I quite like this site, Gyan. Such a rote approach to mindfulness is becoming very popular in therapy now. I had a psychiatrist who was devoted to the tecnique, although very confused about the philosophy and concepts of spiritualism that accompany it.
An expanded 'how to' guide such as this, is Rx-cellent in providing more insight than the layman practitioner can offer.
I only wish I could send it to that silly doctor.
Fantastic - I really enjoyed what I've read so far, especially because I'm more familiar with the Mahayana tradition. Thankyou Gyan, I've bookmarked this for careful study and enjoyment.
Liberation and compassion for all!
It's way too easy for me to hear the words leaping off the page in my grandfather's voice.
[this is good] [this is transitory]
Oh stirfry - you link to the piece on monkey mind made me think of Journey to the West. The great sub-text of the Monkey-King's story Sun Wukong as the archetypal unruly monkey mind on a picaresque through both religious Daoist and Buddhist cosmologies which makes the book quite profound as well as great entertainment. There's somthin' 'bout us monkeys...
There is this monkey trap. A hollow coconut with a small opening that contains a monkey treat. The coconut is tied to a stake in the ground.
Our monkey shoves her hand into the hollow coconut to grab the treat, but the hand in a fist shape can't be removed from the coconut.
I want this thing. I won't let go.
)))
mountain roads
do switchbacks
don't want to
not want to
want...
Gyan: thanks for this. I'd never investigated this before, except fairly superficially. Now you've piqued my interest, and it has already been a great help in a sorrowful time.
And here's a fantastic (and challenging) book on cognitive science and Buddhist meditative psychology: The Embodied Mind
Fine links, homunculus.
People can change!
bees- the lightbulb has to want to change. :-)
Would it be derailing here for a newbie to inquire how well atheism and Buddhism mesh? To adopt the latter, must one mellow to agnosticism?
Well, fish tick I consider myself both an atheist and a Buddhist.
I just started typing a lengthy explanation why but now I've deleted it because it was cobblers. I'll have another go when I'm a bit clearer-headed and I've sorted out my sources. hopefully in the meantime a wiser soul will point you in the right direction.
Yay, AC!! The little I've read and Googled has suggested that all is well for a non-god-fearing individual such as myself. I love the mindfulness concept, and will explore farther. Happy Eostre!
And you don't even have to be a Buddhist to practice vipassana, just as you don't have to be a Hindu to practice yoga.
Yes, ye can be both, tick.
The American Buddhist Stephen Batchelor has written a book on the subject, called Buddhism Without Beliefs.
Q: How many Zen Buddhists does it take to change the lightbulb?
A: Three. One to change the lightbulb, one NOT to change the lightbulb, and one to neither change nor not change the lightbulb.
Q: How many Atheists does it take to change a lightbulb?
A1: None. Atheists don't believe in light bulbs.
A2: One. But they are still in darkness.
Excuse me. I really TRIED not to want to post that. Being an atheist, I can't even say that the devil made me do it. Here's the good part: Hey, I'm not going to hell for it!
*points finger at Fishtick
"He started it!"
Abiezer: didn't Gautama say something to the effect that he didn't know whether there were any gods or not, but, if there were, anyone who followed the 8-fold path should be acceptable to any of them, whether he believed or not?
That seems right path. As I understand it the Buddha offered us his insights into a way to address the dilemma of being human not as something that carried divine authority but as a truth that we can discover and experience for ourselves.
Down the millennia Buddhism has existed in a whole range of cultural contexts. I came to know it largely through the Chan/Zen tradition of China (and then Japan, Korea and other East Asian societies). The Bodhisattva ideal of committed compassion is very useful for me, though some commentators have seen theist and millenarian tendencies in Mahayana beliefs.
In China it became influenced by the native Daoist idea of an immanent Way of things that it behoves us to be in accord with. This contrasts with the ideas of a transcendent deity outside time and space in the Christian tradition I grew up in which I never found convincing right when from I was a kid. I do find a lot of power and beauty in Western mystical teachings like Mr Coppe (in my bio) and figures like Jacob Boehme as well as more mainstream Church figures like St. Francis of Assissi and I think I picked up a sense of the value of sacredness, wonder, faith and compassion from Christianity which I find Buddhism also satisfies without asking me to pretend to believe things I simply can't.
Now if only I had a better practice and insight I'd be showering love and peace to all and sundry like confetti at a cosmic wedding.
It takes time to get there, Abiezer. Buddha doesn't ask that we do it in one lifetime (^_^)
*points finger at Fishtick
"He started it!"
*looks quizzically at BlueHorse, peers curiously into own pantaloons, looks quizzically at BlueHorse again*
peers curiously into own pantaloons
Tick, I am soooo not getting into an argument with you about whether or not that's a Zen thing.
fish stick, perhaps you are not looking in the right place.
Granma was only trying to help you see the ambiguity of the search.
The place to look/search might be deeper within.
Granma wants you to see that humour is a state of perception, other than what your other more tangible senses tell you.
That is what you meant, isn't it, granma?
*grins facetiously*
Remember that the desire of a thoughtlessly living man grows like a creeper. He drifts from one life to another like a monkey looking for fruit in the forest.
All processes are impermanent. When one sees this with understanding, then one is disillusioned with the things of suffering. This is the Path of Purification.
Those who meditate with perseverance, constantly working hard at it, are the wise who experience Nirvana, the ultimate freedom from chains.
As usual, dx can see the meaning behind the words.
*bows low to dx
What is the sound of one pantaloon flapping?
Someone who needs a tailor.
Being that, I am myself a former Ch'an (Zen) practitioner, vegitarian, etcetera. I will enlighten all. Mediation is the art of reading without reading. It is useless except for teaching children how to sit still. It is almost as effective as acupucture. Which except for the placebo factor is also useless.
MonkeyFilter: except for the placebo factor it's also useless.
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A typical interplay between these two techniques is thus:
“badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger mushroom mushroom SNAKE SNAKE SNAKE”
“I keep having these thoughts, and they’re all in the emotional register of anxiety. I think I’d better take a look at that!”
[long period of sitting with pure awareness of the anxiety]
[insight: perhaps this isn’t so important after all? - remember things like holotropic breathing can help trigger these insights too, indeed, that’s why they exist - you can do this quiet awareness thing while doing techniques like that and it works really well]
“badger badger badger badger badger”
Zazen is a particular kind of meditation, unique to Zen, that functions centrally as the very heart of the practice. In fact, Zen Buddhists are generally known as the "meditation Buddhists." Basically, zazen is the study of the self.
The great Master Dogen said, "To study the Buddha Way is to study the self, to study the self is to forget the self, and to forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand things." To be enlightened by the ten thousand things is to recognize the unity of the self and the ten thousand things. Upon his own enlightenment, Buddha was in seated meditation; Zen practice returns to the same seated meditation again and again. For two thousand five hundred years that meditation has continued, from generation to generation; it's the most important thing that has been passed on. It spread from India to China, to Japan, to other parts of Asia, and then finally to the West. It's a very simple practice. It's very easy to describe and very easy to follow. But like all other practices, it takes doing in order for it to happen.
We tend to see body, breath, and mind separately, but in zazen they come together as one reality. The first thing to pay attention to is the position of the body in zazen. The body has a way of communicating outwardly to the world and inwardly to oneself. How you position your body has a lot to do with what happens with your mind and your breath. Throughout the years of the evolution of Buddhism, the most effective positioning of the body for the practice of zazen has been the pyramid structure of the seated Buddha. Sitting on the floor is recommended because it is very stable. We use a zafu - a small pillow - to raise the behind just a little, so that the knees can touch the ground. With your bottom on the pillow and two knees touching the ground, you form a tripod base that gives three hundred and sixty-degree stability.
[this is good][this is transitory]