Doing nothing is the best meditation

The title above is my theory, at least, as discussed in my marvelously cogent, persuasive, and uplifting post "Nowhere to go, nothing to do, no one to become."

Well, let's make that cogent, persuasive, and uplifting to me. Who is the person I'm most concerned with making sense to.

That said, I'm always interested in learning the specifics of how other people approach meditation or some other form of spiritual practice. "Specifics," as noted in that previous writing, is the watchword.

More and more, I'm into specifics when it comes to spirituality. I've spent a lifetime floating in the philosophical, theological, and metaphysical heavens. Now, show me the meat! (or, tofu)

I still enjoy airy-fairy speculation. Heck, what would this blog be without it? Both the posts and comments would be exceedingly brief, that's for sure.

But whenever I get a new spiritual, religious, or philosophical book these days, I thumb through it right off the bat, looking for details. Especially if it deals at all with meditation.

What does the author say we (or even just he/she) should do in an attempt to understand what It Is All About?

Don't give me elevated abstractions. I want down to earth instructions. Absent that, a writing is just a bunch of speculative blah, blah, blah.

Entertaining. But not scientifically or practically persuasive.

So I figured that I should take an I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours approach. (Heck, I recall that working with a neighborhood girl when I was a preschooler, and we were both interested in figuring out the differences between males and females.)

Actually, there isn't much to add to how I described my morning meditation about two and a half years ago. I'm still into doing as little as possible, since this seems to make my meditating as unproductive as possible.

Which is my goal. (Oops... guess I haven't left behind my Protestant ethic entirely.)

The rest of my waking moments, pretty much, I'm trying to do something. Physically, mentally, emotionally. Maybe trying isn't the right word, because much of the time the doing just seems to happen on its own.

Regardless, movement -- voluntary or not -- pervades my day (and night) outside of meditation. Thus if I want to bring something new, fresh, and unexpected into my psyche during my morning meditation time, that would be...

Nothing.

Naturally there's plenty of mystical philosophizing supporting this simple notion to be found in writings from Rumi, Plotinus, Meister Eckhart, St. John of the Cross, Ramana, Chuang Tzu, and many other sages.

But I prefer to leave philosophy aside when I'm unbusily engaged in nothing, which I like to call my Wu Project.

Wu, wu, wu. This Chinese word also is a sound, as all words are. I use it as a meditation mantra. I like how "wu" sounds just like "woo," as in "woo-woo," which I consider religions and metaphysical belief systems to be.

Meditation, though, isn't fantastical -- not when it is stripped of blind faith and dogmatism. The brain is real. The mind is real. What goes on in the mind/brain is real.

I don't believe that pure awareness, consciousness without any content, is possible. However, each of us certainly can become more aware of what's present in our psyche. And we have some control over the thoughts, emotions, and what not that appear in our stream of consciousness.

I enjoy settling down into what I call a "base" mental state. Eyes closed, earplugs in, I sit in my quiet, dark meditation area. I repeat my wu mantra. I don't expect anything spiritual, mystical, or magical to happen.

I simply am out to experience what it is like for me to experience as little as possible. This feels like a foundation that the rest of my much more active day is built on. Meditation seems to help me become more aware of this calm base that I can return to, more or less, when my mind gets excessively frazzled and overactive.

Today I read another chapter, "Equanimity," in Buddha's Brain, a book about neuroscience and contemplative practice. These passages resonated with my approach to meditation:

As your mind grows steadier, pay particular attention to the neutral feeling tone. Stimuli that evoke a pleasant or unpleasant feeling tone stir up more brain activity than neutral tones do, because there is more to think about and respond to. Since your brain doesn't naturally stay engaged with neutral stimuli, you must make a conscious effort to sustain attention to them.

...When you are equanimous, you don't grasp after enjoyable experiences or push against disagreeable ones. Rather, you have a kind of space around experiences -- a buffer between you and their feeling tones. This state of being is not based on standard prefrontal control of emotions, in which there is inhibition and direction of limbic activity.

Instead, with equanimity, the limbic system can fire however it "wants." The primary point of equanimity is not to reduce or channel that activation, but simply not to respond to it. This is very unusual behavior for the brain, which is designed by evolution to respond to limbic signals, particularly to pulses of pleasant and unpleasant feeling tones.

...The space of awareness allows every content of mind to be or not to be, to come and to go. Thoughts are just thoughts, sounds are just sounds, situations are just situations, and people are just being themselves.

Comments

[Jen]

There seem to be many different versions and methods of how to achieve that pure space of awareness. I think to achieve a pure and honest acceptance of self and life we have to dig deep and acknowledge our deepest thoughts and feelings that are buried inside. It’s easy to be airy-fairy and superficially acknowledge only the good things in life but what about the suffering? To truly accept this life and become a kind, compassionate, loving and ‘spacious’ being we have to face the deepest suffering within and transform that inner suffering through acknowledgement and understanding. There is no quick fix.

This is a quote from one of my favourite books “Upside-Down Zen a direct path into reality” by Susan Murphy:

“Once Dongshan was down at the creek washing his bowls. He saw two birds contending over a frog, tearing it apart right in front of him. A monk who was with him saw it too, and asked, ‘Why does it come to this?’ The master replied, ‘It is only for your benefit, Acharya’. ‘Acharya’ is an honorific implying ‘Great One’. When you can truly receive that benefit Dongshan is speaking of, you will be great with the universe, and share the equanimity of the rocks and stars and galaxies.”

[tAo]

Jen, what exactly is a "pure space of awareness"?? what do you mean "pure space"??how can space be pure or impure??

do you mean "pure space", or do you just mean pure awareness. and if the latter, then how could awareness be divided between pure and impure?? how is 'pure awareness' any different than plain old awareness?? awareness is the sate of being alive (not dead). so then, what is 'pure awareness'??

also, how do you know that "deepest thoughts and feelings are buried inside"?? inside of what?

you said: "what about the suffering?" but don't you think people are already quite (and painfully) aware of their suffering??

also, why should or does one need to "become a kind, compassionate, loving and ‘spacious’ being"?? why does one have to be anything other than whatever they are??

and who doesn't "face the deepest suffering within"?? suffering is hardly somthing that goes unnoticed.

also, why would one need to "transform that inner suffering"?? suffering carries it own message, which will be interpreted by the sufferer alone.

"When you can truly receive that benefit Dongshan is speaking of, you will be great with the universe, and share the equanimity of the rocks and stars and galaxies." ...but who, and what, is there to "receive"?? any meaning that is ascribed to any event, is always personal, arbitrary, and after the fact.

[Jen]

tAo, I’m not an expert on awareness and consciousness so I’ll just leave it to the all knowing people on this blog who have made up their minds that there is nothing more than this life… that’s all, just one life and then death and nothingness… there you go… nothing more to say…

[tAo]

Jen, thats sure sounds like a cop-out to me. i just presented you with a few sincere questions... so that i could understand what you meant to say. you don't have to get all sarcastic and defensive and then evade the issue. and where do you get this "all knowing people" idea? whose mind is made up? certainly not mine. why so touchy and such a reactionary attitude?

[Devank Shukla]

Pure space is the sign of Akasha tatwa or sky to put in short also called as ether in many philosophies. I am a teacher in 24 meditation techniques and a reiki grandmaster. Sky is the element quite close to divine self, soul or as per tao emptiness of the emptiness. In the sky flows air, but it doesnt move it. In the sky rain falls but it doesnt wet it. Sky was the first element created amongst the 5 (fire, water, earth, air) but which encompases everything. Its thineer than air and it closely resembels to the inner element. There is sky within the mind called chidakash, detached but ever present, there is sky within the pot which is closed within that realm called ghatakash, there is sky outside called mahakash. It's wider than than the widest and thinner than the thinnest. One can meditate and understand the base as sky to have all the thoughts as nothing but thoughts!

[Roger]

Devank,

Have you watched Sky King? This program on tv has a wealth of information.

[Mike Williams]

Hi grandmaster Devank ,

If one does not personalize impersonal
thoughts ..............

WHO will be left to do action ?