Art Print
De Bourgies,…
Buy at AllPosters.com
|
||||||
|
In consideration of the question I have been working with: “what does it mean to be a spiritual warrior?” I came across the following concepts in search of a way to work with what I noticed were feelings of aggression in myself. Let me be clear my friends, feelings come up for the purposes of teaching, so it is with an open embrace that the mindful warrior works with them. I found the following philosophical ideas magically insightful and worthy of deep contemplation. Take a moment to read them, I found them at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shambhala_Buddhism “The motto of the Dorje Kasung is “Victory over War”. Roughly the idea is to overcome aggression in all its forms. A fundamental aspect of the practice is working with the reality that aggression can exist in oneself and the world. The Dorje Kasung use various practices and attitudes based on ancient Buddhism to work with one’s own mind and learn how to defuse or possibly transmute aggression when it arises in oneself or in others. The philosophy of the Dorje Kasung is expressed in eight slogans, written by Trungpa Rinpoche for memorization. 1. Have confidence to go beyond hesitation. I would like to offer a few brief reflections on a few of these points and describe how mindfulness meditation and yoga asana practice can promote these qualities. 1. Have confidence to go beyond hesitation Imagine yourself having a hard day, perhaps a day that would rank, say 8 on a stress scale out of 10. My guess is that the last thing you may want to do is to sit still in quiet meditation. For sitting quietly may provide an opportunity for all of the stressful thoughts to arise in your consciousness. To sit courageously with all of these thoughts without distracting oneself away from by such tactics as thinking about something else, drinking caffeine or alcohol, or eating your favorite dessert is a great challenge. It is by sitting that you build confience, for if you can sit with these difficult thoughts and feelings you will eventually have the (what psychology calls) affect tolerance to move beyond your “hesitations”. Hesitations can be defined in terms of everyday life, maybe you are hesitating to change careers, or maybe you are hesitating to ask out that amazing love interest. In terms of spiritual practice, hesitation can refer to sitting for 40 mins instead of 30, or giving a try at a headstand on the yoga mat. Building up confidence is a result of sitting and asana. With practice, little by little, you can move beyond even your wildest dreams. 2. Alert before you daydream. What is the state of “alertness”, is this being alarmed? Or is it more like being awake. In the context of this paper, I am concentrating on the latter interpretation. To be awake is to be present and alive. One can be alive and not be present- this is what has been called “automatic pilot” (this term is defined in earlier essays). Aliveness then, has to do with being connected to one’s thoughts, feelings, and body, somatic experience. To be aware of the connection between the various components of this constellation. “I did not get the promotion I wanted” – this particular thought is linked up with the particular feeling of frustration or envy, and tends to also share direct relationship with a somatic experience of a tight jam and clenched fists. Even though these feelings may be undesirable, having the awareness of the chain of reaction creates an opportunity to choose a different response. This contextualizes being alert in this essay. The opposite is to daydream. Daydreaming here would be to be unaware of the reactions one has to not receiving the promotion. This is a dangerous mode of being because one is not presented with the choice of a new response because of the ingrained reaction pattern. It is dangerous because the physiology is harmful to long term health and well-being and may lead to physical ailment. 3. Mindful of all details, be resourceful in performing your duties. 4. Fearless beyond idiot compassion “Idiot compassion”, what a striking notion. This is very important on the spiritual path and I have come to understand things. It is dangerous just to throw “idiot compassion” at every situation, for you run the risk of enabling other people to perpetuate pathologies or acts of bad karma, you are in a sense letting them create further samskaras on this particular journey, which will bear significant influence on their future. Sometimes it is your dharma to step in lovingly and simply say “stop it” or “that is not ok”. this is a path to liberation for you and for others. Spend similar reflective time with each of the others and record your experience in a journal. Namaste and Jai! From Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Full Catastrophe Living: “…if you sit down to meditate and you think, “I am going to get relaxed, or get enlightened, or control my pain, or become a better person,” then you have introduced an idea into your mind of where you should be, and along with it comes the notion that you are not okay right now. “If I were only more calm or more intelligent, or a harder worker, or more this or more that, if only my heart were healthier or my knee were better, then I would be okay. But right now, I am not okay.” p. 37 of the 1990 version of FCL Jon continues to write “This attitude undermine the cultivation of mindfulness, which involves simply paying attention to whatever is happening. If you are in pain, then be with the pain as best you can. If you are criticizing yourself, then observe the activity of the judging mind. Just watch. Remember, we are simply allowing anything and everything that we experience from moment to moment to be here, because it already is.” p. 37 of the 1990 version of FCL In my view these are critical attitudinal stances one may take in the practice of mindfulness. It sounds so simple and I urge you to sit to realize the complexity of these. Namaste, john
“Mindfulness practice is simple and completely feasible. Just by sitting and doing nothing, we are doing a tremendous amount.” - Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche Mindfulness is an act of engaged present-moment awareness. This type of engagement on the meditation cushion can and likely will be translated into social action. By becoming aware of our thoughts, feelings, and body, it is more likely that we will take a more present and active role in our lives. I often hear that it is not necessary to sit and mindfulness can be achieved without the sitting practice. Certainly this is true in many respects, however the commitment to sitting, in my view, teaches us about ourselves and our world. Imagine sitting with intense emotions such as anger, or sadness, and choosing to remain seated on the cushion with them while they run their course- this is like emotional strength training. Spiritual practice can be challenging and invigorating. It is a gift to get to know oneself, for by knowing oneself, one can offer oneself to another, and ultimately to the Divine. This is the way of the spiritual warrior- facing the truths of one’s existence and going toward the hardship, the challenges, the ugliness and never forgetting that all is Spirit. We are all evolving and trusting that by sitting meditation and engaging in dedicated yoga practice (these are just a few of the ways toward the Ultimate) will bring us closer to the place inside where the Divine is seated. Namaste on a late Sunday night. Shanti, John This past week marked the first week in our second cycle of teaching MBSR. At the begining of the class, I believe it to be a good idea to return back to the basics, the foundations of mindfulness as taught in MBSR. There are seven foundations: 1. Beginners Mind 2. Letting Go 3. Trust/Self-Reliance 4. Non-judging 5. Non-striving 6. Acknowledgment (I would like to add Acceptance) 7. Patience Like the breath in sitting meditation, or in mindful hatha yoga, these foundations can serve as philosophical anchors. These anchors can provide a grounding from which one can open to one’s experience in the world. By committing to the embodiment of these foundations, one can move toward greater liberation from the clutches of suffering. Often times we unconsciously live our lives within the clutches of various subpersonalities or parts of ourselves that are fearful and out of this fear they greatly limit our capacity for creativity, self-acceptance, compassion, and honesty. Mindfulness can facilitate the continued attainment of these higher values through the effort one puts forward in formal practice. Sitting meditation, yoga, these practices open our own doors to ourselves and allow our true Self to emerge through the clouds, and even through the clouds our highest possibilities will shine through. Mindfulness helps to remove the veils separating us from All that there is. I refer to mindfulness as a simple practice. In my view, mindfulness is not about the extraordinary, rather it is about what is- which often times when closely examined is found to be extraordinary. Mindfulness is joy because it begins with an embrace, an embrace and welcoming of each arising moment. Starting each moment with an embrace increases the likelihood that the one holding the moment will do so with equality. That is, the moment will be held with an evenness that allows the moment to be viewed as it is, rather than prematurely shoved into a category such as “good” or “bad”. Mindfulness best describes experience as that which is, rather than that which should have been or should be, or ought to be. Mindfulness is radical acceptance, not selective acceptance. Mindfulness recognizes that desire creates suffering through the craving and longing for that which not is. Mindfulness is about accepting the past for what it is, rather than focusing on rewriting the past so that it is less hurtful. Mindfulness works through increasing awareness, and awareness is increased through following The Eightfold Path. Suffering can be worked with in this way.
If you stay in the mind and never exit the mind You can never get to know the mind For there is no contrast One who is all mind can never question mind Mind pervades The path to exit mind is spiritual and psychological work Deep inner work in relationship with environment In meditation mind is observed And thus mind becomes known In knowing mind, mind is seen to not be ruler Mind can take its role as servant To a much greater guide That guide is both within and without That guide is All Divine Divine is not separate Divine fills All of Life All Of Life is All One An essential question that comes up in mindfulness practice is the question of what to do with all the ‘stuff’ that comes up. Well, one way to work with all that ‘stuff’ in the practice is to just let it be. Letting it be does not mean “push it away!”, rather it means to continue to be with that which arises in experience in a gentle and nonjudgemental way from a place of unconditional acceptance. Mindfulness encourages radical acceptance, that is the complete acceptance of changing experience. The key word here is changing, it is about the acknowledgment of that the objects that arise in awareness are impermanant and will continue to evolve and transform into something else. This is an inevitable, thus if one can just let it be, one will naturally observe that experience, just like everything else is evolving and in flux. As the old saying goes, ‘this too shall pass’. Namaste. Next round of MBSR taught by Praveen Chopra & John Rettger begins July 9. See full flyer here: http://www.transpersonalstuff.org/cchwmbsr/july909web.htm or click here to link |
||||||
|
Copyright © 2012 Mindfulness at transpersonalstuff.org - All Rights Reserved |
||||||
