judge and jury, you should try to be as harsh with yourself as possible. This is not about masochism, it is about striving for excellence. Of course you are not going to climb the mountain as easily as that, and if you make a big error of mental judgment, then just take a rest, and pick yourself up. Have another go later, when your strength of spirit returns. Keep asking yourself, what is this existence all about ? What's it for ? Why is it hiding its secrets from me ? How is it managing to doing so ? What's the point of it all ? That's the essence of genuine meditation. It's what the Buddha taught. You don't need formal sitting to do it, but it can help at the beginning.
Progress: Unfortunately, there is only one sign of progress. It may take a year or two, or it may take a lifetime. All the other signs of progress are just clouds in the sky, bits of imagining, coming and going. Real progress is strangely simple. One day you will notice that, instead of everything being all over the place, and confusion and mystification being the order of the day, the whole universe, good and bad, wonderful and terrible, is sitting quietly in front of you. It was there all along, but it had not announced itself. This has nothing to do with cosmic consciousness, or anything like that. It has nothing to do with mind games, autosuggestion, the intellect, or living in the 'now'. This is a very ordinary perception, but with a tiny adjustment, which does not belong to us as individuals, but to the universe itself. We can't get our individual hands on it to manipulate it. And also for the first time, the universe quietly lets you know that, when it decides the time is right, it will take you home. In Chan Buddhism, we believe that all the preparation leads to this simple situation, but in truth we don't know if it does. There seems to be some kind of causal connection, but it can't be proved. If someone knows of a better and more effective way, then let's take a look at it. [No need to lecture us about prayer, faith, submission, morality and so on, we know all about that.]
Failure: Let's suppose you meditate according to the system I've outlined here, maybe for years and years, and you fill up your notebooks, get into a lot of heated arguments, and yet start to feel that you've been wasting your time. You don't feel that anything has changed. So you pack it all in. Well, at least you tried, with a clear mind, not believing all kinds of religious nonsense, and not indulging in mind games. You've at least gained a certain type of knowledge, even if it has a negative aspect to it. Your mind is still in good shape, alert and informed, and it hasn't been corrupted and weakened by make-believe. You were never conned into believing anything, submitting to anything, or parting with any money. You can simply close the chapter and still live the rest of your life the way you want.
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Comments
Are you saying that meditation proper is to just ask yourself the questions you have listed above, once you have achieved the ability to focus?
Kind of like a poor mans koan, if you take my meaning?
Doesn't this fall under the Mind Games category of fixing on certain thoughts?
I read your other posts here and enjoy your no nonsense approach and am just looking for guidance and some clarification, though for some reason it feels as if I am being antagonistic with these questions, but I don't intend to be.
With metta
kowtaaia: Mindfulness is our greatest treasure, but there are connections made in the mind that are greatly facilitated by meditation; perhaps never made otherwise. To exclude meditation from the practice is to have an incomplete path (see: Right Concentration).
Respectfully, my question would be whether you are prepared to acknowledge that a practice that may seem like a dead-end to you may have value for someone else? If you aren't, then you have limited your available audience to those who think and feel the way you do.
Just picking up on the point about koans, and the claim that another form of mediative practice is less artificial. Possibly the less artificial the better? It does seem that it is the integration of practice (an artificial technique) with life as lived and experienced that can pose a problem. That in fact, a real "cushion derived" insight into the human condition (in the large) which can prove to be unconnected with being human (in particular)
Maybe it is possible to gain "insight" towards "phenomena" - its essencelessness - without the realization of what it is to be truly human and to lead a compassionate life?
I don't know. Its just that for me the thought of taking pen and paper and noting down whatever..........seems to verge upon self obsession and a preoccupation with "self" and its "progress" towards "attainment" that flies in the face of selflessness as I understand it at this moment.
Just how does "monkey mind" fulfill and cultivate the path without becoming the Way rather than the reality itself? Thoreau once asked...."with all your science, can you tell how light enters the soul" (well, lets not think too much of "soul", being as we are on a Buddhist Forum, but the words beg the question)
Being more of the Pure Land way, I seek to open to contemplation, rather than meditate as a technique. Seek more a passive indifference to "results" - not a method or a system, more a life itself open to attention, expectation, trust, and - hopefully - joy. In the end, it has more to do with realization of that which already is, than attainment of a condition yet to be - which creates the paradox of a "self" as the only means we have of bringing "it" to be.
But again, these are only words. Anyway, just my thoughts.
It's a very good question and one I take very seriously, and have to think about all the time. There is no easy answer. I get this problem all the time in my work, where I meet people who are up to their necks in strange practices, but I just have to keep my thoughts to myself. On the other hand, I also meet people I think who are selling themselves short, and I feel it right to push them toward a more independent, more inquiring frame of mind. If they don't want to know, I leave off.
But more interestingly, if one wants to present a teaching to the wider community, do you water it down so much that you don't tread on any toes ? This is just simple, unadorned, no frills Buddhism, after all. I post on a few forums, and have discovered that people are very happy to defend themselves against all comers, quoting this and that, and closing down the argument as soon as they can. Life is short, what can you do.
Thank you for your reply. I think I understand more now. Are there any specific questions you find feel are more beginner oriented? Could you suggest a few questions, or perhaps a series of questions to be studied and answered, perhaps each one more deep / introspective than the previous, if you understand what I am asking? I am intrigued by your no frills & very blunt way of dealinmg with Buddhism. I am seeking and want to get a feel for any and all aspects of Buddhism, and should I choose a path, if I ever choose one specific one, your "path" might be it and I don't want to discount any aspect, even a no-frills one
Hi Tariki - lots of points in your reply - I'll have a go the main one, to try and give you a coherent answer. As I understand it, you're querying the validity of an approach which seeks to analyse our mental makeup, on the grounds that this kind of an approach is 'self-centred' or selfish. But this presupposes that ideas of non-attainment and selflessness [as understood in various religious traditions] have already been completely authenticated in some way, and that we can just go along with them without ever having to examine them. But from the point of view of the approach I've outlined, they're just a form of subtle ideation - extremely compelling, to be sure - but not the solution they appear to be. As human beings, we can't avoid being 'selves' - the nearest we can do is to acknowledge the fact, and see where it leaves us. Strangely - I don't know if this will help - but the self which acknowledges itself, is already half 'not self', ie not complete identified or limited to itself. You can't do anything in particular with that simple fact, but it's worth flagging.
Buddhistic analysis of our mental makeup .[By Buddhistic I mean genuinely wanting to know how things are in reality, as opposed to engaging in some sort of intellectual diversion] is not selfish, even if it has to deal with the self as its starting point. We have to use the resources we have - appealing to ideation doesn't really achieve anything. You might reply by saying that believing in certain appealing ideas works by a kind of magic. Maybe it does, but it's not the road I would go down. Magic is a form of helpless, to me.
Hi,
I more query your OP as being exclusive - in terms of results. I see no reason why any genuine insight into the human condition should be strictly limited to insights gained "on the cushion". Wisdom - defined as the mind/heart, thirsting for emancipation, seeing direct into the heart of reality (Conze) - is not necessarily coaxed forth by any particular technique. Really, I was drawing attention to the paradox of a self seeking to get beyond itself, using its own effort and analysis as fuel. (The knife cutting itself, picking oneself up by the bootstraps....whatever!)
Certainly we need to get beyond appealing ideas. On that we agree!
I would just say that I did formally meditate for many years, and the results have led me to my current "ideas", appealing or not.
As far as ideas being authenticated, I know of no foolproof way of investigating the lives of the manifold "saints" of the various traditions. We can learn of their lives, and compare them to the lives of others........and we can have our values, and we can acknowledge wisdom - or not.
Which is why in meditation, calm and clear of distraction, not "thinking" or conceptualizing in any way we find a stillness, a one-pointedness and simply acknowledge our observation of sounds, physical sensations, emotions/feelings, the arising of thoughts, note any perceptions or judgments as those happen, not allowing our "monkey mind" to latch onto those and begin conceptual thinking -- keeping the mind centered, always returning it to one point.
In focusing on one thing and nothing else, we stop using any further perceptions during that meditation to cause us to "do" things other than continually focus on the breath and observe momentary phenomena as they present themselves. Even if our conceptions of the teachings have led us to that point, it still has the result of leading to a state of mind in which the truth can be known.
Believe it or not, there is no mind except true mind. When we discover the nature of our mind we see that not all we believe is true; for instance at one point we will see that pain, or any sustained sensation of the body, is not one thing; it is many of the same sensations followed one after another in lightning-fast succession, creating a chain of arising and falling. We can conceptualize that, but when we see for ourselves this "insight" destroys an aspect of ignorance outright. That's just one of many; ignorance is replaced with wisdom one small part at a time, and this process is like knocking down dominoes. If you keep with it, it leads to a place you can never go by "just thinking" about the world, or by simply not thinking. The workings of the mind must be realized for one's self before the Four Noble Truths can also be realized in fullness and the mind liberated.
The Buddha didn't conceptualize this method; he discovered it and taught of it for the benefit of all. This is why we take the Buddha as a refuge as our teacher, as well as his Dharma and the Sangha of awakened beings and monks/nuns.
If we do not take refuge in all of these, as intended by the Buddha, then we can not be said to be following his true teachings. That is all, I'm out.
It is our self that sits down to meditate irrespective of the fact that if there is someone (assumed) there to have any insight, such insight is falsified, in fact becomes impossible. Again, it is our self that makes the effort, for good or ill, irrespective of the fact that at the moment of emancipation "effort falls away, having reached the end of its scope."
Personally, because of my own experience - and dare I say, insight - I am concerned with "techniques" as such, with "spiritual bypassing". As I see it, Buddhism is not a sausage factory, where, if one sets up the correct technique, grasps certain teachings correctly, takes up the correct positions, "insight" will automatically follow. Maybe in a monastery (perhaps not even there), but not if we live a lay life and seek mindfulness within it at all times. Again, this is just what the OP was seeking to say in some ways - I just seek to qualify it in ways pertinent to my own experience.
Once again, I see no reason to restrict "insight" to that gained "on the cushion" or to a particular form of meditation.
And I am not speaking of magic!
Good to see you again!
I'm not a fan of watering things down. I'm simply stating that while you may find little or no value in a particular meditation technique (for example) and thus may decide that it is a dead end, another person may find that to be the one practice that truly is effective for them.
I was once a proponent of stripping all of the "cultural claptrap" from Buddhism. Then over time, various practices and experiences have led me to see that there is a great deal of value in this "cultural claptrap" once I was open enough to the experience to be able to find that value, rather than just pre-judging it without experiencing it first. I have learned that I can't just evaluate something from the outside, I need to evaluate it based on personal experience, from the inside. I have also learned that my personal value judgements are just that, personal; they are not necessarily fully applicable to anyone else.
I noticed that you mentioned having your eyes open, however most other authorities I've heard said that having eyes opened or closed is up to the individual. Why do you feel they have to be opened?
So to come up with a simple formula which fits all sizes is impossible, even if Zen orthodoxy thinks otherwise. But to try and answer the question, I would say ask yourself 'When I say 'my mind', what is 'my mind' exactly ? Where is it ? How does it differ from 'my ideas' or 'my view' ?'. You have to go into your inner world, have a look, and feel your way around. Sometimes your ideas of what you are looking for get in the way, so all you are finding are your ideas, rather than genuine phenomena. Over time - and it takes some - you have to teach yourself to discriminate between the two. But you can do it, if you persist.
I hope this gives you something to start with.
But, I can not understand what the purpose of being so harsh and judgemental is. Unless it helps you with your motivation.
Who is to say what is the only way to awakening? All I can really know is my own mind and what works for me.
Meditation and dead end practice do not belong in the same sentence.
kow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is your own take maybe but don't disguise it as Buddhism or that you are a so called 'teacher'.
NewBuddhist maybe should consider banning cultish overtones and attempts?
Difficult to handle such things in the world but good to be aware there are many such dishonesties, unfortunately. Let's all just hope that the harm is minimal. There are good Buddhist teachers around but check around first.
Best wishes.
That's what I said to him, five.
I agree. I believe the Internet has became a double-edged sword, in that people have access to so much information, that they prefer to seek answers externally, than reaching within oneself.
Don't get me wrong, the Internet is an excellent tool, however it should be used wisely. Often the answers we seek are within us. Meditation can help us find those answers.
kow indeed O floating abu!!!
Are you the self same floating abu who knew a delinquent known as "dookie" in the past, or do I address another.....?
I understand from your sweeping - and uncorroborated - assertions that you're some sort of international arbiter of Buddhism, a sort of Simon Cowell of metaphysics. Well done: not an easy position to achieve, even with all those prostrations, and hours of 'just sitting' and a simpering meditation journal. But it might actually help your cause a bit if you did a course in 'English for Foreigners' at your local halfway house, because you appear to be flirting with words and phrases you don't fully understand: 'cultish overtones and attempts' 'dishonesties', 'harm is minimal'. I mean, forgodsake, you want to be able to read with meaning your 'dharma transmission' certificates - those on their way to you in the post - surely ? I know you do. It's sheer jealously that makes me talk like this.
Btw floating_babu - had a browse of your blog - very nice ! - composed entirely of chunks of text and images sort of 'borrowed' - is that the polite word ? - from other people ! Good work: god I wish I'd thought of that. Just don't hand it in as a student assignment, because you'd might be in some considerable trouble with the college authorities. But don't let that bother you, Buddhism is something else altogether, because as I understand it, quoting huge chunks of other people's work always legitimates your own position, and silences all criticism. [leave space here for of chunk of appropriate text for a floater, perhaps Harry Potter]
Oh, and best wishes to you too.
e-Sangha tried to moderate loonies, but it became too loonatic and the arbiter or arbiters is a difficult business
Dear Friend, I am just pointing out to please be careful and take care when reading posts on the internet (including this one sure). There are many reputable sites and teachers in our many schools. Check out lineages that have at least some basis, and morality and kindness as its guiding lights. Zen Buddhism can seem general, but it has its principles, and a good teacher knows its stuff. The above post was not like that, and I am just pointing that out, and I just wish you well.
_/\_
Doth thou mean'est my good friend, Dookie, he of shiny demeanour and gentle disposition?
He was an old friend, he, one of many in those old friendship bands of that long lost land, e-Sangha where it all started. Alas many have now disbanded separately, or not at all, within the shores and tides of Old Internet Land. This nameless, shoreless, and often faceless land that even now many new Buddhists come to explore, and the older come to dissect.
If so, yes I am that old Floating One.
Namaste.
:bowdown:
The name, Tariki, rings a bell by the way..
Abu,
(or should I say the Simon Cowell of metaphysics?......:D) glad to see you around again.
Still trying to decide if your "tariki rings a bell" is a profound attempt at discernment, an expression of insight.........or not......:winkc:
Anyway, all the best
tariki, dookie, et al.......
Hi Robot - while you're waiting for an answer, I just thought I'd put in a bit of perspective, which may or may not be relevant.
The visceral hostility to any kind of unmediated, direct and self-reliant Buddhism is caused by the fact that people see it as a thinly disguised attack on their most cherished religious and mystical ideas. Which of course it is, but each of us has somehow to come to terms with the fact that our innermost hopes and fears - our innermost dreams - are not necessarily the last word in the way the universe is going to work itself out. It's one of the weird facts of our ‘human creatureliness’ that our psyche will do its utmost to bend everything in its own direction, even at the risk of completely destroying the poor human host. The best we can do is recognise this and hope that when trying to sort ourselves out, out psyche is not going to wreak havoc with us.
Except for rare instances - a handful of teachers, and early stages in Chan and Zen - Buddhism has been, since the death of the Buddha, just another religion - a Hinduism with less gods, less noise, and more meditation. This means that Buddhism has been entirely a matter of ‘what feels good is good, and I don‘t care what you think.’ Live and let live, all roads lead to Rome, all meditation is good and is taking me where I want to go, and so on, are symptoms of a religious sentimentality protecting itself from any kind of provocation, or any kind of self investigation.
But if you strip your inner life down to its naked essentials, and ask yourself - genuinely wanting to know, and genuinely being prepared to stay with that simple fact until you get an answer - what is this simple, naked lucidity ? What does it amount to ? Why is it so mysteriously elusive ? Where does it come from ?, then you are facing the basic facts of existence in the way that all the Buddhist masters had to face them. There’s no room in such a primal self-inquiry for religion, orthodoxy, hierarchies, dharma transmission certificates, meditation journals, top dogs, grand masters or anything else. You can see why people will fight all the way to prevent accepting this. It deprives them of everything their psychological makeup holds dear. It’s what emboldens the sniping poster, because they know full well that they are throwing a brick through your window on behalf of everyone else.
meng-jia,
I'm not one for much of that myself, yet I am unable to claim "primal self-inquiry" for another necessarily excludes them. Maybe this is the point others have sought to make? Once "insight" is recognised as being able to arise off of "the cushion", nothing whatseover need necessarily be excluded.
"Others".............well, I make it at least.
:smilec:
Vipassana teachers would advocate bare sensing in all six senses. The insight comes from dropping "thinking" (in a conventional sense) thus dropping the ways you distort your conscious perception of things. Your description is very much a different approach, so I wonder if you would call vipassana a "dead end." I don't think it is; I think we've got abundant evidence from millions of meditators that it's not a dead end.
Not to mention all the other approaches that are also valid.
This seems like philosophy, not Buddhism. I sense this from a question like "What do mean by [whatever]?" followed by you "struggling with it for months." It does bear a relationship to koan practice, but see the following...
I am not an expert on koan practice, but I've listened to Shinzen Young talk about it. According to his explanation, koans are supposed to be artificial. They are a way to jam the intellect and allow something deeper to rise through.
Thanks Mike1127 - I take your points. I probably need to be much clearer on defining what I mean by 'thinking'. There's 'thinking', and there's 'Buddhistic thinking'. The latter is using the mind to negotiate an exploration of itself, powered by a deep desire to work its way to the end of itself. It doesn't rest happily with conceptual analysis [philosophy], or sentimental ideation [religion] - it keeps knocking at the door of its own puzzlement, either until some kind of new level is reached, or it has to give up in failure.
Ordinary intellectual thinking [Buddhistically motivated] is the springboard to a more profound type of 'inner looking', or pondering, or ruminating, or contemplating, or 'meditating', but without the connotations of some kind of preordained mental template. English doesn't have very good words for this type of exploration, yet it would be a mistake for me to throw in technical terms from other languages, because of the risk of people flying off into a mystical haze. So you start with ordinary clear-headed thinking, but if you're a genuine seeker, you very quickly leave it behind. The reason why 'thinking' [both senses of the term] is so detested by mainstream Buddhism is that it diminishes everything, and seems to leave you with nothing. But if nothing is all you have, then start with that fact, and try to work from there. Immersing oneself into a whole tradition of consoling ideas is for a believer, not a genuine seeker.
What's supposed to happen ? In time [years, at least], simple but persistent mental self-exploration opens all kinds of experiential doors - some accidentally, some intuitively - and the unprepared or inexperienced seeker often latches on to their weird and wonderful new experiences, as some kind of validation for whatever system of beliefs they have hidden in their unconscious. It's unavoidable, maybe even necessary, but a genuine seeker will, when they've calmed down, and had time to reflect, start to realise that 'weird and wonderful' is merely a 'capacity of mind', just like 'being ordinary' is, and is not really an answer to anything, but just another modality of experience. Most meditators never get that far, because their basic intellectual preparation and Buddhistic motivation is so weak they're happy to stay with their self-validating experiences. And their teachers, being similarly badly prepared, will validate all this kind of thing as well, and hand out 'certificates'.
So how best to look after yourself ? By not being afraid of sharpening your ordinary everyday intellect, and by employing it, in conjunction with your developing understanding and experience, to maintain a very high degree of scepticism, about everything that can come your way, experientially, and ideationally. Your intellect can't solve the big mysteries, because it doesn't have the capacity, but it can stop you from being just another deluded acolyte.
The koan system, as understood in the west, is highly problematic, because, for it to have even the remotest chance of working, your basic mental and intellectual preparation has to be of the highest order. The masters of old were incredibly demanding of their students, and a single half-witted answer could have you banished for years. You have to have pushed your mental and intellectual exploratory capacities to their very limits, for a koan to be able to awaken you to the next level. Otherwise just playing around with 'meaninglessness' will leave you as stupid as when you started. From what I can see so far, koans seem to be having a reverse effect on those who dabble with them.
Now this is the sign of a man who's wasted his life meditating!
<img src="http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2009/3/15/128816306642988754.jpg">
Mmm, the metta. It flows...
It seems you don't really understand the purpose of fixating the mind on certain mantras or images. Their purpose is to calm the mind until they comes to a standstill at the center of our body, two finger breaths above our navel.
They do not provide insight of any kind because they're techniques to still the mind. Insight comes after the mind have come to a complete standstill. There are about 40 methods of meditation as mentioned in the Visuddhimagga written by Buddhaghosa, a Buddhist exegete in the past.
There are many methods of meditation, many ways to still the mind yet you've advocated only one, criticizing the others as 'mind-games' which I find thoroughly disturbing.
However no offense intended, I'm just suggesting that not 'all' visions are false.
Well of course it sounds credible, and has a certain ring to it, but let's take a look. Suppose someone can still the mind using tried and tested techniques, and switch it off. How do they know when it's happened ? How do one know when you've become completely thoughtless, completely mindless ? [Yes I know, you log on] Presumably something informs you, your mind has stopped. Some kind of inner self-evidence. Then what ? An insight appears, giving you insight into....? Something transcendent presumably, which you can't easily talk about, because it has no relation [or scant relation] to ordinary experience. All well and good. Then you come back to earth, but what happens then ? Off to your nearest sangha for certification, or validation ? Why would you bother ? What could you care ? A glimpse of a transcendent reality, and you need to check it with, say, what Buddhaghosa has had to say about it ? It's a sign of not having realised these things fir yourself when you feel you need to check with others, or get disturbed by their criticisms.
But probably we're not talking about anything like this. We could be in the realms of autosuggestion 'I've stopped my mind ! My next thought will be a transcendent one' or just plain self-delusion: 'When I feel my skin growing cool, it's a sign I've stopped my mind' or, 'my teacher's given me a list of what to look out for'. And so on. There are thousands of books out there advocating the stopping of the mind, but it's not hard to see from the content that they don't manage it, and that it's all just elaborate theory, mostly borrowed from one another.
The system I've tried to outline in the op is not for everyone: it's only for those who are sick and tired of being believers and followers, and of having to listen to second-hand ideas masquerading as first-hand knowledge. You have to negotiate the pitfalls for yourself, on your own - teachers are of limited value. This system of direct searching does work, but you have to be strong-willed, and patient.
Having read this thread with growing disquiet, I am led to ask some personal questions, Meng-jia, as you have indicated that you are prepared to do so yourself based on blogs, websites, etc. I have read your own site with interest but I am concerned that there is a singular lack of detail about your own training, qualifications and accreditation. You describe yourself as a counsellor and advertise 'psychotherapy'. As you know, counselling is not (yet) a profession requiring registration, whereas psychotherapy is. Nevertheless, those of us in the profession, as I was for more than three decades, have laboured long and hard to gain professional status. My younger colleagues still practising are, on the whole, members of organisations and registered. This gives clients some protection against fraudulent claims and protects the counsellor as well.
When I was in active practice, and accredited by the then BAC (now BACP), we were required, very sensibly, to have regular supervision and consultation. I made this very clear to all my clients and, indeed, provided them with information about channels of communication and complaint.
So that we may judge the solidity of your own claims, because you rightly say that the Internet is an unreliable source, would you care to share your credentials with us so that we, too, can assess the limits of your own value as a teacher?
Please understand that this is meant to be a support and prop to your claims to an effective method, not a personal criticism: we have too little evidence on which to make a decision.
Nice opening sentence, and thanks for your concern Simon, but if you read the posts more closely, you might possibly discover that they have nothing to do with psychotherapy or psychology, or even counselling - I don't think the words are even mentioned. They are to do with Buddhism, and a Buddhist approach to the big questions of life. I well understand that there are many who would like to have Buddhist teachers regulated by a central authority - properly dharma-transmitted and all the rest - but those days are not yet upon us.
Furthermore, the posts emphasize self-reliance [is this such a terrifying idea that people need to pull out all the stops ?] - judging for yourself, not relying on others, on tradition, on bits of paper, certification, accreditation, and what have you. The teaching is presented in such a way that it is as transparent as possible, that it can be tested by the individual for themselves, where they can examine each piece of the jigsaw in full sunlight. There is no call to submit to me, or to anyone else. There is no call even to see me, or to have anything to do with me, or to think about me in any way. I play no part in the teaching, other than to advocate it as a method. Even if the whole world took it on, there would be no gain for me as an individual, nor any financial reward. If you find that disquieting, then you're not easy to please.
As regards my qualifications as a Buddhist teacher - well - read the posts, and if they speak to you of deception, sleight-of-hand, charlatanism, 'cultish approaches and overtures', or self-aggrandisement, then would a dharma transmission certificate change your mind ? Would it suddenly validate what I say ? Would it give value where there is none ? [I don't have a shaven head, or a beatific smile, by the way, so that may well reduce much of what I've been trying to propose to zero]
I'll happily discuss my other qualifications with you via pm, if you are that interested - they are not relevant here, nor will they ever be. Buddhism is not about psychology - it is metaphysical quest.
Incidentally, as you probably know, accreditation by the BACP doesn't much help when it comes to Buddhism. Being a member of the AA or weightwatchers might be of more use.
Thanks again.
Perhaps you should have a read about this document:
Vistas – Buddhist Insights into Immortality (previously Sammā Samādhi I) by T. Magness (Venerable Suratano Bhikkhu)
This book and the companion title Sammā Samādhi II could be considered as the indispensable handbook of an earnest seeker and meditator, for Vistas lays down not just the Method (as a process) of Meditation but the Dhamma (scriptural) underpinnings of this unique Method. It describes how Buddhas employ the Dhammakāya Method for their own enlightenment and, why this is their priceless heritage to humanity. This book, first published in 1960 is, perhaps, the earliest substantive English translation of Luang Phor Sodh’s Teachings of the Vijjā Dhammakāya.
Insight is profound and it is definitely not empty.
Frankly, dear Sir, it was just an interesting fact. Some part of the old memory recollected that mine dear Friend Dookie old pal had once named himself Tariki (on what forum, there have been so many
Good wishes and good tidings, dear friend.
Namaste and a good little
Actually you think far too highly of yourself, friend.
You write bullsh*t and you are called on it. It's as simple as that. Buddhism, whilst it has deep and far reaching theories and explanations, is not a 'make up as you go along' practice, even if it is easy for someone to try to do that to it. To the untrained eye it may not be obvious, but to most of us, you are like a pastry chef trying to spin eggs and bacon as pudding.
Misleading yourself is fine, if that is what you wish to do, but misleading and causing others to fall off the path is an unnecessary and unkind thing to do, in my opinion.
Please be careful in your actions and your thoughts. The concepts and theories you bandy around here are far from Buddhism, which has the supreme goal and reality of freedom and transcendence in this life. It is not a mickey mouse game, and it is unfortunate that there are so many polluters like yourself.
Again, I would say it is unkind of you to mislead and if you think you are the only one who has suddenly got the 'real' Buddhism and generations of great, compassionate and genuine Masters and traditions are in the wrong and narrow minded for daring to call you out on your fraud - then all I can say is - you are not the only one that has and will profess such opinions. Particularly of themself.
Sad but true.
But for the genuine seekers, there are the genuine teachings and genuine Masters still alive in this world. For them, there is still liberation possible.
Good luck and may your path reveal to you true compassion.
Best wishes,
Abu
Ah Dookie, so good to read you again. I have missed your gentility, your keen intelligence, and gentle compassion. You could teach this young whippersnapper a thing or two indeed about subtlety.
_/\_
Abu