Posted by finelinebob on September 15, 2006, at 20:17:36
In reply to Re: Article on Meditation/Mindfulness, posted by zazenducky on September 15, 2006, at 8:17:07
> > But reading about it in Psychology Today? I'm sorry,
>
> why are you sorry?It's not so much the "I'm sorry" as the "I'm sorry, but".
Because having been trained to staggering levels of academic arrogance as a research psychologist, my immediate reaction to anything in Psychology Today is condescending. Which is quite unfortunate, since a lot of people get a lot of good from the magazine.
So, no "but" this time. I'm sorry. It was an unbecoming comment.
> If he's a Buddhist scholar he probably has done a little homework but that doesn't mean you need to agree with him. Is your point that ALL of human suffering is our own doing and the person was quoted as saying "much"? I think the point was that suffering is caused by grasping and attachment to emotions and thoughts and people can modify that by meditating and training the mind to let go and accept rather than grasping.
I meant the article **author** should have done her homework. There is nothing novel about a Buddhist stating that suffering is the human condition, it comes from our actions, and that meditation is the path to freeing oneself from such suffering. By attributing the belief to the scholar and not to Buddhism, much like the yogi's comments on many people's practice of yoga that ClearSkies talks about, the author misses the deeper point. The idea may have been novel to the author but, then again, that's the point of doing your homework. All she need to do was go to the Wikipedia and she could have presented a more "enlightened" perspective on the role of meditation for Buddhists, and perhaps drawn a sharper distinction between a simple practice of meditation and how the scholar may have gone beyond this.
For those who have trouble quieting your minds, know that this is common for nearly everyone starting off. I have two suggestions, depending on which you feel more drawn to.First, meditate on one thing, and one thing only. It is common in Buddhist tradition to have a picture or, for lack of a better word, a totem of your teacher. Accept someone as your teacher is accepting that person as someone more enlightened and, therefore, a fitting guide for you on your path. If you have no "teacher", I'd suggest reading a book from one of (who I found to be) the more inspirational modern Buddhist authors such as Thich Naht Hanh ("No Death, No Fear: Comforting Wisdom for Life") or Pema Chödrön ("The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times"). Even the book titles suggest both the nature of suffering and the spiritual battle against it. Read the books and, if you find them inspiring, then photocopy the picture(s) of the author(s) and focus on them, eyes open or closed. If that doesn't sound like you, then light a candle a focus on the dance of the flame or set out a single flower and meditate upon its petals. All this goes towards disciplining your mind to tune out distractions and tune in to something inspirational.
Another approach that someone mentioned (sorry, can't remember who) is progressive relaxation. Starting at your feet, walk your mind up your body as slowly as possible, relaxing each part in turn. I actually like to "flex" each part, to stress it first, to draw my focus to it even more firmly and, perhaps, to pull together the stress in that area so I can release it all at once. Progression relaxation also teaches focusing and helps establish a frame of mind for deep meditation, but it is limited ... you do only have so many parts of your body.
What I like to do once I've made that progression is to turn over control of my mind to my "third eye", the anja chakra (one name for it), and to look within slowly, gently, for places of tensionm sometimes called a "sensed feeling". I had it recenty described to me this way: You're at some gathering, and someone you recognize walks up to you. You cannot recall her name. Can you remember such an occurance and recall the physical sensation inside of you caused by that uncomfort? That is a sensed feeling. You may also remember the sense of relief, of **release** when you remember the person's name. And that is the point of this practice. To identify sensed feelings and pay them the love and attention they deserve, allowing them to unfold themselves on their own terms, healing if that is needed, reinfusing yourself with remembered joy if that is more appropriate.
One last point. The Buddhist teacher I learned the first technique from brought in some colored pencils and plain paper late in the course. After spending sometime in mediation, she asked us to stop and draw what the feeling of mediation was like. Quite a few people focused on realism, drawing the things they had on their mind. A number of us went a bit (or quite a bit) abstract. If you ever try this, I'd say go abstract. It was quite fun and quite surprising.
poster:finelinebob
thread:685709
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060911/msgs/686367.html