There is a worship of non-feeling, in many meditation centers. I suppose this jives with the physical appearance of a person sitting, or with the ideas of "calm" or "relaxation, which many people associate with meditation.
But you can at least ask the question:
Which way does meditation lead? Towards less feeling, or toward more?
Meditation isn't really the point. So, I suppose a better way of putting it is:
In his life, which way did Goatama Buddha go? Towards a life rich in deep feeling, or away from such a life?
Because, these are obviously opposite directions.
In my last retreat out here in Thailand, the British teacher offered a view on the "flower sermon". In that story, Buddha, addressing his audience, silently held up a single flower.
That's all Buddha did.
After that, this became known as the "Flower Sermon", with capital letters and everything.
Sometimes the story is told that Buddha's action was in response to a question: What is "insight?" or "what is Buddha?" Buddha answers this question by holding up the flower.
This British monk her on Koh Samuii has been teaching meditation for 20 years or so. He is somewhat well known.
His take on the story was that, once you "see things as they really are", you come to understand that the flower is simply a "process of nature". You are emotionally unmoved. You see that what we call a "flower" is just a collection of molecules, interacting -- same as everything else. It is nothing to get excited about.
He elaborated on this view, at length, and used an example of dogs to point out the follies of lesser minds. Dogs are playful and good-natured. They have no mental discipline. Their pleasure-seeking illustrates a low mind-state.
This is always hard for me to listen to.
Do we sit to become Vulcans? Or, worse, inert, statue-like beings of minimal interest in the world around us?
Who in their right mind would ever wish NOT to enjoy watching two puppies play?
I sit in Thailand because it is cheap. I offer about 200 baht a day in the monasteries here, during silent retreat -- about seven bucks a day. That's considered normal, among the Thais. Some people give more, but I've found that 200 baht a day seems "right", to me. The places I have visited that set a price for a retreat charge about 200 baht a day, if y ou do the calculation. That's where I got the number.
I do so many of them. I can't pay 1000 bucks for a week, like in Europe, or 600 (or so) in the States.
But, like I said, it is hard for me, sometimes, listening to the teachers.
I would prefer if the retreats were completely silent, or if the monks spoke in Thai, so I would not be able to understand.
This British monk never had a real experience. He never found the true self. That is obvious from his interpretation of this flower story.
That is OK, I guess.
But what is not OK is this worship of non-feeling -- this view that "real insight" is a state of living death, devoid of intersting of (gasp!) pleasurable sensation, and devoid of happiness or sadness.
This is actually an extremely common view, in the meditative practices. (see the soldier-like Japanese Zen stoics, always serious, never laughing).
In some places, it is taken to extreme, as though the ideal expression of "selflessness" is a man operating under no emotional process of his own -- a perfect soldier :
I have to mention, again, the corruption in modern Western Zen monasteries, and the stories of the women who reported the monks basically shrugging their shoulders when the women tried to report how their "master" was behaving. I lived through some of these ugly times. Maybe this is why I think it is important to write about these things, when I see them, even way over here, in Thailand.
This is a very sad thing, for me -- this teaching of non-feeling, because it is difficult to talk about, and part of the reason it is difficult to talk about is because most people are very removed from their deepest feelings. Most people have "grown up", and gone on to the ever-important practicalities of (what they call) real life. The deepest feelings are ignored, and the deepest dreams are forgotten. For many, that's just part of getting older.
You don't chase your dreams. Nice thought, but hey, we're adults now.
But, actually, "deepest feelings" is the most important thing, in meditation. The whole point is the feeling, and shining out, of compassion. There is not another point, really.
People talk about "insight". But real, heartfelt compassion and "insight" are really the same thing.
Somebody once wrote "Love is knowing what to do". This is the only way you "know what to do". This is how the second monk knew to carry the pretty woman across the river, in the old Zen story. This is how you understand, moment by moment, the real needs of those around you. This is "selflessness".
But you can at least ask the question:
Which way does meditation lead? Towards less feeling, or toward more?
Meditation isn't really the point. So, I suppose a better way of putting it is:
In his life, which way did Goatama Buddha go? Towards a life rich in deep feeling, or away from such a life?
Because, these are obviously opposite directions.
In my last retreat out here in Thailand, the British teacher offered a view on the "flower sermon". In that story, Buddha, addressing his audience, silently held up a single flower.
That's all Buddha did.
After that, this became known as the "Flower Sermon", with capital letters and everything.
Sometimes the story is told that Buddha's action was in response to a question: What is "insight?" or "what is Buddha?" Buddha answers this question by holding up the flower.
This British monk her on Koh Samuii has been teaching meditation for 20 years or so. He is somewhat well known.
His take on the story was that, once you "see things as they really are", you come to understand that the flower is simply a "process of nature". You are emotionally unmoved. You see that what we call a "flower" is just a collection of molecules, interacting -- same as everything else. It is nothing to get excited about.
He elaborated on this view, at length, and used an example of dogs to point out the follies of lesser minds. Dogs are playful and good-natured. They have no mental discipline. Their pleasure-seeking illustrates a low mind-state.
This is always hard for me to listen to.
Do we sit to become Vulcans? Or, worse, inert, statue-like beings of minimal interest in the world around us?
Who in their right mind would ever wish NOT to enjoy watching two puppies play?
I sit in Thailand because it is cheap. I offer about 200 baht a day in the monasteries here, during silent retreat -- about seven bucks a day. That's considered normal, among the Thais. Some people give more, but I've found that 200 baht a day seems "right", to me. The places I have visited that set a price for a retreat charge about 200 baht a day, if y ou do the calculation. That's where I got the number.
I do so many of them. I can't pay 1000 bucks for a week, like in Europe, or 600 (or so) in the States.
But, like I said, it is hard for me, sometimes, listening to the teachers.
I would prefer if the retreats were completely silent, or if the monks spoke in Thai, so I would not be able to understand.
This British monk never had a real experience. He never found the true self. That is obvious from his interpretation of this flower story.
That is OK, I guess.
But what is not OK is this worship of non-feeling -- this view that "real insight" is a state of living death, devoid of intersting of (gasp!) pleasurable sensation, and devoid of happiness or sadness.
This is actually an extremely common view, in the meditative practices. (see the soldier-like Japanese Zen stoics, always serious, never laughing).
In some places, it is taken to extreme, as though the ideal expression of "selflessness" is a man operating under no emotional process of his own -- a perfect soldier :
"If
ordered to march: tramp, tramp or shoot: bang, bang. This is the
manifestation of the highest wisdom of enlightenment. - See more at:
http://adishakti.org/_/zen_at_war_a_book_review_by_josh_baran.htm#sthash.dL4cbUVa.dpuf
"If ordered to march, tramp tramp, or shoot: bang bang. This is the manifestation of the highest wisdom of enlightenment" - Zen Master Harada Daiun Sogaku, 1939
"If ordered to march: tramp, tramp or shoot: bang, bang. This is the
manifestation of the highest wisdom of enlightenment - See more at: http://adishakti.org/_/zen_at_war_a_book_review_by_josh_baran.htm#sthash.dL4cbUVa.dpuf
I have to mention, again, the corruption in modern Western Zen monasteries, and the stories of the women who reported the monks basically shrugging their shoulders when the women tried to report how their "master" was behaving. I lived through some of these ugly times. Maybe this is why I think it is important to write about these things, when I see them, even way over here, in Thailand.
This is a very sad thing, for me -- this teaching of non-feeling, because it is difficult to talk about, and part of the reason it is difficult to talk about is because most people are very removed from their deepest feelings. Most people have "grown up", and gone on to the ever-important practicalities of (what they call) real life. The deepest feelings are ignored, and the deepest dreams are forgotten. For many, that's just part of getting older.
You don't chase your dreams. Nice thought, but hey, we're adults now.
But, actually, "deepest feelings" is the most important thing, in meditation. The whole point is the feeling, and shining out, of compassion. There is not another point, really.
People talk about "insight". But real, heartfelt compassion and "insight" are really the same thing.
Somebody once wrote "Love is knowing what to do". This is the only way you "know what to do". This is how the second monk knew to carry the pretty woman across the river, in the old Zen story. This is how you understand, moment by moment, the real needs of those around you. This is "selflessness".
