In the time of the Buddha many people came to seek his advice for mundane matters as well as spiritual. One of the stories of a lay person who sought out the Buddha that has survived over the centuries is the tale of Kisa Gotami.
Thus I have heard. One day a woman carrying a child came to the place where the Buddha was staying with his sangha (spiritual community) of monks, lay seekers and attendants. She was granted an audience with the Buddha and, clearly in considerable distress, told him how she needed medicine for her baby son who had fallen into a deep sleep and would not wake up.
The Buddha asked the woman, named Kisa Gotami, to pass the child to him so that he could see what he could do. The Buddha was no physician but was willing to do anything he could to relieve suffering in anyone, be they his friend, enemy or a complete stranger. Upon receiving the child into his arms, though, it was obvious to him that the child was dead and had been so for some days. It was also obvious that to break this news to Kisa Gotami would have a devastating effect on her mind. Continue Reading »
Since I started doing sitting meditation one of my legs (or both) would inevitably fall asleep and for the most part the sitting would evolve around staying with those sensations in the body. I know it is not harmful for my health and would probably pass with time so I just accepted it as something I could sit with and even learnt to appreciate as those sensations in the body helped me stay connected to it and the breath. With time those sensations built a background for my sitting, something I sort of knew would be there and I guess I started identify the sittings with.
Doing some yoga practice right before the sitting has proved to be very successful in helping me get grounded in the body and those sensations in the legs suddenly disappeared altogether. Now the body feels alert yet relaxed and pleasantly warmed up. However, I soon discovered that when the body is more comfortable the mind is more likely to wonder away and engage in daydreaming and I have to apply more effort to sustain concentration.
I find myself wishing one condition away in preference of the other only to find out that the latter is not at all as I imagined it to be.
Friend, please tell me what I can do about this world
I hold to, and keep spinning out!
I gave up sewn clothes, and wore a robe,
but I noticed one day the cloth was well woven.
So I bought some burlup, but I still
throw it elegantly over my left shoulder.
I pulled back my sexual longings,
and now I discovere that I’m angry a lot.
I gave up rage, and now I notice
that I am greedy all day.
I worked har at dissolving the greed,
and now I am proud of myself.
When the mind wants to break its link with the world
it still holds on to one thing.
Kabir says: Listen my friend,
there are very few that find the path!
From Ecstatic poems by Kabir, versions by Robert Bly
Mindfulness meditation is an excellent Buddhist practice but is only the first step to dealing with the negative states of mind which we all have. How can we use this awareness to reduce the suffering we experience in life?
When we first start practising the cultivation of awareness it may appear that we are becoming more rather than less affected by our delusions such as desire (attachment) and anger(aversion). What is usually happening is that we are actually noticing these emotions more rather than unconsciously acting and reacting to everything our mind puts out. Just as we are unable to treat an illness until we are aware of its presence, though, so we cannot tackle the negative aspects of our mind until we have seen them with our own inner eye. Continue Reading »
In Asia there is a very clever trap for catching monkeys. People hollow out a coconut, put something sweet in it, and make a hole at the bottom of the coconut just big enough for the monkey to slide its open hand in, but not big enough for the monkey to withdraw its hand as a fist. They attach the coconut to the tree, and the monkey comes along and gets trapped. What keeps the monkey trapped? Only the force of desire, of clinging, of attachment. All the monkey has to do is let go of the sweet, open its hand, slip it out, and be free. But only a very rare monkey will do that.
~ Joseph Goldstein, Transforming the Mind, Healing the World
By the time you swear you’re his,
Shivering and sighing,
And he vows his passion is
Infinite, undying -
Lady make a note of this:
One of you is lying.
-Dorothy Parker
I don’t share Dorothy Parker’s pessimism when it comes to the matters of heart but have noticed that many times it is exactly following the heart that brought trouble onto my head. You know what I mean? In the beginning it all looks right and feels right (hopefully it even smells right ). Then how come one day you wake up and “right” is the last word that comes to mind when you think of that very person that used to be your own center of the universe? As Käbi Laretei asks in her recently published book, “Vart tog all denna kärlek vägen?” /”Where did all this love go?” . The acclaimed pianist shared ten years of her life with the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. The book is a collection of their correspondence.
Some try to answer the question by writing books while others draw the conclusion that the only way to avoid this endless circle of disappointments is to simply run for their life from any relationship that brings up those butterflies in the stomach – they are convinced there is no “right”, it just feels that way for a while and they think they can choose choose safe over sorry.
For starters I would like to understand what it is that makes my brain see someone as very attractive and therefore desirable, leaving the where-did-it-go question for later. What happens when I am drawn to another human being and my heart starts beating faster at the very thought of his smile? How does love chemistry work?
Why all this excitement about yet another book on Dharma? Books we have plenty of but manuals packed with straightforward techniques – not so many. Daniel describes it as “… one of the more practical and technically detailed manuals for high-level insight and concentration practice available, and its maps of spiritual terrain and advice for navigating in unusual territory are world-class. “
I spent the rest of the evening in the arm chair hugging my overworked laptop, slowly going through the first pages of the book. How do I move forward with sitting? What are the ways to enhance concentration? For the first time I was holding exact instructions as to how I could proceed and no longer worried that wanting to actually move forward with the help of the meditation techniques defined me as a doer and an achiever.
I started with Forward and Warningand then swiftly moved to the section onThe Tree Characteristics where Daniel outlines how we can better understand the Three Characteristics (impermanence, suffering and no-self) while sitting. I soon stumbled over a number of exercises that might be helpful in both increasing the concentration and better understanding impermanence. They keep the mind busy observing the sensations at a fast rate and therefore do not allow it to get lost in thoughts.
Needless to say I feel more motivated to sit now and whenever I can I do those exercises off the cushion, dismantling sensations and mental formations that arise. Nobody can do the work for me (the author is very clear about that) but at least I know what to do.
Although not a mega meditator, with time I noticed some effects of meditation and got curious in what exactly happens in the brain when I sit on the cushion and watch my mind jumping around, patiently learning to bring attention to the intention and stay with life itself instead of the virtual reality my mind entertains me with. How do these changes in the brain influence how I relate to everything and everyone around, including myself?
I am now more aware of what is going on inside my body and my head which means that a lot of junk that earlier went unnoticed gets caught in the net of awareness. When catching a little thought that gets lots of attention and suddenly swells up to the size of a huge mountain, in this more awakened state of mind I can trace how it leads to a lower state and starts stinking. I find this little self-observation more valuable than all the years I spent in college as it opens the door to liberation from the years of being a slave to the small, hungry and jealous mind. There is little joy in noticing how easily the mental trash can start nesting inside the head but on the other side this is my chance to clean up the house and ensure I do not start unloading it on others.
Here come a few podcasts that answer some of the “hows” about the ways meditation rewires our brain and subsequently influences who we are.
We are becoming more productive and more effecient, yet have never felt as lonely as some studies show.
What if is the answer is in slowing down and doing less? Marc Lesser, Zen teacher and CEO of ZBA Associates LLC, must be onto something if he can accomplish this by doing…less? He is also teaching the Google folks to search inside.
). Then how come one day you wake up and “right” is the last word that comes to mind when you think of that very person that used to be your own center of the universe? As Käbi Laretei asks in her recently published book, “Vart tog all denna kärlek vägen?” /”Where did all this love go?” . The acclaimed pianist shared ten years of her life with the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. The book is a collection of their correspondence.
