Too Religious

Somewhere smack in the late middle of this podcast on the mindfulness of breathing by Alan Wallace he starts talking about the bardo. If you’re not up on Tibetan Buddhism, the bardo, as I understand it, is the limbo where the soul (or whatever you want to call it) exists in the 49 days following death, before it goes on to its rebirth.

Generally, I’m used to the type of nightstand (some call it “consensus Buddhism” — where Westerners pick out the parts they don’t like) Buddhism where people don’t get into the karma or rebirth thing, because it’s generally not what people come for. But out in Phuket, this kind of talk might play a little differently. But I was in my living room. So it kind of took me aback.

For my very subjective money, the karma and rebirth thing is where Buddhism just starts to look like every other religion and offers you the panacea of a better life in some not-now future. It starts to be precipitously much less interesting. I was turned off. I’ll probably return to this series of podcasts at some point, though. As there’s lots of good stuff. But for now I need an extended break, I think.

I’ve just wrangled a free (or fee reduced) spot in another meditation class, which is nice because the thinking, thinking, thinking has been quite relentless lately, and I could use another perspective.

 

I Forgot to Turn Off the Buzz Saw

My routine has settled into one 45 minute morning meditation, often quite early, 4:45, 4:57, etc. The evening-late afternoon has fallen away for the moment. And lately it’s been tough going. For instance, this morning it was just back to the thoughts, back to the thoughts — only the most gross sensations of the abdomen rising and falling. Not until the last fifteen minutes or so, did I get a nice subtle sensation of the breath leaving the nostrils, and stay with it.

Reminds me of something Wallace (B. Alan) said about the mind. The analytical mind is a powerful tool, like a buzz saw. You wouldn’t just leave it on and put it back in your garage, or hang it from the side of your head while still running. When you’re done using it, it’s helpful to quiet it, if not turn it off completely. He said it better. I’ll find the link.

Perhaps this is because the running part of my life has taken over for the moment. Perhaps it’s just the usual ebb and flow. In any case, I need to get an afternoon meditation going again, soon.

Mapping the Territory, Not Monolithic

Have hardly touched the newer books, but continue to incorporate the Alan Wallace meditations in my sitting practice, though about half of them I’m doing in corpse pose. I thought I might fall asleep, lying down at 5 a.m., but it hasn’t happened yet. Dr. Wallace’s voice is quite alert, and his mind is vigorous. I am inspired by the number of meditative practices that are out there.

I have been fortunate to find a very good book that maps out much of the meditative territory, explaining the different meditative practices and how they relate to one another, support one another, which I shall share in a future post. The most basic example of this is simple “concentration” practices, as a prelude and support to “mindfulness” practices such as Vipasssana. Wallace is filling in some of the blanks. He focusses on the mindfulness of breathing meditation. Then he contrasts and supports by “settling the mind in its natural state,” or meditations on one of what some Buddhists have called the four immeasurables — meditations on qualities such as lovingkindness, compassion, empathetic joy — and so forth (sorry, I don’t know my immeasurables!)

I am struck by how alert and precise these practices are in their focus. There is no room for spacing out or becoming groggy, though of course, this happens from time to time — but within the practices there are precautions against slipping into the mush.

It reminds me of a passing crack the Dalai Lama’s brother made about zen meditators in the Pico Iyer book (short review: can’t really recommend, but interesting) — he called them “those vegetables in Japan!” Of course, this is probably not fair, but it illuminates that neither the practices, nor the communities are monolithic.

Corpse Pose for Insomnia?

 

These are the latest from the library. Excited about both of them.

Continuing to drink in several of the guided meditations from the previous post, from the B. Alan Wallace spring 2012 retreat. Amazing, that for free, one can get well over 40 hours of high quality instruction and meditations. Truly phenomenal. Wallace asks that one at least try savassana (corpse pose) for some of these shamatha (or concentration) meditations. I did. And was pleasantly surprised that I did not drift off to sleep. I find that the techniques Wallace follows lead to a rather subtle meditation. Very nice. Quite likely this is just where I am right now.

It is remarkable to me, though, that given a scarcity of work and with depression apparently in the offing on several occasions, I have not succumbed. I attribute this to both my meditation and the running. A good regimen.

As an additional bonus, having sampled from a somewhat evil bottle of aromatic liqueur, Creme de Violette (or whatever it was called) and then found that I woke up at 2:30 a.m. wide awake, and the bonus being I found that the Mindfulness of Breathing meditation, done in corpse pose, was pleasantly refreshing. It certainly beats thrashing around in frustration at not being able to sleep.

Mindfulness of Breathing Meditation, with Commentary

 

In my click clicking I somehow got on the trail of Alan Wallace, a meditation teacher you’ve probably come across at some point. This meditation, which I just now tried, worked really well for me. It’s done lying down. It’s just a basic introduction to the Shamatha practice, a basic concentration practice that is very useful as a precursor to Vipassana practice, as far as my rudimentary understanding of the useful sequence of practices goes.

It’s interesting how the knowledge and even just the turn of phrase of one meditation instructor can make such a difference in the felt experience of the meditation. I think I’ll be following along with a lot of these. Recommended.

You can find the site here. It’s also on iTunes. There, within the Spring 2012 Shamatha Retreat it’s track #92, but is named “3 Mindfulness of Breathing.” The meditation proper starts at 9:05, and lasts a little over 20 minutes.

It remains amazing to me the wealth of what you can find on the internet!