"Wind flag, mind moves, The same understanding. When the mouth opens All are wrong." - Mumon
On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 8:15 AM, Richard Williams <[email protected]>wrote: > Zen, Dzogchen and TM > > [image: Inline image 1] > > Inside the Shambhala Meditation Center, Boulder CO > > According to Beaulah Smith, I am TMer #214 in the U.S. I'm on the SIMS > list at 1015 Gayley in Westwood, CA. I have a receipt for $35 signed by > Jerry Jarvis. I had already completed a course in Japanese Judo at the Y > before I tried TM and I had also studied with a Mexican-American shaman for > four years (see my bio posted on Google Groups). When I realized how > effective TM was, I got interested in learning something more about > meditation techniques - the TM worked, but Iwanted to find out exactly what > I was doing. So, I went down to the Bodhi Tree bookstore and bought MMY's > books and a copy of Autobiography of a Yogi. The next year I moved to San > Francisco where I learned about Soto Zen by sitting with a roshi at the > SFZC. > > Also, about this time I started reading about Tibetan Yoga and secret > doctrines. I met a lama in Marin County who taught me how to perform the > Tibetan puja. Later in Boulder I learned to meditate at the Shambhala > Meditation Center. So, this is a report by a pracitioner and commentator > based on forty years of research and practice: > > So, let's sum up what we know: > > TM, or meditation that is transcendental, is based on thinking. It has > been described by MMY as "the experiencing of a thought, just like any > other thought, in finer and finer states, until the finest and most subtle > state of thought is experienced". This passing back and forth between the > gross and subtle states of thinking leads to a state where thought > naturally drops off altogether. When this happens the meditator is said to > be experiencing a state of restful alertness, a condition where the mind > enjoys just Being: no thought, no mental activity, just resting in a state > of mental equipoise. > > Are we agreed so far? > > At the subtlest level of creation is an unlimited reservoir of energy and > intelligence. MMY once said: "How to just Be? Stop being active, but don't > become passive!" > > There is an old Zen proverb: "Just sitting. Doing nothing." > > According Sogyal Rinpoche, in his great book, "The Tibetan Book of Living > and Dying", meditation is simply resting, undistracted, in the View, once > it has been introduced. His teacher Dudjom Rinpoche, once described > meditation as being attentive to a state of 'Rigpa', experiencing, free > from all mental constructions, whilst remaining fully relaxed, without any > distraction or grasping. "Meditation" states Rinpoche, "is not striving, > but naturally becoming assimilated into it." > > Meditation means simply to 'think things over'. We all meditate to a > certain degree already, and, we're transcending all the time. In fact, we > couldn't go through a single day without at least once or twice pausing to > take stock of our own mental mind-stuff. The problem is that we don't do > this in a very systematic manner. > > According to Sogyal Rinpoche, "At present our Rigpa is a little baby, > stranded on the battlefield of strong arising thoughts." The whole point of > Dzogchen meditation practice is to strengthen and stabilize Rigpa, and > allow it to grow to full maturity. What's needed is a way of tapping into > that Rigpa - the source of unlimited creativity and intelligence that lies > within. Dzogchen is that technique! > > My conclusion: > > TM is similar to Tibetan Dzogchen and Japanese Zen. Meditation is not what > you think: neither TM, Dzogchen, or Zen can bring enlightenment. The fact > is that you're not going to get any more enlightenment than you're going to > get. MMY has emphatically stated that TM is NOT the cause of the > enlightened state. Enlightenment is there already in a fully formed latent > state, ready to spring forth when the right opportunity presents itself. > All it needs is the ideal opportunity to reveal itself. Our Guru SBS, put > it this way: "Brahman is self-effulgent; it needs no other light to > illuminate it." Sogyal Rinpoche says: "I like to say we have to begin by > babysitting our Rigpa, in the secure environment of meditation." > > Suzuki Roshi instructed his students to "Just sit." This sitting IS > enlightenment. The point is that you can call your technique anything you > want to, TM, Dzogchen or Zen, or anything else, however, any technique > which provides the opportunity for transcending is a meditation that is > transcendental. Meditation is just what intelligent people do! > Work Cited: > > "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" > By Sogyal Rinpoche > HarperCollins, 2002 > p. 163 > > > On Sun, Jan 5, 2014 at 10:37 AM, Richard Williams <[email protected]>wrote: > >> According to the The Pali Canon, which is the oldest known teachings of >> the historical Buddha, meditation is mentioned numerous times. Other types >> of meditation taught by the Buddha are also found in the found in ancient >> commentary Visuddhimagga >> >> Practice in detail here: >> >> http://www.accesstoinsight.org/library/<http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/burns/wheel088.html#other> >> >> >> On Thu, Jan 2, 2014 at 10:14 AM, Richard Williams >> <[email protected]>wrote: >> >>> [image: Inline image 1] >>> Sumi painting by Shunryo Suzuki >>> >>> Zen Master Dogen got the Soto Zen practice from his teacher in China - >>> Dogen was a master linguist and the author of 'Shobogenzo' in which he >>> describes in detail the Soto Zen practice - sitting meditation. In Dogen's >>> Zen practice, the primary realization is the *oneness* of >>> practice-enlightenment. The practice of zazen and the experience of >>> enlightenment are one and the same - there is no difference - no >>> duality.According to Georg Feurerstein, the Buddha Shakya the Muni was the >>> first historical yogin in India - Buddha taught meditation that was >>> transcendental. >>> >>> It' s like a Zen koan: >>> >>> "Wind flag, mind moves, >>> The same understanding. >>> When the mouth opens >>> All are wrong." - Mumon >>> >>> The practice of 'just sitting' is non-different from the enlightenment - >>> there is no gap between your practice and your enlightenment. Just sitting >>> IS enlightenment. Zazen is not step-by-step process - it is all-at-once or >>> nothing at all. There are no steps along the way. According to Shunryo >>> Suzuki, a master in the Soto Zen sect, meditation is 'zazen', regular >>> sitting, based on the teachings of Zen Master Dogen. It's just like TM >>> practice, sitting meditation. Anyone who has practiced TM and Soto Zen >>> knows this - it's pretty common knowledge without even going into any >>> linguistics. >>> >>> Dogen Kigen: >>> >>> Fifty-four years lighting up the sky. >>> A quivering leap smashes a billion worlds. >>> Hah! >>> Entire body looks for nothing. >>> Living, I plunge into Yellow Springs. >>> >>> Exerpt: >>> >>> "Once we turn our eyes from Japan to the Western >>> scene, we find that virtually nothing has been >>> introduced concerning Dogen - this is unfortuenant >>> indeed, given that ignorance of Soto Zen is >>> tantamount to ignorance of Dogen, its founder." >>> >>> Ken Wilber says that Zen practice is very similar to TM practice. >>> Apparently Wilber's parents have started TM practice some time ago. Wilber >>> ascribes to the 'two truths doctrine' of >>> Nagarjuna. For Wilber no metaphysical doctrine or apparent reality is >>> true in an absolute sense: only formless awareness, "the simple feeling of >>> being," exists absolutely. >>> >>> Works cited: >>> >>> 'The Yoga Tradition: Its History, Literature, >>> Philosophy and Practice' >>> by Georg Feuerstein and Ken Wilbur >>> Hohm Press, 2001 >>> >>> 'Dogen Kigen--Mystical Realist' >>> by Hee-Jin Kim >>> Wisdom Publications, 2004 >>> >>> 'A Brief History of Everything' >>> By Ken Wilber >>> Shambhala, 2007 >>> Page 42-3 >>> >>> >>> On Sat, Dec 28, 2013 at 8:49 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> >>>> There is simply nothing better than 60-s blah blah >>>> >>>> >>>> Yes. Alan Watts, D. T. Suzuki and Krishnamurti turned the world upside >>>> down. (At least my inner world.) And lets not forget MMY's Science of >>>> Being and Art of Living. Though not in the same league it was an >>>> original and optimistic work. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >> >
