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As with Christianity having 30 or 40 thousand incarnations I think "Buddhism" is not one thing. I can not remember where but I was recently listening to someone talking about it and talking about all these weird names they had for their particular brand of demons/angels which sounded every bit as much patent nonsense as our Lucifers and Lokis and Gabriels and so forth that we would be more aware of in the west.
But there are aspects of it that I think are attractive indeed. This week Sam Harris released a podcast where he ended up discussing Buddhism with Derren Brown. Derren Brown is a character I really like - especially as I study and duplicate a lot of his mind "control" techniques to influence and control people for entertainment (in fact I recently could have made a profit of 160 euro in one day only I gave the money back to the people I "tricked" after the fact).
I quite think you would enjoy the podcast. And - at the risk of seeming a Shill for Harris - another recent enough one Harris did called "Is Buddhism true?" where he "speaks with Robert Wright about his book Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment."
Harris was talking about a system of thought and introspection that is part of the "system" of that "religion" which he simply has not found elsewhere. And I can understand why he and others find it very attractive as I do too. The goal - as with any religion - is to distil that out and get rid of the patent and blatant nonsense it is wrapped up with.
For example you say you are attracted to the meditation and peace aspects of it. Well Vipassana Mindfullness Meditation has most of that without the Buddhism at all. If that is the attribute which attracts you then you can go elsewhere entirely to find it. Without supernatural nonsense _or_ people selling their poo.
Mindfulness meditation is not really about silencing the chatter or stopping it happening. There is a common idea that it is about turning thinking off somehow. This is not quite accurate.
Rather what we do is _notice_ the chatter or the emotion or whatever thought comes crashing into consciousness uninvited - and simply allow it to pass on it's way.
It is not so much about stilling the waves of a choppy ocean - so much as rising slightly above those waves and being able to notice them without being influenced by them or carried along anywhere by them.
I think a lot of people think the goal is to entirely silence the mind or the chatter - which they fail at - so they get disillusioned with it and give up. When in fact that was never really the goal at all.
Very good, and interesting in that the misconception of what Mindfulness is supposed to do is rather like the misonception of Logic the Startrek scriptwriters made in trying to have a race of people that were perfectly logical. It was supposed to mean switching off all human feelings, when logic is about noting them and not letting them take control. Not suppressing them.
Any tips for meditation? I have been using meditation music so my mind has something to follow instead of the self talk chatter it does. That has really been helping me calm down especially before bed. It would be nice to actually quite it instead of just distracting it.
There's a specific breathing technique to use, that has been proven to turn off the body's stress hormones, which is what drives the "busy mind", and to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, the calming neurotransmitters. Prepare for your meditation by taking very slow, deep breaths. Visualize the breath coming in through your nose, passing through your mouth, down the windpipe, into your belly. Engage the diaphragm, as you imagine "pushing" the breath down into your belly. Hold the breath there a couple of seconds, then slowly, in a controlled fashion, let it rise back up, passing through your windpipe and mouth, and leaving through either your nose or your mouth. Visualize it swirling away from you into the air, as you empty the last bit from your system, and pause a couple of seconds, to begin again.
The idea is, instead of filling your lungs with air, as you usually do, and breathing in a shallow fashion, you imagine the breath bypassing the lungs, and going deeper into your body, filling the belly as you push down with your diaphragm. This has the physiologic effect of calming your nervous system, which in turn calms your mind. You should be able to slow your breathing down in this way, to just 2-3 breathes/minute. After.just a few minutes of this, you should find it much easier to stay focused on the breath, without distracting thoughts arising and hijacking your meditation. If you do notice yourself becoming distracted, simply bring your thoughts back to that visualization of the breath entering your nose, passing through your breathing passage, and so forth. It may help to give the breath a soothing color in your imagination: white or yellow like the sunlight, or lavender or blue. Follow it in your mind's eye, in then out.
When you get better at this, you can substitute an object to visualize, instead of the breath, after you initially calm the system. You can visualize a seated Buddha, a compassionate Quan Yin figure, or anything you choose to meditate on. You can start out with just 10 minutes of meditation practice, and as you improve on keeping the mind focussed, you can extend your meditation periods by another 5 minutes or so, extending your time as you get better at it.
But seriously, there are Westerners who cannot grasp the concept of a belief system that doesn't involve god or the answer to everything.
That's because it's not a belief system, right? Well, for Asian Buddhists, it's a belief system, because a lot (we're told) got added after the Buddha's death; a belief in 31 realms of existence, god realms, hell realms, and so forth. Whether that's what the Buddha actually said is a matter of disagreement between scholars. Some say, he taught a basic method for eliminating stress, and for seeing the world, life, people, as they are, rather than projecting onto them what we want to see.
That's because it's not a belief system, right? Well, for Asian Buddhists, it's a belief system, because a lot (we're told) got added after the Buddha's death; a belief in 31 realms of existence, god realms, hell realms, and so forth. Whether that's what the Buddha actually said is a matter of disagreement between scholars. Some say, he taught a basic method for eliminating stress, and for seeing the world, life, people, as they are, rather than projecting onto them what we want to see.
Thank you for basically repeating what I've said several times.
The breath process is pranayama, correct? I experimented with this as a teenager (after reading Autobiography of a Yogi) and had a vision. But holding your breath will do that. So many breaths through each nostril, holding the breath briefly, a sort of routine which I've since forgotten.
Last edited by KaraZetterberg153; 11-23-2018 at 10:05 AM..
Any tips for meditation? I have been using meditation music so my mind has something to follow instead of the self talk chatter it does. That has really been helping me calm down especially before bed. It would be nice to actually quite it instead of just distracting it.
L8, in Christian contemplative practice there is something called Centering Prayer which is basically sitting in silence ("The first language of God is silence", the saying goes.) You CAN'T turn your thoughts off, but you are supposed to just let them go and return to your "sacred word" that you have chosen if you find yourself getting distracted.
One CP leader is a purist who insists on the silence, but for a while one of our deacons ran the group, and she brought in this CD. I find it helpful in giving me an aural focus, and I liked it so much that I bought a copy for myself. You might like it, too.
That's because it's not a belief system, right? Well, for Asian Buddhists, it's a belief system, because a lot (we're told) got added after the Buddha's death; a belief in 31 realms of existence, god realms, hell realms, and so forth. Whether that's what the Buddha actually said is a matter of disagreement between scholars. Some say, he taught a basic method for eliminating stress, and for seeing the world, life, people, as they are, rather than projecting onto them what we want to see.
It's why Theravada rather than Mahayana was no contest for me. The additional clutter of 'the greater vehicle' was a lot of fun, but just - clutter.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801
L8, in Christian contemplative practice there is something called Centering Prayer which is basically sitting in silence ("The first language of God is silence", the saying goes.) You CAN'T turn your thoughts off, but you are supposed to just let them go and return to your "sacred word" that you have chosen if you find yourself getting distracted.
One CP leader is a purist who insists on the silence, but for a while one of our deacons ran the group, and she brought in this CD. I find it helpful in giving me an aural focus, and I liked it so much that I bought a copy for myself. You might like it, too.
I have a beautiful singing bowl of my own that my daughter gave me. It has a nice tone. My late cat Foxy didn't care for it though.
Whatever works (music doesn't for me as I have learned to Listen). You can use a mantra or Word or a meditation Tambura (1). Breathing meditation requires no gadgets though.
I hope it helps. Try it on for size for a few days, and let us know if you notice a difference.
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