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| A Friend of Order by Rene Magritte |
I can't say I'm a big fan of Meditation for Dummies because, yeah, it does seem a bit condescending but also I've caught a few errors regarding yoga and yoga history. Early on the author, Stephan Bodian, states clearly that he is a Buddhist and a practitioner of mindfulness meditation and really the book is mostly about the Buddhist style meditation, so I concede that looking to him for expertise on yoga doesn't make sense. But there were also statements about other things that just made me cringe. Speaking of our forebears, he wrote:
"After all their lives were simpler, their thinking more rudimentary, and their connection to nature and the sacred far stronger."
What makes him believe that our forebears, who had the same minds and intelligence that we do, had more rudimentary thinking! As Brad puts it, "We're not smarter than our ancestors; we just know different things." And were their lives actually more simple? Ack, don't get me started.
But the main reason I'm reading this book is because Melitta told me that there was a section on the history of meditation and I really wanted to learn something about that. The author basically confirmed my suspicions, which is that focused meditation comes from the yoga tradition and mindfulness meditation is from Buddhism.
He says that although meditation "dates back to our earliest ancestors," it was first formally developed in India as part of the Vedic practices as a way to achieve union with the divine. Then, as yoga began developing the practice became formalized to help the practitioner "withdraw from the material world, which is considered illusory, and merge with the formless but ultimate reality of consciousness." The technique to do this was focused meditation, which will ultimately "cease" all the movements of the consciousness.
Then it was the Buddha himself, finding that years of asceticism and yoga did not lead him to the understanding he was searching for, who experienced an awakening that led him to realize that to be free from suffering we must "liberate ourselves from ignorance and eliminate, fear, anger, greed, jealousy, and other mind-states." And that the way to do this includes working with the mind via mindfulness meditation and living in the world in a "virtuous and spiritual way." The practice of meditation he taught, known as mindfulness, includes becoming aware of the movements of conscious (your thoughts, physical sensations, emotions, etc.) as opposed to focusing on "restricting" those movements of consciousness. Although these days we often combine yoga with mindfulness, I'm not at all sure when this practice started, though who knows because there certainly was all kinds of cross fertilization between yoga and Buddhism as the centuries passed.
Although Bodian does not say this in his very brief history, loving-kindness meditation (metta) is also traditional in Buddhism and some people seem to trace it back to the beginning of Buddhism (I need to look more into this). In the Yoga Sutras and other yoga texts, loving-kindness along with compassion and positive traits to be cultivated.
1.33 By cultivating an attitude of friendship toward those who are happy, compassion toward those in distress, joy toward those who are virtuous, and equanimity toward those who are nonvirtuous, lucidity arises in the mind. —Yoga Sutras, translated by Edwin Bryant
Bryant describes practicing according to this sutra as an off-the-mat type of meditation for quieting the mind.
“This sutra prescribes a kind of mindfulness or mental cultivation off the mat, so to speak, that is, in day-to-day affairs outside of the context of citta-vrtti-nirodha—type meditation.”
See Removing Negative Feelings for more about this practice. Right now I'm unsure whether this was a formal meditation practice in the yoga tradition or just the Buddhist one. But this is the third type of meditation according to my post Meditation Project: Three Types of Meditation.
Then, according to Bodian, the next phase of meditation history came with trantra yoga, where meditation techniques were intended to activate the chakras and liberate shakti. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this must be a fourth type type of meditation (in addition to focused awareness, open monitoring, and affect) because the experience of liberating the shakti energy is surely different than quieting the mind, witnessing without judgment, and cultivating compassion or gratitude. Is anyone out there working with this type of meditation?
As for me, the metta meditation was of interest to me because I finally found a recorded meditation that I was able to practice this week: The Loving-Kindness meditation by Sharon Salzberg. Here's my diary for this week. I've kept up my 6 days a week practice!
"After all their lives were simpler, their thinking more rudimentary, and their connection to nature and the sacred far stronger."
What makes him believe that our forebears, who had the same minds and intelligence that we do, had more rudimentary thinking! As Brad puts it, "We're not smarter than our ancestors; we just know different things." And were their lives actually more simple? Ack, don't get me started.
But the main reason I'm reading this book is because Melitta told me that there was a section on the history of meditation and I really wanted to learn something about that. The author basically confirmed my suspicions, which is that focused meditation comes from the yoga tradition and mindfulness meditation is from Buddhism.
He says that although meditation "dates back to our earliest ancestors," it was first formally developed in India as part of the Vedic practices as a way to achieve union with the divine. Then, as yoga began developing the practice became formalized to help the practitioner "withdraw from the material world, which is considered illusory, and merge with the formless but ultimate reality of consciousness." The technique to do this was focused meditation, which will ultimately "cease" all the movements of the consciousness.
Then it was the Buddha himself, finding that years of asceticism and yoga did not lead him to the understanding he was searching for, who experienced an awakening that led him to realize that to be free from suffering we must "liberate ourselves from ignorance and eliminate, fear, anger, greed, jealousy, and other mind-states." And that the way to do this includes working with the mind via mindfulness meditation and living in the world in a "virtuous and spiritual way." The practice of meditation he taught, known as mindfulness, includes becoming aware of the movements of conscious (your thoughts, physical sensations, emotions, etc.) as opposed to focusing on "restricting" those movements of consciousness. Although these days we often combine yoga with mindfulness, I'm not at all sure when this practice started, though who knows because there certainly was all kinds of cross fertilization between yoga and Buddhism as the centuries passed.
Although Bodian does not say this in his very brief history, loving-kindness meditation (metta) is also traditional in Buddhism and some people seem to trace it back to the beginning of Buddhism (I need to look more into this). In the Yoga Sutras and other yoga texts, loving-kindness along with compassion and positive traits to be cultivated.
1.33 By cultivating an attitude of friendship toward those who are happy, compassion toward those in distress, joy toward those who are virtuous, and equanimity toward those who are nonvirtuous, lucidity arises in the mind. —Yoga Sutras, translated by Edwin Bryant
Bryant describes practicing according to this sutra as an off-the-mat type of meditation for quieting the mind.
“This sutra prescribes a kind of mindfulness or mental cultivation off the mat, so to speak, that is, in day-to-day affairs outside of the context of citta-vrtti-nirodha—type meditation.”
See Removing Negative Feelings for more about this practice. Right now I'm unsure whether this was a formal meditation practice in the yoga tradition or just the Buddhist one. But this is the third type of meditation according to my post Meditation Project: Three Types of Meditation.
Then, according to Bodian, the next phase of meditation history came with trantra yoga, where meditation techniques were intended to activate the chakras and liberate shakti. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this must be a fourth type type of meditation (in addition to focused awareness, open monitoring, and affect) because the experience of liberating the shakti energy is surely different than quieting the mind, witnessing without judgment, and cultivating compassion or gratitude. Is anyone out there working with this type of meditation?
As for me, the metta meditation was of interest to me because I finally found a recorded meditation that I was able to practice this week: The Loving-Kindness meditation by Sharon Salzberg. Here's my diary for this week. I've kept up my 6 days a week practice!
Sunday, February 3, 2019
I was hyper from reorganizing the house and also writing so I felt I needed quieting. So I went with Legs Up the Wall and my technique of surrendering to the quietness. I realized that maybe a "balanced" meditation practice is a combination of all three types to hone all the different skills. Or is that heresy?
Monday, February 4, 2019
I did a gratitude practice of my own making where I meditated on gratitude for my life. I noticed the relaxation response kick in clearly after about seven minutes. I felt spaced out afterward. I decided I should try a week of one thing sold to see what the differences are for me—subjectively, of course.
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
This is the day I found the Sharon Salzberg Loving-Kindness meditation on the Insight Timer app. I had a feeling she was unpretentious and down to earth, so I went for it. I have done this meditation in the past (it used to make me cry) but it has been a long time.
It kept me reasonably engaged and I felt nice afterward (though I had had a good morning). Weirdly it ended with a suggestion to be present for your grocery clerk. I actually do this all the time already. But that suggested encouraged me to be even more conscious about doing this.
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
I decided to practice the Loving-Kindness meditation again because I had some more people who needed my good thoughts! It strikes me I could spend the whole session on one person. 15 minute for 6 people doesn't see like enough time.
It kept me reasonably engaged, but I added on a few quiet moments of the meditation after the recording ended. The voice interrupted me at the wrong times, though having guidance makes it easier. Haha, there is just no pleasing me!
Also, I may need to come up with different positive thoughts for people, as not everyone can be healthy (whatever that means) or happy (that's possible only some of the time). But I'm not ready to do this yet.
Thursday, February 7, 2019
Loving-Kindness again. It's easier to sit down and be guided. But I most like the idea of loving other people in my meditation. It makes my practice feel more worthwhile than if I'm just doing it for me (though essentially I am). Extended the practice again, so, yes, I need to do this on my own eventually but I'm feeling kind of lazy about that.
Friday, February 8, 2019
Loving-Kindness again. I really like choosing someone to hold in my thoughts as if I was doing something important. And this makes it very clear to me that the words you choose to meditate on are very important. It's not like a mantra is just a sound. It has a meaning and that meaning affects your body-mind. Also, this day I felt quieter after the practice.
In this practice you hold five different people and then all beings in your thoughts. At 3 minutes each, that would be 18 minutes. I'll be trying this soon on my own.
by Nina Zolotow
by Nina Zolotow
I use the metta meditation frequently though not limiting it to 5 people. I'll start with my entire family and Jim's, then closest friends, their families, then neighbors, then the community, then a difficult person. The other morning I did all the yoga teachers I have had the opportunity to study with just for a diversion. I think of it like moving through the mala beads...
ReplyDeleteVery interesting idea, Sharon. I love hearing about your practice, by the way.
DeleteI wasn't sure I'd like sharing it...but realize it makes me actually think about it in a good way.
DeleteI'm enjoying reading your blog, thanks for taking the time to write it. I have been practising yoga and meditation for a while and I wonder if there is room here for another approach to your meditation - that of active investigation, or a sense or enquiry. Meditation practice can lead to access to different perspectives on things, but the chances of these different perspectives just happening to happen is quite small, it can be helpful to go looking! An interesting read to give you some ideas is this one by Greg Goode http://greg-goode.com/books/the-direct-path/, but there are many others available. Meditation is a huge area, often people learn one technique without realising that there is a whole wealth of other approaches out there so it is great to see that you are exploring. I personally no longer worry about where a technique comes from, but would rather try it (sometimes for a long time) and see if it is helpful in some way. A lot of modern meditation teachers are now pointing out that it seems like there are multiple ways in which we can become "enlightened", none of them inherently better than another (using Buddhist language they are all empty of inherent meaning anyway), so what do you value?
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Ann! Actually I'm am actively reading about and researching meditation at the same time that I am practicing it. I have looked back at old yoga texts (and books about them) as well as new material. I will check out the link you shared sometime soon.
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