In regard to Share's comments, the transcendent is a metaphorical fiction, a carrot on a stick, an enticement for meditation. Whatever we may say it is, the 'transcendent' is there all the time, everywhere. But when the mind does not know this it requires an explanation for a practise like TM so it is said to be found through a process of transcending. But once the mind is clear it is omnipresent and the explanation is no longer valuable, it is a complete lie.
Advanced techniques basically add more drag to the mantra. Eventually everything about experience is on the surface, the dichotomy of surface versus depth no longer applies. Maharishi seemed to understand the principle well: other teachers of mantra meditation tend to use clunkier mantras in the beginning so ease of use factors may be less favourable, especially if you are told to concentrate on a mantra. While some have labelled TM a beginners meditation, it is really quite elegant. As practise matures and meditations seem shallower, TM begins to resemble mindfulness meditation more as the mind becomes more and more here and now. Zazen, (Zen meditation) just sitting silently, is the natural state when the mind is clear, but it is difficult for many as something to start with because of the torrent of thoughts beginners have, so in some ways mindfulness practises may be putting the cart before the horse. TM throws the mind a bone, something for it to control or rather modulate the flow of thoughts with a minimum of effort. After a while you can throw it a bigger bone, when it can handle it. Eventually it does not need a bone, the mind falls silent, remaining tranquil, and being is the only reality of experience. The analogies, such as the one Judy mentioned, are an intellectual aid to help the meditator be comfortable with what is happening at a particular state of practise. So if a TM meditators are finding meditation seemingly becoming shallow, they need some explanation why it is different than it was before. My feeling is the movement does not do very well in giving useful explanations when the practise really begins to advance, or when unusual problems crop up. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <authfriend@...> wrote : Maharishi used the analogy of a falling leaf. It doesn't go straight down but from side to side, so it takes longer to hit the ground than if it were, say, an acorn. If you were a leaf, presumably you'd have more time to appreciate the surrounding environment as you fell from layer to layer. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <LEnglish5@...> wrote : Share, I was paraphrasing Maharishi's own description of what advanced techniques do: they make the angle of the dive less, so that we can take more time to appreciate different layers of the mind on the way to the Transcendent, rather than just diving straight in. I have no idea if my physiological interpretation of what he meant is correct, but it seems highly unlikely that the kind of EEG that long-term TMers show, including those who have been taught advanced techniques, can be associated in any way with the EEG that shows up in people who have been practicing other mantra meditation practices for a long time. They're just too different. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <sharelong60@...> wrote : Lawson, I'm not sure about the accuracy of your statement that because the dive is shallower, progression to samadhi takes longer. In one of Fred Travis' graduate classes, someone complained that they didn't feel deep in TM anymore. Fred explained that one way to understand the growth from CC to GC is that the depth comes up to the surface. So we might not feel deep. But that doesn't mean that we aren't deep. I'd add that in any case, trying to feel deep is counter productive. On Wednesday, April 16, 2014 9:29 PM, "LEnglish5@..." <LEnglish5@...> wrote: The long-term outcome of all mantras is that they lead to samadhi. Some work faster than others, which, ironically, is the point of advanced techniques: the dive is more shallow, so the progression to samadhi takes longer. So that doesn't explain the striking difference between TM and other mantra-based methods. It's not the fact that a simple, fast-working mantra was being used. If that was the case, then other practices would show the simplest state of awareness slower, but instead, they show it LESS, the longer people have been practicing. L
