On May 27, 2009, at 10:58 AM, Richard J. Williams wrote:
Hardly anyone practices these outdated Theravada
'samatha' practices anymore, Vaj, ever since Zen
Master Dogen revolutionized Buddhist meditation
practices for the Mahayana. There are millions
of people that practice Zen meditation in Japan,
Korea, South Vietnam and in China and the U.S.
and Europe.
Again Richard, you sound really confused. I think the books you read
are just confusing you.
Groups of leading scientists in the US vie for the course held here
in New England every year, and many claim it has changed their lives.
Goenka's courses have been so popular they been sold out well in
advance, which has been going on for years. The New England and
Maritime vipassana centers often have waiting lists which even are
filled! In the US and Europe vipassana is also taught at most major
medical centers and a lot of minor ones too. The Mindfulness Based
Stress Reduction (MBSR) 8-week course not only continues to be very
popular but scientific and peer reviewed articles are growing almost
logarithmically. MBCT is reimbursed by some insurance companies
because it's been scientifically shown to not only help with
depression, because it changes the brain, people tend not to relapse
Willy.
I'm glad you brought up shamatha too Willy since TM is a form of
shamatha. There's a big upsurge in interest in that form of
meditation as well, esp. since the guys and gals in the Shamatha
Project were regularly transcending for hours at a time, and emerging
refreshed. That really piqued a lot of peoples interest. Some people
are even calling it "the attention revolution" based on the book of
the same name.
Heck some wealthy German is even building a retreat center in
Thailand just for the practice!
Check out these podcasts Willy, you sound like you need an update:
http://personallifemedia.com/podcasts/236-buddhist-geeks/episodes/
3664-reverberations-shamatha
LINK
http://www.fallingfruit.tv/episodes/unwavering-samadhi-meditative-
achievement-and-its-impact-world
LINK
