Buddhist Practice Is Not For Spacing Out

[senseless virtue]

Buddhist Practice Is Not For Spacing Out

 

Buddhism is very keen on emptiness and unselfishness (non-self), but it's not spaced out or navel gazing hippie spirituality. Why?

 

Buddhism teaches that there are two merits to be accumulated: the merit of virtue & the merit of emptiness. The former requires compassionate action and true altruistic love for others because only these realize what is truly unselfish behavior. This is where many people — especially the self-initiated Western folk — interested in internal cultivation get a failing grade: they simply disregard perfecting conduct as a supplement at best or as a needless annoyance at worst. You wouldn't find any traditional Buddhist teacher supporting such disregarding notions.

 

People who claim to understand about abiding in emptiness might just get swallowed by a false impression instead. I have seen quite a few Western yogis (even more abundantly outside of this forum) who claim to attainments and speak of their self-grasping having diminished, but neither do their conduct nor yogic accomplishments align with the traditional criteria at all. Who is fooling whom?

 

No virtue, no bodhicitta, thus no advancing in the two accumulations. For those who wish to practice the Buddhist way: Don't go cherry picking what is easy or you may end up doing the spiritual equivalent of glue huffing or sniffing farts and thinking yourself really civilized and top of the game. Please have some grounded skepticism instead and try not to be impressed by any appearance of "emptiness" because that itself would also be another illusion.

[Straybird]

its true and i totally agree with you.

[taoguy]

http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2007/03/thusnesss-six-stages-of-experience.html

http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/2022/06/the-awakening-to-reality-practice-guide.html

 

These are all you need for authentic buddhist practice.

[Mark Foote]

On 6/29/2022 at 12:22 AM, senseless virtue said:

 

Buddhism is very keen on emptiness and unselfishness (non-self), but it's not spaced out or navel gazing hippie spirituality. Why?

 

 

Gautama spoke about the induction of concentration:
 

Making self surrender the object of thought, one lays hold of concentration, one lays hold of one-pointedness of mind.

 

(SN V 200, Pali Text Society Vol. V p 176)

 

“One-pointedness of mind” could mean the steady focus of attention on some particular object, as Zen teacher koun Franz outlined:

 

Okay… So, have your hands in the cosmic mudra, palms up, thumbs touching, and there’s this common instruction: place your mind here. Different people interpret this differently. Some people will say this means to place your attention here, meaning to keep your attention on your hands. It’s a way of turning the lens to where you are in space so that you’re not looking out here and out here and out here. It’s the positive version, perhaps, of ‘navel gazing’.

 

(“No Struggle [Zazen Yojinki, Part 6]”, by Koun Franz, from the “Nyoho Zen” site, emphasis added)

 

However, a steady focus of attention on some particular object is not the only way to interpret “place your mind here”:
 

The other way to understand this is to literally place your mind where your hands are–to relocate mind (let’s not say your mind) to your centre of gravity, so that mind is operating from a place other than your brain. Some traditions take this very seriously, this idea of moving your consciousness around the body. I wouldn’t recommend dedicating your life to it, but as an experiment, I recommend trying it, sitting in this posture and trying to feel what it’s like to let your mind, to let the base of your consciousness, move away from your head. One thing you’ll find, or that I have found, at least, is that you can’t will it to happen, because you’re willing it from your head. To the extent that you can do it, it’s an act of letting go–and a fascinating one.

 

(Ibid)

 

Most people can concentrate their attention on their hands, and they don’t need to make self-surrender the object of their thought in order to do so. However, as koun Franz pointed out, some surrender of personal agency is required in order for “the base of consciousness” to shift location.

 

Kobun Chino Otogawa spoke of opening up the range of the senses:

 

When you sit, the cushion sits with you. If you wear glasses, the glasses sit with you. Clothing sits with you. House sits with you. People who are moving around outside all sit with you. They don’t take the sitting posture!

 

( “Aspects of Sitting Meditation”, “Shikantaza”; Kobun Chino Otogawa; jikoji.org at http://www.jikoji.org/intro-aspects/)

 

The range of the senses, and possibly what lies beyond the conscious range of the senses (“people who are moving around outside”), enters into "(letting) the base of your consciousness... move away from your head".

More from Kobun:
 

Sitting on your cushion is not relaxation, it is the result of all your knowledge. Every experience you have come through sits there each time. It is very serious. Otherwise, you sit because it feels good, and you are comfortable, and once in a while you feel an ecstatic sensation in your body. You feel calmness, stillness, clarity, and forget there are hungry people on this earth. You forget there are lots of diseases which are killing people. If you do not observe that in your sitting, you are just escaping into your desire. It happens if you mistake or limit the focus of your sitting practice. 

 

(Ibid)
 

 

A different take on emptiness and unselfishness in practice, perhaps?

Edited February 17, 2023 by Mark Foote

[Tommy]

On 2/17/2023 at 1:04 PM, Mark Foote said:

 

Gautama spoke about the induction of concentration:
 

Making self surrender the object of thought, one lays hold of concentration, one lays hold of one-pointedness of mind.

I think it is important to know when this happens and the result from thing happening as this lays the foundation of putting things in order. If one spends sometime in self observation then one can watch as the emotions rush to the front and the thoughts follow to support the emotions. This becomes the identity. As one loses the attachment, the emotions control one less and less. More order. One may focus upon the actions and their intents, this becomes a way of keeping aware. Mindfulness. And it begins when one has one-pointedness of mind. Putting the mind in order ... of not identifying with thoughts allows one to grow. Growth or the journey is dependent upon the person and grace. Some wallow in emptiness and others reach the other shore.

 

Damn, did I just rant again? I must be losing my mind. Could it be my dementia is catching up with me??

[Mark Foote]

On 7/30/2024 at 7:34 PM, Tommy said:

I think it is important to know when this happens and the result from thing happening as this lays the foundation of putting things in order. If one spends sometime in self observation then one can watch as the emotions rush to the front and the thoughts follow to support the emotions. This becomes the identity. As one loses the attachment, the emotions control one less and less. More order. One may focus upon the actions and their intents, this becomes a way of keeping aware. Mindfulness. And it begins when one has one-pointedness of mind. Putting the mind in order ... of not identifying with thoughts allows one to grow. Growth or the journey is dependent upon the person and grace. Some wallow in emptiness and others reach the other shore.

 

Damn, did I just rant again? I must be losing my mind. Could it be my dementia is catching up with me??
 

 

 

There's a lot of debate as to what Gautama meant by "one-pointedness".  My take is that necessity in the movement of breath can place attention, can place consciousness, and the feeling of location associated with consciousness as consciousness is placed is one-pointed. 

 

A presence of mind with the location of consciousness as that location shifts and moves allows the automatic activity of the body to begin to coordinate based on the location of consciousness.  That can become the automatic activity of the body solely by virtue of the location of consciousness, provided there is not one particle of the body that cannot receive the free placement of consciousness. 

 

The automatic activity of the body in inhalation and exhalation, by virtue of the free location of consciousness.  A thing to touch on.

 

 

 

[idiot_stimpy]

It is a good point to raise. There may be confusion between resting in the nature of mind and spacing out, or having trouble seeing the difference between the two. 

 

Quote

Just as the brilliance of sunlight increases when it refracts and reflects on turbulent waters, emotions and thoughts proliferate in an agitated mind; attempting to stop thoughts simply will not work. However, when the waters are no longer agitated but settled and calm, the reflection of the light-rays will decrease. Just like that, allow the mind, which is the source, to settle calmly without mental agitation.

Don’t forget this experience, but rather use an uninterrupted flow of mindfulness and alertness to remain within the natural [empty-clear] calmness of mind – focused and fresh.

If there is an experience of blankness, relax into its natural calmness.
If there is an experience of intense clarity, relax into its natural calmness.
If there is an experience of mind going wild and giving rise to many thoughts, relax into its natural calmness.
In the naked, direct experience of whatever there is in that moment, simply relax, no matter what arises.

When these experiences of blankness, clarity and thought arise, recognize them, but don’t follow or chase after them. Simply rest within the space that is the recognition of their nature.

With familiarity this [recognition] will last longer and longer. Allow any analysis or coarse thinking to subside in its own place.
On occasion, the mind may appear dull and devoid of all movement [of thought]. Clear this drowsiness and simply rest.
At other times the mind may seem as if full of movement – giving rise to all kinds of thoughts. At such times, since the movements are none other than mind, look into its nature and relax

Don’t try to prolong the experience that follows movement but stand your ground. Thought will naturally subside, and you’ll come to see how agitation, calmness, or even strong feelings and emotions are all on the surface of mind – relax into its depths.
Placing mind within your heart or simply letting your mind be, these are essentially the same. The key point is to relax the mind. When mindful, the knots of thought will untie in and of themselves. [Just as a snake can loosen knots in its body without relying on another, mind, when left to rest genuinely, frees itself.

Written by Mipam during the third part of the sixth day of the second month in the year of the Fire Horse.
| Translated by Sean Price, 2019. The headings were added by Khen Rinpoche Yeshe Gyaltsen for the sake of clarity.

 

 

Highlighted the above that the mind can feel dull. I have heard in Zen someone call it dead tree Zen, whereby the mind becomes ridged and inflexible, devoid of anything. In contrast a mind that is supple, awake, focused and fresh is found when the spaceout state is cleared.

Edited August 4 by idiot_stimpy