--- In [email protected], Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On Nov 24, 2008, at 8:40 AM, TurquoiseB wrote: > > > --- In [email protected], Vaj <vajradhatu@> wrote: > >> > >> On Nov 23, 2008, at 3:12 PM, Bhairitu wrote: > >> > >>> Unfortunately the movement often pushed meditating when > >>> people should have stopped for a while because they were > >>> burning out. Stopping would have allowed more progress. > >> > >> A crucial but often missed insight. > > > > Also, it is not to be overlooked that the *reason* > > the only advice the TMO gave was "Something good is > > happening" and "Keep meditating," or "Meditate more" > > is that they had *no other advice to give*. There > > was no mechanism in place (or even, as far as I > > could tell) with dealing with issues that commonly > > arise among meditators. > > > > The reason there was no such mechanism is that the > > dogma promoted about TM (that it was "100% life > > supporting" and could not *possibly* have any neg- > > ative side effects) made it counter-intuitive to > > have any remedy when those statements were proven > > false. > > And this is the danger of "canned" meditation checking procedures, > they ignore the fact that everything changes. So the minute you set > it into stone, it's already on the path to being obsolete. While > canned or mechanical learning can often cover a majority of student > meditators, there will always be a subset who could miss the correct > instruction. Less important when you're teaching just a few people, > but vitally important when your goal is to mass-produce meditators > who keep meditating. It's also the reason there is an advantage to > learning from an experienced meditation master or someone with a lot > of experience: they don't need to give pat answers from a memorized > list, they give answers based on the road they've already travelled. > > I recently was invited to attend a weekend basic training in > meditation with a close, life-long friend in the Shambhala tradition. > It was probably the most impressive basic meditation instruction I've > ever witnessed as the teacher was a 30+ year veteran who spoke from > his own considerable experience. They operate under the basic > assumption that intro meditation is the most difficult to teach so > the Shambhala people only authorize their most advanced teachers for > the first level. For a weekend starting with an open friday night > lecture with breakfast Saturday and Sunday, lunch on Saturday, > afternoon tea and a reception gourmet feast on graduation Sunday the > course was only 100 dollars. > > Most interesting was seeing the unity experiences people began having > right away, in that short weekend; young college students, college > professors, old folks, a blind lady with her guide dog. Lots of time > to interview privately with the teacher(s) and small group > discussions as well as along with the whole group. >
Yes, obviously MMY's MacMantra strategy never laid any mportant groundwork for others that came after him... Lawson
