--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > He doesn't sell it; he feels so strongly about its > value that he offers to pay for it *himself* so that > others can learn it. > > THAT is what students are responding to, not TM. > > Last night I ran into an old friend from a Tibetan > Buddhist group around Montpellier. Because I knew > that they had been offering meditation instruction > lately, I asked her how that was going, and what > the level of interest was. She replied that every > class scheduled so far had been full, with people > on waiting lists asking to be notified of the next > course. Several thousand people have learned to > meditate just in the last few months.
Please keep in mind that there have been numerous articles about the recently published study on long-term Buddhist meditation. People go for what is in the public eye. TM certainly is not getting the "new kid on the block" treatment from the press like Buddhist meditation is, so people are more likely to be interested in the new thing. Being free doesn't hurt either. > > So what's their secret? The instructors teach for > free, and in fact pay for all the expenses involved > themselves. They consider it their dharma to do so. Sure, but how many of their students are going to keep at it for 10,000 to 50,000 hours of practice over 15-40 years? This being how long the advanced meditators who were tested in the recent Buddhist study had been meditating. Another interesting thing to note is that while there was an accumulative effect DURING meditation based on how long the meditators had been practicing, this didn't translate into a significant difference in EEG outside meditation between short and long-term meditators, unlike the case with long-term TM meditators. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/101/46/16369 [...] The subjects were eight long-term Buddhist practitioners (mean age, 49 ± 15 years) and 10 healthy student volunteers (mean age, 21 ± 1.5 years). Buddhist practitioners underwent mental training in the same Tibetan Nyingmapa and Kagyupa traditions for 10,000 to 50,000 h over time periods ranging from 15 to 40 years. The length of their training was estimated based on their daily practice and the time they spent in meditative retreats. Eight hours of sitting meditation was counted per day of retreat. Control subjects had no previous meditative experience but had declared an interest in meditation. Controls underwent meditative training for 1 week before the collection of the data. [...] > On the other hand, *now* compare all these approaches > to the TM movement. It is *all* about *profit*, and > making money, and on the part of the teachers, "what > we deserve for our time." In other words, it's > ALL ABOUT THEM. There is not an *ounce* of caring > for the people who want to learn, except that their > check clears. > > The "selling meditation for money" model is broken. > It's always been broken and it always will be broken. > I'm starting to think that David Lynch's real objec- > tive is to SHAME the TM movement into doing what it > should have been doing all along -- putting its *own* > money where its mouth is with regard to how valuable > it thinks TM is for people to learn. > I think you are incorrect. The people David Lynch has working for him in his foundation are all gung-ho TMers, many going back decades in their work for the TM organization, such as John Hagelin and Bobby Roth. Denise Deniston Gerace (TM Book) and her husband Joseph Gerace run the local Maharishi Enlightenment Center. It is really a stretch to say that people who ARE willing to pay to get recerted like Denise or become new TM teachers like Joseph, are in it just for the money. It is true that you can get more people interested in trying something new when it is free, but TM isn't new. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
