doc benway

This is a wonderful segue to one of my favorite quotes from Jiddu: "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." He attacked the domination of mind and thought and referred to its transcendence in one of his book titles as, Freedom from the Known. By your definition Karl, I am psychotic. By mine, you are living in ignorance. Both are a part of the human condition. Here is a video teaching I recently watched which may appeal to some. One of my main practices is sleep yoga - this is a brief introduction to the practice and its objectives. It has some bearing on this discussion of the mind, thought, and its provenance, and how this relates to life, sleep, dream, and death. Here is something I recently stumbled on that may also be relevant to this thread. https://peaceandpolitics.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/reading-ayn-rand/

That's a good point and the bait can ultimately be real nourishment... The ego that worries won't ever be gone, but it will tells us that to scare us away; and enlightenment is still there... It is of the same taste

This is precisely why many Buddhist traditions introduce Vipassana only after the student has achieved some degree of mastery in Shamatha.

Anthony Demello offers a wonderful discussion of charity and selfishness in his CD series Wake Up to Life. It's an amazing series, highly recommended. He likes to boil charity down to 3 types - 1. I give myself the pleasure of pleasing myself 2. I give myself the pleasure of pleasing others 3. I avoid negative feelings by pleasing others Then, of course, there are selfless acts such as the person who jumps on the grenade to save his buddies. These are spontaneous acts that seem to be done through us without our interference.

Would you give your life for your child? Would you offer an organ to a sibling? When we begin to practice Bodhicitta, we begin with those closest to us. It's very easy. As we develop more sensitivity, we are able to extend that to an incrementally larger sphere of influence. Ultimately, the ideal is to include all living beings, even those you feel challenged by. Thank you for sharing your perspective. I consider it valid and your prerogative. I do not deny or belittle it. I do not ask you to change. It makes sense and you argue it well. It is not hogwash. You get to live your life as you see fit, as do I, and I applaud your commitment to your ideals.

Having the sense of 'my' destroys nothing, it only obscures. It is just that, as sense. A feeling and a tendency to ascribe the label of thinker to a particular flavor of thought. As I said in my original reply to roger, we will always live with the ego and that sense of 'me.' That is not unique, it is common to all individuals. That does not change the fact that all life is interconnected and mutually dependent on each other and their shared environment. Your inability or refusal to see that connection does not render it hogwash. As I've said before, you have tendency to negate others' views and experiences simply because they are outside of your limited scope of experience or do not comport with your model. It gives you the illusion that your philosophy is more powerful when in fact it is more limiting. I am pretending nothing.

Nor am I. I'm promoting nothing, just responding to roger's questions from my experience. Anyone can be like me because they already are. It's their thinking that's skewed. Yes, I grasp what you are saying, it is not a challenge. I can relate to what you discovered as I share that experience. You did not go far enough. You did not connect with anything deeper. It is still there, waiting, if you ever choose to look further. If not, that is fine. I'm not pushing anyone to do or believe anything, just sharing my view and experience. Your choice to indulge in objectivist philosophy is your prerogative and it is certainly an effective tool, as is thought in general - no doubt about that. My view is correct for me at this moment. It is reinforced by my personal experience. I acknowledge that others have different and equally valid points of view. I offer my view as one path that is working for me, nothing more.

Denial and more presumption. I'm not going to work too hard to debate as I suspect you are not interested in seeing an alternative perspective but rather dedicated to solidifying your own. As others have mentioned your MO is to modify or exaggerate another's statement and then argue against the corrupted position. None of us knows what the other experiences, particularly if there is no shared experience or frame of reference. The alacrity is a symptom of confidence born of practice, not belief - my apologies if that sounds arrogant.

You're quite good at putting words in my mouth and making inaccurate assumptions. Not so good at being open to the possibility that there are alternative perspectives that are as valid as your own. There are many different perspectives and many different ways to approach life. I do not offer my view as correct or better than anyone else's. I do not ask anyone to adopt it. I just offer it as my own.

Yes Your second question is a fallacy of presumption. I do not sacrifice my happiness for others sakes. I genuinely enrich my life through helping others. It can be argued on many levels but I have limited time and interest for argument so I'll mention only a few. Humanity is a social species. Our lives are enriched by connection. Isolation is difficult and extended, forced isolation is very traumatic. Connecting with and opening to others plays an important role in happiness. When we have a positive experience, we enjoying sharing it with others. When we are in a negative place, we benefit from the support of others. When we care for another living creature, it pains us to see them in pain, and it makes us happy to see them happy. This is empathy. At a social level we see disastrous consequences of loss of community. We see it in the high suicide rates in people who relocate from rural areas to cities. We see it in the scientific models that have shown addiction to be a direct result of social isolation rather than an inherent property of a chemical. When we focus solely on our own needs and desires, we limit ourselves. We are not open, we do not expose ourselves to anything different or new. We are stunted. We become selfish and defensive. We can see no possibility of there being a different way to be, to think, to act. We feel that we are at the center of the world, unique, and critically important. Growth requires openness and challenge. Interacting with others provides that challenge and opportunity. On a biological level, there is no such thing as an individual. The current trend in biological science is to look at systems - organism-environment systems. There has never been an organism without an environment. The two are inextricably interrelated, as are all living organisms and all environments. They are mutually dependent. The separation is artificial. Of course, there is an interplay of life and death but ultimately, if we care for our environment, if we care for each other, the synergistic effect is mutually supportive. If we exploit our environment and others, the result is less beneficial. On a spiritual level, engaging in practices that subjugate the self help to break down dysfunctional patterns, rigid concepts, and false understandings. This again leads to more openness, more opportunity to connect and grow. Only in the spiritual arena we are connecting with and exploring ourselves, at progressively deeper and more subtle levels. If we are persistent and fortunate, we may see ourselves in the world in a wholly fresh and unique way in which that connection, that interdependence, that synergy is felt deeply and directly. At this level, hurting another is felt exactly as if hurting oneself. Pleasing another is as fulfilling as pleasing oneself. It is uncontrived and spontaneous. That is Bodhicitta.

You will gain insight into the nature of your own mind and being and that of your environment. You will never "get it" from words, books, or explanations, the very essence of the insight is experiential. Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj summarizes it well in my signature quotation below but beware, these are just words. "Understanding" the words is like reading the menu, practicing vipassana to fruition is like enjoying the meal.

This is one of (if not) the largest Chinese martial arts tournaments on the East Coast. http://usksf.org/kuo-shu-championship-tournament-2/ There are taijiquan divisions for form (Yang, Chen, Chen Man Ching, other), weapons (jian, other), 2 man set, group form. There are competitions in restricted step and freestyle pushing hands. There are also divisions for other internal and external forms, light contact sparring, and lei tai (full contact fighting). It's a massive tournament and very well run. Next competition July 28-30, 2017.

Dear roger, JK seemed to be very sensitive to the potential for negative consequences of spiritual practices, what is often currently referred to as spiritual materialism. As mentioned above, I think was in part a reaction to the Theosophical Society. For me, his most important message was the admonition that we need to do more than follow, more than believe, more than think, more than expect someone else or some specific method or idea to change us. We need to look deeply into ourselves and see what is and find out for ourselves if there is anything beyond thought, beyond time. None of us will ever be fully without elements of our self, our ego. We may have an insight into our deeper nature and may even have varying degrees of direct experience of that, but as long as we are living people, the self will be an intimate part of our experience. So the place we must always start working is with that self, as it is. We must experience it directly, beyond the intervention of the thinking, labelling, judging mind. If we are dedicated and persistent, if we have enormous energy (as JK used to say), we will see for ourselves what is true. Where I disagree with him is regarding paths. Perhaps his most famous quote - Truth is a Pathless Land. We all follow paths in our lives, many of them. His was a path, his many followers followed his teachings. Different people need different things at different times. It is true that there is nowhere to go, you are already there so there is no method or path to take you where you already are, and yet how many of us manifest enlightened qualities in our every waking and sleeping moment? As Peter Fenner says 'If I never did what I didn't need to do I wouldn't know I didn't need to do it.' We walk the paths we find ourselves on as long as we need to. I think they sometimes help us break through illusions and obstacles and can help bring us closer to truth. They can help break dysfunctional patterns and habits. As we walk these paths we should care about succeeding; we should use the illusion to help break through it. JK had us use the power of thought to try and transcend its limitations. Freedom from self does not mean there is no experience of self, it means to see it for what it is and to free oneself from overly identifying with it, riding its wave without realizing we can get off at any time. We are no longer slaves to the illusion that the one who thinks is substantial and independently existent. And yet we still experience life in all its splendor and pain. It is what we have in this life. So what to do with it? The Mahayana approach solves the problem of spiritual egoism and materialism through the teaching of Bodhicitta. The spiritual adept vows to achieve liberation specifically in order to liberate others. This is extremely sophisticated and beneficial on many levels. This is reinforced when the aspirant becomes an arhat and has direct contact with the nature of self and the direct experience of unconditional love. One cannot expect to liberate others from a position of ignorance and confusion therefore you must first cultivate and liberate yourself first. Not for selfish reasons but with the intention of continuing to work on behalf of other living creatures. If one liberates oneself for one's own sake only, that is a selfish act and the very nature of such an act is in direct conflict with the path as you point out. Anyway, I don't know if that helps at all but it's what occurs to me in this moment. Warm regards

How long have you been sitting? The body takes time to adjust to the posture. The mind takes time to adjust to the lack of stimulation. As we sit longer and the mind becomes more peaceful, it also becomes more sensitive. More and more subtle levels of awareness and distraction become manifest. Having confidence in the process is very helpful. It takes time and we all experience stress and pain along the way. Good luck!

It is not so much a problem that thought is inherently divisive and tends towards corruption. It is our identification with thought that is the problem. Thought is a very useful tool but identifying with it leads to confusion. Meditation is not a process of turning off thought, it is the freedom to allow thoughts to come, be as they are, and go... Certainly there are mental exercises designed to "turn off thought" but they simply serve the purpose of allowing us to cultivate a degree of control over attention (concentration) and allow us to experience the world as it is (just being) without the intervention of the illusory 'me' and its incessant inner ramblings. We will never be free of thought for more than a few moments or a few hours at a time. Once we are free of the identification with the inner voice, there is no need to try.

Of course, I think most people are confused, conflicted, or both. When you say that the way people act and treat each other has deteriorated, you are mostly referring to what the profit-driven media industry and other confused and conflicted people are sharing through social and mainstream media. On an individual level, things are far different. I can't say if things are getting better or worse over all but the one, and only, thing I can do is to be the embodiment of the change I want to see in my limited sphere of influence. If each and every one of us see and live that, there is hope. More importantly, it helps to ease the feelings of fear and helplessness. I strive to open my heart to others, whether or not they look, act, and believe as I do. I listen and try to understand rather than speak and try to change them. I have adopted kindness as my religion and civility as my political identity. I cultivate joy in helping others on their path, not mine. These things have helped to support my letting go of attachment which, as you have experienced and pointed out, will help you as you are helping others. For me, this is the way forward. Peace and blessings to you

I found this article to be interesting as it reflects the dark side of objectivist philosophy. While it is a brutally effective and internally consistent philosophy, I've always felt it was missing something important. This article fleshes out those concerns. I don't doubt some will find flaws in the arguments presented but the lack of heart and the lack of compassion at the core of Rand's world view cannot be denied, IMO. http://www.rawstory.com/2014/12/clinical-psychologist-explains-how-ayn-rand-helped-turn-the-us-into-a-selfish-and-greedy-nation/

Hi, friends!

Very interesting to read this excerpt. I share that perspective and experience of power and it has informed my cultivation practices for years. It is at odds with the approach of many practitioners and has gotten me criticized at times. Nevertheless, it is most consistent with my personal experience and makes the most sense to me. Thanks for bumping this, I must have missed it the first time around.

Wonderful, if you have that much experience I would recommend that you do the form and simply change direction as needed to accommodate the space you are in. It will be confusing at first. Just make sure that you use proper principles as you change direction, move forward, and move back. You can modify the form as well such as adding in side steps, shuffle steps, whatever is necessary, provided you stick to the basic principles. This could be a blessing in disguise as it will force you to make the form your own and develop some flexibility in how you think about it. Make the most out of your limitations and it can only improve your grasp on the form and it's unlimited potential.

What form do you practice? How long have you been practicing and how solid is your basic understanding of the principles?

I watched a film called Martyrs a few years back. I would not watch it today - it's extremely violent, graphic, and brutal. Nevertheless, it spoke to deep spiritual themes in an intelligent and insightful way, albeit horrific. Some will simply find it gratuitous and offensive. Caveat emptor

For me this doesn't need to be an either/or proposition. I have one foot firmly in the rational/scientific paradigm in my professional life. The other foot is equally firmly in the experiential/empirical paradigm in my meditation/martial arts practices. Both are equally valid and mutually supportive, rather than exclusive. Excluding either would limit my perspective and both are necessary to fully describe and enrich my life experience.

Yungdrung Bön

I suspect that vipassana practice is similar, whether you follow a more traditional Theravadan teacher or a progressive Insight Meditation teacher. I'm sure there is individual variation. I can't answer your more specific questions as I don't follow that tradition although I do believe that Goenke's approach does not embrace Shamatha whereas most Thervadan schools will teach Shamatha prior to Vipassana. PS - from my own experience, shamatha practice is extremely powerful and valuable, and I think it serves to lay a stable foundation for everything else, especially for those of us in the West with our complex and speed of light lives...