On Aug 1, 2009, at 10:30 PM, It's just a ride wrote:
On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 3:11 PM,
satvadude108<[email protected]> wrote:
>
> When I took instruction in Mindfullness meditation in '07
> I arbitrarily decided to discontinue my TM. The seeds of
> the old brainwashing still have some life I guess. A few
> months ago, about a year after Mindfullness instruction,
> I began TM again. Practicing them both is neither a strain
> nor a conflict and I realize now that a hiatus of one to learn
> the other was completely unnecessary. I can't quite put my
> finger on it, but there is something very complimentary about
> TM and mindfullness/vipassana practice. As I continue my
> practice I expect that my feelings about that will clarify itself.
> I am glad I have both.
>
IMO Mindfullness meditation is a bit like the first Chopra technique,
the one where the mantra comes out of the heart and then during lie
down you feel the bliss in the body. After having meditated and
performed TMSP for a long time, the habit of taking it as it comes and
going back to the mantra/self is firmly ingrained. From there you
just have to decide if you're going to think the mantra/be aware of
the self (TM/TMSP) or be mindful and pull yourself back when you get
pulled away from being mindful. Being an "expert" in TM/TMSP
technique, mindfulness comes so easily and naturally.
Mindfullness does complement TM/TMSP. You're always trying to get
away from yourself and drop into the Self with TM/TMSP. TM/TMSP is
all about constriction. It's refreshing to just be, just let
sensations, thoughts and emotions be.
Well of course mindfulness of mantra or 'waiting for the mantra' is a
natural and important part of TM. IMO what has squelched the
development of mindfulness in TM is NOT the lack of mindfulness in the
technique, but instead the institutionalization of the fear of not
being effortless.
Of course it's also important to point out that mindfulness and
calmness/transcendence/shamatha are different meditative processes and
different ways of working with consciousness/mind. From the POV of
Buddhist meditation, they are not ultimately separate and definitely
not exclusive but can actually be unified--the union of transcendence
and mindfulness--which for some paths is the perfect gateway to a
nondual pointing-out.
