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I have great respect for keeping it simple and I can see how Westerners can get into a spiritual ‘rat race’ where the eye is on the next hot technique. A mindset that is the very opposite of ‘be here now’.
I am just a beginer albeit a long time beginner(up to maybe Fusion) w/ the HT stuff. Personally I don’t believe in my vital organs having a Shen/God in them. But I think sending them a smile, does them good, probably a lot of good.
Circulating good feeling through my bodies orbit doesn’t take so long and does promote the body awareness that Tolle speaks of. Connecting my heart to the warmth of the sun, feeling Yin calmness while watching the moon.
I don’t think they’re done instead of emptiness meditation. Rather they create an after glow, that stays with me when I do Zazen and walk along the way.
Peace
Michael
Thanks. Every once in a while you read something that just feels right on the money. And for me, at this moment, that was it.
Thanks again.
00000 – I am just a beginer albeit a long time beginner(up to maybe Fusion) w/ the HT stuff. Personally I don’t believe in my vital organs having a Shen/God in them – 00000
Hey,
Agreed on this! This is BASELESS BELIEF in something which can never be proven or experienced. It is NOT DAO!!!
AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
Peace out!!!!
For the most part, a great article. I would like to comment on one passage.
…To be fair, it should also be pointed out that there are some teachers of the Taoist arts who warn that the mental manipulation of internal energies, channels, etc. is a dead-end. Their emphasis, beyond embodying desired attributes of virtue and morality, is to simply rest awareness in the body, initially in the lower Dantian, and allow the process of cultivation to proceed naturally and effortlessly. In their understanding, not only is this approach more consistent with principles of Wu Wei, it is also safer both physically and spiritually.…
I wouldn’t recommend resting your awareness on lower Dantian as it can enhance the problems for those with sexual disfunctions and sexually related addictions. And that applies to women as well as men.
Ah, but part II of my statement is that the organ thingies are vital, complex and do far more then we realize. Psychosomatic thinking produces real life, measurable changes.
I do think if I imagine my liver to be a beautiful green swamp, filtering, cleaning and a hot bed for life; it does have a positive affect on the organ. The heart even more so. Hell I didn’t even know where my liver was before.
The above article prominently mentions Eckhart Tolle. I have some of his books and tapes. He’s a great man. He’s brought enlightenment back to its simplest roots-Think less, Just Be-. His advice is indispensable for psycological enlightenment and its certainly repeated by many ‘masters’ every generation.
But people who meet him also say he is a very frail person. His aura and wa are full of peace, but his body seems weak.
There is a physical component to this enlightenment I want. I want vitality, longevity and family.
I may not have God/organs inside, but I do want to feel intimate w/ the universe I”m in. The HT philosophy seems to have a handle on it. If I spend a decade or so trying it out, I don’t think it will do me much harm.
The emptiness stuff is always there for me, ready to embrace me each moment. HT just sets a mood and gives me a vocabulary.
Peace in an out
Michael
“I wouldn’t recommend resting your awareness on lower Dantian as it can enhance the problems for those with sexual disfunctions and sexually related addictions. And that applies to women as well as men.”
I disagree. I think the sexual problems Max refers to can arise when you are engaged in genital stimulation combined with retention but don’t move the energy away from your lower parts (i.e., don’t circulated the energy and/or do other things to convert or dissipate it).
If you are not engaged in this sort of “sexual energy amping” then focus on the dan tien is largely a beneficial practice (though, as in all things, everything should be done with moderation and balance — occasional chi kung, massage and running of the orbit are reccomended).
Indeed, I’m surprised that Max of all people is critical of this practice since most of the zen buddhist meditation I’ve been taught has emphasized — along with empty mind and watching the breath — focus on the dan tien (e.g., Max, the Fire Lotus guys in brooklyn are all about focusing on the dan tien).
It’s also worth noting that, despite the myriad of different courses and techniques that Michael Winn markets, he has over the years moved to a greater appreaciation and emphasis on the dan tien as an area of focus. I’ve notice this with some of the other HT instructors as well.
Over all I consider it a pretty safe practice (particularly when compared to things like Iron Shirt or even the big draw).
Yes, Michael, you are right in what you are saying.
I’m also aware that a lot of practitioners have wet dreams or are addicted to masturbation. Resting their mind on dantian will only aggravate their problems. And so, one should be causious of the effects of this kind of concentration and be aware where the problem may araise from, if it happens at some point.
Some Buddhist schools use the body methods only at the beginner’s levels and only under a supervision of an experienced and wise master, and quickly shift to pure mind one-pointed concentration. Without a good teacher observing you all the time I wouldn’t recommend focusing anywhere on the body.
If one would like to use Buddhist methods and practice one pointed concentration, I would recommend concentration on the breath. If one wants to do breath, dantian and other things, the essence of what an empty mind meditation is all about is missing.
It’s like your question earlier about not being able to do emptiness meditation and Fusion at the same time. You either can do one or the other. Try to do both at the same time and you fail in both.
Metta.
Max in the Taoist Mehtod I use we foucus on the dan tien before going on to counting and eventually empty mind meditation, by foucusing on the Dan tien we can charge the area with Chi, once the body is energized we work towards and empty mind so that the Chi can flow through the entire body.
Max:
Please don’t be too sure that yours is the only way, or even the best.
You will waste time trying to convince others who should only be convinced by their own experience. Go meditate!The passage below I have anonymised slighly, but have changed nothing imporatant. It may help you with the idea that empty mind is not the only way up the mountain.
The three fundamental techniques taught in this practice:
1.Mindfulness of breathing (Anapana sati),
2.Awareness of the four elements in the breath and body (mindfulness of material states)
3. Mindfulness of the various body parts (Kayagatasati).
The third of these techniques is then expanded considerably from sutta teachings as the yogi is guided in developing mindfulness of the detailed cellular anatomy and the subtle systems of the body.
Why develop such a complete system of meditation on the body?
The reasons are twofold:
1.It enables us to dig out and heal all the dysfunctional energy stored and blocked within the body at its many levels. Thus we heal and make healthy the body as a support to higher and more rigorous meditation in the future. To develop high states of concentration & mindfulness requires tremendous energy, and we have to properly prepare the body to sustain such effort. It has become apparent from interviewing numerous practitioners of Vipassana meditation, that so many yogis make great initial progress and then get stuck, sometimes for years, without making much further headway. The reason for this is that the base of mind is not yet strong enough to overcome the deeper defilement, and the physical body cannot provide the energetic support that is required to break through. For this reason we must develop and build into our system stronger energetic pathways as a basis from which to progress.
2. The second reason for such a detailed investigation of the materiality of the body is simply explained by the words of the Buddha himself
He who has meditated upon and clearly comprehended the entire sphere of materiality will begin to understand and clearly comprehend mentality. If one tries to meditate on mentality before he has come to comprehend the entire sphere of materiality the meditator will fall from his practice as a mountain cow falls from the path on taking an unfamiliar route.
The knowledge of mind and matter and their producing causes is the first level of insight knowledge. It represents Samma Ditti (or right view). This is the first stage of the Buddhas eightfold noble path. Only once we have successfully established this view from our own investigation, can we consider ourselves ready to successfully practice Vipassana meditation.
Only then can we expect to meet with real success in our endeavour. As the nature of materiality becomes known to us, the nature of the mind reveals itself gradually. It is not enough simply to make the reflection that the materiality inside the body is impermanent and void of an inherent self. We have to diligently investigate all the various types of materiality, right down to the ultimate level (the four elements which make up every particle of matter). We have to observe the producing causes of this materiality (temperature, nutriment, consciousness and karma) and see that it is all conditioned. Only then can we finally come to know that it is all, without exception, impermanent and selfless. This then forms the first stage of right view – the other being the similarly exhaustive investigation of mental states.
Cheers
SIt may help you with the idea that empty mind is not the only way up the mountain.
Empty mind is a first step to see there is no mountain. When even the idea of “empty mind” is gone, you will be on the right track. Until then, we are just playing semantics. But we both like these spiritualized games, don’t we?
I can see that my game is not real. Can you say the same about yours?
Metta
Yes, but it’s not about briefly focusing on or bringing the energy to dantain. I was talking about a meditation technique where you hold your one pointed concentration on one physical point in the body for a long period of time- 30 minutes and up- on a regular basis (every day).
Thelerner,
I don’t believe the organs gods are independent of my mind either, but then again I don’t really believe any god is. I do think that anthropomorphising *anything* is a powerful way to develop a deeper full-body relationship with it. Which is a major reason I love and use Winn’s shen theory even though I don’t take it literally.
Language probably evolved first as a means of communicating with the tribe. Slowly this external language became internalized as a method of communication between our own neuro/biological processes which eventually gave rise to a more or less unified experience of self, ie: inner dialogue. But we are still probably much more sophisticated at communicating with what we at least temporarily believe are sentient beings than we are in manipulating symbols, because we have doing the former much longer. Breathing colors and moving symbols in and out of my organs definitely has power. But it’s quickly capable of being handled entirely by basic cerebral processes. Whereas when I let myself believe for a moment that there is a living God inside ie: my Kidney, and that I am in it’s Divine Presence, it draws way more into the interaction than just one part of my brain.
🙂
Just my two cents.
Sean.
He who has meditated upon and clearly comprehended the entire sphere of materiality will begin to understand and clearly comprehend mentality. If one tries to meditate on mentality before he has come to comprehend the entire sphere of materiality the meditator will fall from his practice as a mountain cow falls from the path on taking an unfamiliar route.
– The Buddha
All just semantics? Seems direct enough to me. But then I have no claims to make about the state of my game. All I wish to state is that you have spent at most, a year following the instructions of Nan and Bodri, and yet you talk as if you have the authority to make pronouncements of truth. Does everything you say come from your own experience? Is your meditation really progressing that well? Or are you parotting other people’s words, however sincerely?
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