Since I no longer believe in looking upon life itself as a problem, I also have stopped viewing meditation as the solution to an existential problem.
If there's no need to be saved, I don't need salvation. If there's no need to be enlightened, I don't need enlightenment. If there's no original sin or past life karma, I don't need forgiveness.
Yet I still meditate every morning. Just like I exercise every day. And read every day. I enjoy meditation. It's interesting. I feel that it's good for my mind.
After looking upon meditation much more intensely and seriously for thirty years or so, now I take a simpler and gentler approach.
Pema Chodron has some good meditation tips in her book, "When Things Fall Apart." Here's excerpts from the Relax As It Is chapter.
When Trungpa Rinpoche first taught in the West, he told his students to simply open their minds and relax. If thoughts distracted them, they could simply let the thoughts dissolve and just come back to that open, relaxed state of mind.
...After a few years...He put more emphasis on posture and taught people to put very light attention to their out-breath. Later he said that the out-breath was as close as you could come to simply resting the mind in its natural open state and still have an object to which to return.
He emphasized that it should be just the ordinary out-breath, not manipulated in any way, and that the attention should be soft, a sort of touch-and-go approach.
He said that about 25 percent of the attention should be on the breath, so that one was still aware of one's surroundings and didn't consider them an intrusion or an obstacle to meditation.
...The point was not to try to achieve some special state or to transcend the sounds and movement of ordinary life. Rather we were encouraged to relax more completely with our environment and to appreciate the world around us and the ordinary truth that takes place in every moment.
...In this case, the out-breath is the object of meditation -- the elusive, fluid, everchanging out-breath, ungraspable and yet continuously arising. When you breath in, it's like a pause or a gap. There is nothing particular to do except wait for the next out-breath.
...That was the first time I realized that built right into the instruction was the opportunity to completely let go.
I'd heard Zen teachers talk of meditation as the willingness to die over and over again. And there it was -- as each breath went out and dissolved, there was the chance to die to all that had gone before and to relax instead of panic.
...So right from the beginning it's helpful to always remind yourself that meditation is about opening and relaxing with whatever arises, without picking and choosing. It's definitely not meant to repress anything, and it's not intended to encourage grasping, either.
...So as meditators we might as well stop struggling against our thoughts and realize that honesty and humor are far more inspiring and helpful than any kind of solemn religious striving for or against anything.
...Ultimately it comes down to the question of just how willing we are to lighten up and loosen our grip. How honest do we want to be with ourselves?
I heard that Gurindher Singh has throat cancer. Any recent developments? Is he going for surgery?
Posted by: G.K. | December 15, 2013 at 02:16 AM
Sounds like my kind of meditation, simple and natural. I do meditate every morning - and also at other times when I remember. Yes, not to be in a state of expectation, to just be with whatever arises is well - experiencing life I guess.
And as for looking on life as a problem, again, life is just what is happening. It may only require a less 'self orientated' viewpoint to get out of the 'life's a problem' trap.
Posted by: Turan | December 15, 2013 at 06:35 AM
And as for looking on life as a problem, again, life is just what is happening. It may only require a less 'self orientated' viewpoint to get out of the 'life's a problem' trap.
Yes, the need to be "less self-orientated" is undeniable, but if I believe I can be selfless, I meditate and accumulate nutty notions, endeavoring to rid myself of the ego, as if the ego and I were not one and the same.
We can't help but be self-orientated, so the question is whether I find anything real more interesting and compelling than me, or whether I believe I can be so enlightened as to be above it all.
Posted by: cc | December 15, 2013 at 11:37 AM
Yes cc, the ego is obviously a vital aspect of the mind where the concept of self emerges - all necessary and unavoidable functions I agree.
I know some do meditate for the reasons you give. We are naturally self-oriented but I don't think it is a question of finding "anything 'real' more interesting and compelling than me".
Meditation is (or perhaps should be) simply being attentive and it is interesting to notice how inattentive we can be - which is how fanciful notions of enlightenment and as you say, "being above it all" arise.
Interestingly, lack of attention to the information our brains absorb is perhaps where beliefs and concepts are allowed to fester.
Being less self-oriented is simply not seeing everything in terms of 'me'. Seeing the mountain is to see it in its own right - which means noticing when I am investing it with my own beliefs and opinions.
Posted by: Turan | December 16, 2013 at 01:49 AM
Sweet , gentle & lovingly
A point about the length :
In sexual arousements
people need a certain duration
to 'suddenly' come to an orgasm
That time may well be over 2 hours
of stimulation
It's clearly stated by so many mystics
that all chakras are aroused by repetition
But when the Crown Chakra opens
this is not for 15 seconds ejaculation
neither is it "gentle"
it's a thousand typhoons as a start
I think women are better placed
to compare
tip
place yourself and go on a creaky Wicker Chair with straight vertebrae
and nothing which is comfortable
next avoid any creaks - noise
Posted by: 777 | December 16, 2013 at 05:09 AM
G.K.,
You are a bit late. Read the following posts and the comments posted therein for detailed information on Gurinder Singh's throat cancer:
http://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/2013/11/december-visits-to-the-rssb-dera-cancelled-anyone-know-why.html
http://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/2013/12/when-a-supposedly-godly-guru-gets-sick-what-does-this-mean.html?cid=6a00d83451c0aa69e2019b025c8df9970c
Posted by: VVIP | December 17, 2013 at 12:54 AM
"It's clearly stated by so many mystics
that all chakras are aroused by repetition"
---This is a powerful piece of information. Now, living in Las Vegas, a sex friendly city, those many mystics sure are important persons to have around.
But, but how do I avoid any creaks - noise?
Posted by: Roger | December 17, 2013 at 09:58 AM