---So, you're saying that this Rinpoche Dildo of yours recommends just being "open" and no practices at all? Interesting viewpoint!. I'll stick with TM, thanks. As to the other Gurus, I've tasted their offerings and crossed them off my list, including Muktananda. Norbu Rinpoche only has the "Dance of the Vajra".
In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On May 29, 2007, at 1:35 PM, Stu wrote: > > > Bhairitu said > > In fact in other systems it's no great crime if > > you miss some meditations. > > > > Yes. I wonder if I would not be better served by going to a > > different practice. If for no other reason than after 30 years of > > this maybe its time to explore some other areas of the brain. I > > have really enjoyed reading Sally Kempton's "Heart of Meditation" > > where she suggests "playing" with meditation, trying different > > approaches. Not taking the darn thing so seriously. Her Guru, > > Swami Muktananda wrote a book on the importance of this playfulness. > > I agree. It's important to have familiarity with different styles of > meditation experientially--and if you can keep that at the level of > "play" you're already well on the way to success. Ideally there > should be no special division between practicing and not practicing > meditation. As the meditation master Dilgo Khyentse said: > > "The everyday practice of the Great Perfection is simply to develop a > complete carefree acceptance, an openness to all situations without > limit. > > We should realize openness as the playground of our emotions and > relate to people without artificiality, manipulation or strategy. > > We should experience everything totally, never withdrawing into > ourselves as a marmot hides in its hole. This practice releases > tremendous energy which is usually constricted by the process of > maintaining fixed reference points. Referentiality is the process by > which we retreat from the direct experience of everyday life. > > Being present in the moment may initially trigger fear. But by > welcoming the sensation of fear with complete openness, we cut > through the barriers created by habitual emotional patterns. > > When we engage in the practice of discovering space, we should > develop the feeling of opening ourselves out completely to the entire > universe. We should open ourselves with absolute simplicity and > nakedness of mind. This is the powerful and ordinary practice of > dropping the mask of self-protection. > > We shouldn't make a division in our meditation between perception and > field of perception. We shouldn't become like a cat watching a mouse. > We should realize that the purpose of meditation is not to go "deeply > into ourselves" or withdraw from the world. Practice should be free > and non-conceptual, unconstrained by introspection and concentration. > > Vast unoriginated self-luminous wisdom space is the ground of being - > the beginning and the end of confusion. The presence of awareness in > the primordeal state has no bias toward enlightenment or non- > enlightenment. This ground of being which is known as pure or > original mind is the source from which all phenomena arise. It is > known as the great mother, as the womb of potentiality in which all > things arise and dissolve in natural self-perfectedness and absolute > spontaneity." > > > > > > > > > > I wonder if this incessant need to eat, sleep > > > and brush my teeth is healthy? > > > > Eating sleeping and brushing are not a great metaphor for > > meditation. Eating and sleeping are physiological necessities. We > > stop - we die. There is no choice involved here. > > > > Can we equate TM to toothbrushing? Both have benefits to their > > habitual practice. On the other hand those who don't brush their > > teeth face terrible dental problems eventually. What lies in store > > for the millions of people with out a meditation practice? Is it > > as bad as gingivitis? > > > > Does anybody else here feel this strong need to meditate after so > > many years of habitual practice? Its as if the neural networks > > have been redesigned to NEED meditation 2 x a day. Is this healthy? > > When one reaches a calm state in meditation, this state, a state > without thought content, can become very addicting. I would venture > that most long-term TMers are in fact, addicted to this state and the > neurotransmitters it triggers. > > Addiction, even to meditative states, is not healthy. >
