There are times when you discover you have left a lot behind. In meditative life people call it passing through stations. Innumerable stations to pass through, but yeah these are like some kind of markers.
What I write from here is going to change a bit. My experiences is becoming more experiential I may not be able to say a lot of relevant things cuz a lot of it is about ‘doing’, but will still try to narrate.
One post that has been simmering is Notions of the Body
“Notions of the Body”
This happened some Saturdays back. It is usually on Saturday that I meditate for a full day. Keeping Sunday for chores. But since practice and realization go hand in hand it is usually Saturday that I get some updates on med. Its like practicing, experiencing and keeping the mindfulness continuous for some hours opens up some channels. Like physically I last longer in the gym, food intake goes low, you talk less, and basically breathe easy, letting in some knowledge.
Usually I stick around the nostrils to watch my breath. Traditionally some people watch the belly (in meditation) ha ha. So … I notice my attention shift to the belly, rising and falling with in and out breaths and the idea flashed through … notions of the body. The ref. is mahasattipathanna sutta, I understood some, some identification trickled down, what could have been meant by body. I am yet to cover a lot and know only practice is going to help, continuous practice. Promising myself a lovely trip in the hills once my project gets over, around summer-end. Give myself some long loving meditation sessions. Btw: I realized one cant meditate with guilt stuck up inside, get rid of it, all of us! No lametation, no guilt, just work, strive on the path diligently.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Tied to Time
So much of what we do … is affected by time. Are you young or old, with little time or much, busy or idle? How much time do you think you have? Monks are perpetually blamed for wasting so much time ; )
So much of shit happens because we think life is short? So many advertisements sell saying something to the effect “You aint got much time, life is short—indulge, buy our products!”
… for monks this sense of immediacy doesn’t seem to work, I find that charming in a yogi. But this laxity is only an apparent thing I discovered later. Monks are charged with a sense of urgency, but it doesn’t make them indulge, or rather stops them from stray-indulge in many many useless pursuits … they step back (concentrate) and observe whats more important issue to deal with, “So if I get my next meal and a drink of clean water, what shud be my most urgent task?”—the answer usually is to build the capacity of mind for deeper insights (for me). So our yogi wraps her legs and sit straight in Vipassana.
So again:
So much of shit happens because we think life is short? So many advertisements sell saying something to the effect “You aint got much time, life is short—indulge, buy our products!”
Start meditating and its silliness will be evident to you. You will find connected to this vast expanse of Time. There is no hurry. Will you do different things if there were no hurry?
Uu would become zen-like.
Ahh… here comes the second post Tied to Time II-A Post on memory
Tied to Time II
Time seems to be forcing babies into toddlers, toddlers to young chaps, young ones to old guys. There is some discrepancy that makes us become forgetful. We don’t seem to be carrying all of our time with us. Every experience fades, becomes dull. What is it about the present moment that is so lively? It is the same difference between a dead corpse and a breathing one. To usher life is to have remembrance, of not just this moment but a sensibility of many many past ones, an expanse in time, capacity rendered by meditation. When you have this sensibility of time in all moments, you seem to see that so much of what you chase is ‘empty experience’—that, in effect, is a waste of time. I could go on a bit on this, but I intended this blog so that it may be understood by non-meditators too. Also, I can only share my intentions on meditation here…
So back to the relevance of great memory that these meditators seem to ‘get’ … this memory brings about a change in perspective. With this extraordinary capacity to recall, each experience becomes lively, even the ones in the past, ‘desire’ to live it again and again dies. Like typically the monk will not desire food to find the same great taste but will only eat enough to sustain. These changes come gradually, until a great wondrous change comes in a sweeeeep ))))))))))) All yogis aim for this experience of complete liberation from empty stupid experiences/compulsions.
* This memory/recollection also acts like a catharsis, you may have felt angry and embarrassed experiencing something as a child or an adult, but now, recollecting that event, you only smile at it! So much of it is forgiven with time, but for it to take effect you have to recollect effectively, more of something like letting it come to the surface and sizzle out without you being affected this time, just sitting with the buddha smile. May be meditate some more, lv
So much of shit happens because we think life is short? So many advertisements sell saying something to the effect “You aint got much time, life is short—indulge, buy our products!”
… for monks this sense of immediacy doesn’t seem to work, I find that charming in a yogi. But this laxity is only an apparent thing I discovered later. Monks are charged with a sense of urgency, but it doesn’t make them indulge, or rather stops them from stray-indulge in many many useless pursuits … they step back (concentrate) and observe whats more important issue to deal with, “So if I get my next meal and a drink of clean water, what shud be my most urgent task?”—the answer usually is to build the capacity of mind for deeper insights (for me). So our yogi wraps her legs and sit straight in Vipassana.
So again:
So much of shit happens because we think life is short? So many advertisements sell saying something to the effect “You aint got much time, life is short—indulge, buy our products!”
Start meditating and its silliness will be evident to you. You will find connected to this vast expanse of Time. There is no hurry. Will you do different things if there were no hurry?
Uu would become zen-like.
Ahh… here comes the second post Tied to Time II-A Post on memory
Tied to Time II
Time seems to be forcing babies into toddlers, toddlers to young chaps, young ones to old guys. There is some discrepancy that makes us become forgetful. We don’t seem to be carrying all of our time with us. Every experience fades, becomes dull. What is it about the present moment that is so lively? It is the same difference between a dead corpse and a breathing one. To usher life is to have remembrance, of not just this moment but a sensibility of many many past ones, an expanse in time, capacity rendered by meditation. When you have this sensibility of time in all moments, you seem to see that so much of what you chase is ‘empty experience’—that, in effect, is a waste of time. I could go on a bit on this, but I intended this blog so that it may be understood by non-meditators too. Also, I can only share my intentions on meditation here…
So back to the relevance of great memory that these meditators seem to ‘get’ … this memory brings about a change in perspective. With this extraordinary capacity to recall, each experience becomes lively, even the ones in the past, ‘desire’ to live it again and again dies. Like typically the monk will not desire food to find the same great taste but will only eat enough to sustain. These changes come gradually, until a great wondrous change comes in a sweeeeep ))))))))))) All yogis aim for this experience of complete liberation from empty stupid experiences/compulsions.
* This memory/recollection also acts like a catharsis, you may have felt angry and embarrassed experiencing something as a child or an adult, but now, recollecting that event, you only smile at it! So much of it is forgiven with time, but for it to take effect you have to recollect effectively, more of something like letting it come to the surface and sizzle out without you being affected this time, just sitting with the buddha smile. May be meditate some more, lv
Clear Confidence
Defiance comes from confidence. Some mistakes also come from confidence;) but thats not what we talk about…I talk about confidence that comes, something that I call clear confidence
This confidence makes you sure of something new. Every ‘new’ seems to be singing the same old song. Needless to say here is no young and old here, no one is more beautiful or bold than the other. Yeah since this confidence is more of the spiritual sort you are calling for a lot of acceptance to things. This confidence settles the mind and makes it like clear waters. Its clear confidence. You may start with having confidence in some god or cult of mysticism where you think its cool to do so, but you end up only reaping the factor the capacity to have confidence. Once you have confidence, you are exceptional.
This confidence makes you sure of something new. Every ‘new’ seems to be singing the same old song. Needless to say here is no young and old here, no one is more beautiful or bold than the other. Yeah since this confidence is more of the spiritual sort you are calling for a lot of acceptance to things. This confidence settles the mind and makes it like clear waters. Its clear confidence. You may start with having confidence in some god or cult of mysticism where you think its cool to do so, but you end up only reaping the factor the capacity to have confidence. Once you have confidence, you are exceptional.
Monday, March 29, 2010
The Mystic Experience/Path
The mystic experience is indeed different; let me try to express what the magic about it is!
Mystics are of course human, some of them are more of supermen and some are indeed common men.
Is it their extraordinary capacities to do gymanastics that makes them different, or extraordinary power of intuition? I see, that in my particular kind of mysticism, both don’t qualify to mark someone as a mystic or a yogi … though these may be individual characteristics of the person (so no offences meant here;) … but extraordinary power to foretell the future/capacity for gymnastics or similar stuff has nothing to do with the path. The difference is only in the intention, in the will, in the mind of the yogi—Is there desire? Is there aversion? If these two aren’t there, the person is a mystic, a yogi.
But this seems an incomplete and incompetent description of a yogi. So let me add. These mystics are generally on a path to non-existence, which is akin to non-existence of suffering. As long as there is being, there is suffering. There is endeavor required to break the gyre, tremendous effort, and tremendous skill. So, like any other job that requires skill: pottery, programming, painting…you need to align you limbs, your body, your mind to be able to do the task. Mystics here learn this skill in meditation, they make this effort and the energy starts building up. Now one common misconception is that some people are the ‘kind’ to become mystics, its not everyone’s kind of a thing. But from my experience I think all of us breathe, all of us experience and all of us suffer. All beings in fact … suffering is common to all. May be you could say, a mystic is one who is actually working on removing this suffering from their life, and to some extent they succeed, they are on the path, and to some degree have a claim on the mystic experience …afterall it is the goodness that counts! Mystics discover this way to goodness, I am doing that and perhaps that’s my mystic experience.
Mystics work hard on their thought process. Normally people are easily distracted, they become used to things…surprisingly mystics don’t, they are the first one to go out-of-the box …yeah, now may be you would find them less boring So the first signature is that mystics become original, creative, consistent …this perhaps explains some mystics are too radical for the societies they live in
Mystics start following a moral lifestyle. This may look like the first baby step but actually the strings are far up and beyond … may be one could look at it this way-morality makes them akin to the final goal, they become more aligned with what they are trying to achieve, the message is sent to the universe … I will not harm.
I see how much morality appealed to me as I wanted to advance in meditation, how I kept coming back to the precepts for shelter and protection. For a mystic, the capacity to be immoral dies or reduces visibly. (for ref. to what is morality (abstain from sexual misconduct, lies, killing, intoxicants, and stealing (five precepts)
I became a vegetarian by choice … these changes came gradually. As old habits clung to me I started behaving differently from friends and family. Things that were completely acceptable till now lost appeal. Change begun. Everyone begins to witness their changes, its so personal
I have had a simple life. I heard someone ask a monk “you have done nothing wrong, you ordained as a child, have you not had enough of meditation, what guilt are you trying to get rid of?” And the monk answered in Pali, “hiri” he said. There is no English word for this … but yeah meditation will prevent you from falling. This is the only security, otherwise we are capable of harm. One moment we may be sitting and meditating and in another we will kill an ant, cheat on our beloved, or entertain an unwholesome thought. Fully enlightened monks become perfect, that’s the aim. Perfect not only in this material universe but also in future existences. Mystics, may be, are born like any one of us, but their death is ‘real experience’
To be able to be fearless and bold in the death transition is the extraordinary capacity of the monk. I remember my first few months in meditation in a monastery. I was meditating alone, it had been a few days since I had even spoken to anyone. I had not been told about the death-significance yet. I came back to my single room and slept. And woke up to experience I didn’t have a body, something similar to dying, I realized how extraordinary is the desire to enter a womb, I would have chosen any womb, a pig, reptile …anything! To be without body, and to be used to sensory experience is a compulsion, you are left with no choice. I think it lasted some few unbearable moments … so next time you go to the meditation hut expecting bliss, you know better ;)
So knowing how to die … I remember before I learnt meditation I would think why did the Buddha not make life convenient, like from his vast knowledge why did he not give us clean sources of energy, or cordless means of communication Look at our researchers today they are rendering technology that can be used by everyone… ahhhh I understood the nature of knowledge on beginning to learn meditation Objects, names, mechanics is constantly changing form. If we look at the larger picture, the questions of utter significance were death, suffering, impermanence and non-self. And yes, it was for common use, any one could come and join the bandwagon and learn to meditate, nature has its laws, one has to learn to take on the reins, and drive.
Ok, metaphors are not very good here. Lets keep things clear, since we are talking mysticism;) What is it to learn to take the reins? It simply means to be able to do what one really wants to do. I want to lose weight, exercise everyday, not be late, be peaceful at all moments … most cases we are ruled by thousands and thousands of splits, sucking and soaking our energy. Meditators work on their presence. They can really listen, without anyone interfering. They can really be. I think that’s how its relevant for everyone.
All this talk about being in the moment, being real does not get real unless one has some preliminary capacity to concentrate. In my current state I will be thrown out of the Zen schools if I ever went there, these are people with high attention to details, fantastic memories, and yeah the skilled ones are really coming close to perfection. I am dirty clumsy forgetful limp! ( meditation teaches you to be okay, to progress but without the guilt of what or where you are)
So, here forth its largely heresay. As one learns to concentrate one gains clarity and starts getting intuitive knowledge … not about lottery numbers but something like what is the next level in meditation. Just don’t stop progressing, no matter how much or how little you know about mysticism. You wont even have to think and changes will come embrace you. Some of the mystics will go on and on and progress on the path of meditation till they reach the final goal, and some will stop to preach, worse still, some of us will leave the path, without reaching the final goal.
Mystics are of course human, some of them are more of supermen and some are indeed common men.
Is it their extraordinary capacities to do gymanastics that makes them different, or extraordinary power of intuition? I see, that in my particular kind of mysticism, both don’t qualify to mark someone as a mystic or a yogi … though these may be individual characteristics of the person (so no offences meant here;) … but extraordinary power to foretell the future/capacity for gymnastics or similar stuff has nothing to do with the path. The difference is only in the intention, in the will, in the mind of the yogi—Is there desire? Is there aversion? If these two aren’t there, the person is a mystic, a yogi.
But this seems an incomplete and incompetent description of a yogi. So let me add. These mystics are generally on a path to non-existence, which is akin to non-existence of suffering. As long as there is being, there is suffering. There is endeavor required to break the gyre, tremendous effort, and tremendous skill. So, like any other job that requires skill: pottery, programming, painting…you need to align you limbs, your body, your mind to be able to do the task. Mystics here learn this skill in meditation, they make this effort and the energy starts building up. Now one common misconception is that some people are the ‘kind’ to become mystics, its not everyone’s kind of a thing. But from my experience I think all of us breathe, all of us experience and all of us suffer. All beings in fact … suffering is common to all. May be you could say, a mystic is one who is actually working on removing this suffering from their life, and to some extent they succeed, they are on the path, and to some degree have a claim on the mystic experience …afterall it is the goodness that counts! Mystics discover this way to goodness, I am doing that and perhaps that’s my mystic experience.
Mystics work hard on their thought process. Normally people are easily distracted, they become used to things…surprisingly mystics don’t, they are the first one to go out-of-the box …yeah, now may be you would find them less boring So the first signature is that mystics become original, creative, consistent …this perhaps explains some mystics are too radical for the societies they live in
Mystics start following a moral lifestyle. This may look like the first baby step but actually the strings are far up and beyond … may be one could look at it this way-morality makes them akin to the final goal, they become more aligned with what they are trying to achieve, the message is sent to the universe … I will not harm.
I see how much morality appealed to me as I wanted to advance in meditation, how I kept coming back to the precepts for shelter and protection. For a mystic, the capacity to be immoral dies or reduces visibly. (for ref. to what is morality (abstain from sexual misconduct, lies, killing, intoxicants, and stealing (five precepts)
I became a vegetarian by choice … these changes came gradually. As old habits clung to me I started behaving differently from friends and family. Things that were completely acceptable till now lost appeal. Change begun. Everyone begins to witness their changes, its so personal
I have had a simple life. I heard someone ask a monk “you have done nothing wrong, you ordained as a child, have you not had enough of meditation, what guilt are you trying to get rid of?” And the monk answered in Pali, “hiri” he said. There is no English word for this … but yeah meditation will prevent you from falling. This is the only security, otherwise we are capable of harm. One moment we may be sitting and meditating and in another we will kill an ant, cheat on our beloved, or entertain an unwholesome thought. Fully enlightened monks become perfect, that’s the aim. Perfect not only in this material universe but also in future existences. Mystics, may be, are born like any one of us, but their death is ‘real experience’
To be able to be fearless and bold in the death transition is the extraordinary capacity of the monk. I remember my first few months in meditation in a monastery. I was meditating alone, it had been a few days since I had even spoken to anyone. I had not been told about the death-significance yet. I came back to my single room and slept. And woke up to experience I didn’t have a body, something similar to dying, I realized how extraordinary is the desire to enter a womb, I would have chosen any womb, a pig, reptile …anything! To be without body, and to be used to sensory experience is a compulsion, you are left with no choice. I think it lasted some few unbearable moments … so next time you go to the meditation hut expecting bliss, you know better ;)
So knowing how to die … I remember before I learnt meditation I would think why did the Buddha not make life convenient, like from his vast knowledge why did he not give us clean sources of energy, or cordless means of communication Look at our researchers today they are rendering technology that can be used by everyone… ahhhh I understood the nature of knowledge on beginning to learn meditation Objects, names, mechanics is constantly changing form. If we look at the larger picture, the questions of utter significance were death, suffering, impermanence and non-self. And yes, it was for common use, any one could come and join the bandwagon and learn to meditate, nature has its laws, one has to learn to take on the reins, and drive.
Ok, metaphors are not very good here. Lets keep things clear, since we are talking mysticism;) What is it to learn to take the reins? It simply means to be able to do what one really wants to do. I want to lose weight, exercise everyday, not be late, be peaceful at all moments … most cases we are ruled by thousands and thousands of splits, sucking and soaking our energy. Meditators work on their presence. They can really listen, without anyone interfering. They can really be. I think that’s how its relevant for everyone.
All this talk about being in the moment, being real does not get real unless one has some preliminary capacity to concentrate. In my current state I will be thrown out of the Zen schools if I ever went there, these are people with high attention to details, fantastic memories, and yeah the skilled ones are really coming close to perfection. I am dirty clumsy forgetful limp! ( meditation teaches you to be okay, to progress but without the guilt of what or where you are)
So, here forth its largely heresay. As one learns to concentrate one gains clarity and starts getting intuitive knowledge … not about lottery numbers but something like what is the next level in meditation. Just don’t stop progressing, no matter how much or how little you know about mysticism. You wont even have to think and changes will come embrace you. Some of the mystics will go on and on and progress on the path of meditation till they reach the final goal, and some will stop to preach, worse still, some of us will leave the path, without reaching the final goal.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Keeping Good Company
Were I a magician, the strongest magic potions would have been the five moral precepts*
Coming back to the good company part ...it does start from good moral precepts and grows with time and metta. The Sangha renders a lot of intangible substrates that do become tangible effectively.
All I say here is get rid of bad company, all you will be left with will be good company, even if you are left with nothing!
Good company is people who can speak the truth, who are not greedy, who are on the path of dhamma! These people/merit will be your guide till you reach the final goal, even as you see noone around you, this will intervene and interfere in your dreams, in your life, in incidents and leave you drenched with love, at times unexpectedly ... without leaving a trace behind
:)
Coming back to the good company part ...it does start from good moral precepts and grows with time and metta. The Sangha renders a lot of intangible substrates that do become tangible effectively.
All I say here is get rid of bad company, all you will be left with will be good company, even if you are left with nothing!
Good company is people who can speak the truth, who are not greedy, who are on the path of dhamma! These people/merit will be your guide till you reach the final goal, even as you see noone around you, this will intervene and interfere in your dreams, in your life, in incidents and leave you drenched with love, at times unexpectedly ... without leaving a trace behind
:)
About the Blog
This blog is more or less uselss, even for me.
Like most religious texts, it only talks About it. I do not give any info about practicing vipassana, it is only this practice that automatically brings about changes*. I do not mention anything about the technique, but only talk of things like shedding passion, how does it help the layman?? I dont have an answer! It does open things to wrong interpretation. Meditative life is both tough and easy, freaking tough and freaking easy!
*Largely because there are already well-structured centers teaching the technique, I m one of the millions who are touched. http://www.dhamma.org/
Like most religious texts, it only talks About it. I do not give any info about practicing vipassana, it is only this practice that automatically brings about changes*. I do not mention anything about the technique, but only talk of things like shedding passion, how does it help the layman?? I dont have an answer! It does open things to wrong interpretation. Meditative life is both tough and easy, freaking tough and freaking easy!
*Largely because there are already well-structured centers teaching the technique, I m one of the millions who are touched. http://www.dhamma.org/
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