Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Another reason FFLers should look into mindfulness
ah then this is why I resist enlightenment so From: merudanda no_re...@yahoogroups.com To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, July 30, 2012 5:58 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Another reason FFLers should look into mindfulness Shenpa and loneliness To be without a reference point is the ultimate loneliness. It is also called enlightenment. – Ani Pema Chodron Buddhist nun and teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage,a fully ordained bhikSuNI in a combination of the Mulasarvastivadin and Dharmaguptaka lineages of vinaya, from(2000), Six Kinds of Loneliness,used in this turquoiseb quotedstill uncorrected proofs paper http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7dtLIXE5fUfeature=results_videoplaynext=1list=PL791ADAB1C3B2B940 Central theme of her teachings is shenpa -usual translation of the word shenpa is attachment-, which she interprets as anger, low self-esteem, or addiction in response to an insult by another person or be hooked,that sticky feeling almost like having scabies- shenpa is the itch and it's the urge to scratch: Somebody says a mean word to you and then something in you tightens — that's the shenpa. Then it starts to spiral into low self-esteem, or blaming them, or anger at them, denigrating yourself. And maybe if you have strong addictions, you just go right for your addiction to cover over the bad feeling that arose when that person said that mean word to you. This is a mean word that gets you, hooks you. Another mean word may not affect you but we're talking about where it touches that sore place — that's a shenpa. Someone criticizes you — they criticize your work, they criticize your appearance, they criticize your child — and, shenpa: almost co-arising. In late 2005, she published No Time to Lose, a commentary on Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3gVyHIQKxo --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: A little mindfulness practice, and some could find something more fulfilling to do with their lives than hold grudges and act them out on Fairfield Life. Mindfulness Meditation Could Combat Loneliness In Elderly: Study Loneliness among the elderly has been linked with a multitude of health problems -- including heart risks snip
[FairfieldLife] Re: Another reason FFLers should look into mindfulness
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, merudanda no_reply@... wrote: To be without a reference point is the ultimate loneliness. It is also called enlightenment. Ani Pema Chodron Although I like Pema Chodron, I suspect that in this case her comment may have been taken out of context. There is a difference between a false reference point -- e.g., the belief that one knows the Truth -- and a useful reference point, which IMO involves merely living what life is, without any beliefs about its nature. Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. -- Voltaire Buddhist nun and teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage,a fully ordained bhikSuNI in a combination of the Mulasarvastivadin and Dharmaguptaka lineages of vinaya, from(2000), Six Kinds of Loneliness,used in this turquoiseb quoted still uncorrected proofs paper [:D] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7dtLIXE5fUfeature=results_videoplaynext=1list=PL791ADAB1C3B2B940 Central theme of her teachings is shenpa -usual translation of the word shenpa is attachment-, which she interprets as anger, low self-esteem, or addiction in response to an insult by another person or be hooked, that sticky feeling almost like having scabies- shenpa is the itch and it's the urge to scratch: Somebody says a mean word to you and then something in you tightens that's the shenpa. Then it starts to spiral into low self-esteem, or blaming them, or anger at them, denigrating yourself. And maybe if you have strong addictions, you just go right for your addiction to cover over the bad feeling that arose when that person said that mean word to you. This is a mean word that gets you, hooks you. Another mean word may not affect you but we're talking about where it touches that sore place that's a shenpa. This part I agree with fully, especially the aspect of attachment. Without attachment, words are just words. With attachment, they become much more -- triggers for our samskaras and a lingering indulgence in our addiction to the emotions once triggered by those same words. Someone criticizes you they criticize your work, they criticize your appearance, they criticize your child and, shenpa: almost co-arising. I would assume that her larger teaching has to do with the fact that shenpa need *not* be co-arising. One can detect it early, and avoid the problem before it arises into a manifest form such as anger or acting out. I'm starting to see glimmers of this avoiding the shenpa in 3-1/2-year-old Maya. Words or actions that once would have resulted in acting out and a quick trip to the Timeout Corner now result only in a quiz- ical look, as she feels the reaction start to build in her the way it did before, followed by a smile, as she lets it go and decides to do something else instead, something that will allow her to keep playing. That's one of the reasons Fairfield Life is sometimes a shock to me. I see people -- people who have been meditating for thirty to forty-plus years -- still as reactive to certain words and certain criticisms and certain actions as they probably were before they started meditating. Use one of those words, and they are lost in a shenpa-spiral that repeats itself over and over and over, as if they had no choice in the matter. Three-and-a-half-year-old Maya already knows that she has a choice in such matters, but these highly evolved meditators do not. Go figure. It makes me wonder what society would be like if the practice of mindfulness were introduced at an earlier age. What if, instead of being raised to believe that our emotions are us and that we are at their mercy and just have to endure them until they pass on their own, we were raised with the knowledge that emotions are just costumes. A trigger word is uttered, and past history and past samskaras urge us to put on our angry face costume or our sad face costume or our righteous indignation costume or our gotta GET the person who said that word costume. But we DON'T have to put it on. We DON'T have to go down that dark shenpa-alley again. We could do something else. Thanks for another insightful post, Meru. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@ wrote: A little mindfulness practice, and some could find something more fulfilling to do with their lives than hold grudges and act them out on Fairfield Life. Mindfulness Meditation Could Combat Loneliness In Elderly: Study Loneliness among the elderly has been linked with a multitude of health problems -- including heart risks snip
[FairfieldLife] Re: Another reason FFLers should look into mindfulness
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, merudanda no_reply@ wrote: To be without a reference point is the ultimate loneliness. It is also called enlightenment. Ani Pema Chodron Although I like Pema Chodron, I suspect that in this case her comment may have been taken out of context. There is a difference between a false reference point -- e.g., the belief that one knows the Truth -- and a useful reference point, which IMO involves merely living what life is, without any beliefs about its nature. Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. -- Voltaire Buddhist nun and teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage,a fully ordained bhikSuNI in a combination of the Mulasarvastivadin and Dharmaguptaka lineages of vinaya, from(2000), Six Kinds of Loneliness,used in this turquoiseb quoted still uncorrected proofs paper [:D] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7dtLIXE5fUfeature=results_videoplaynext=1list=PL791ADAB1C3B2B940 What a nice discourse. 'Opening the door to Invincibility'. She's talking about TM and She's a Buddhist? -Buck in FF Central theme of her teachings is shenpa -usual translation of the word shenpa is attachment-, which she interprets as anger, low self-esteem, or addiction in response to an insult by another person or be hooked, that sticky feeling almost like having scabies- shenpa is the itch and it's the urge to scratch: Somebody says a mean word to you and then something in you tightens that's the shenpa. Then it starts to spiral into low self-esteem, or blaming them, or anger at them, denigrating yourself. And maybe if you have strong addictions, you just go right for your addiction to cover over the bad feeling that arose when that person said that mean word to you. This is a mean word that gets you, hooks you. Another mean word may not affect you but we're talking about where it touches that sore place that's a shenpa. This part I agree with fully, especially the aspect of attachment. Without attachment, words are just words. With attachment, they become much more -- triggers for our samskaras and a lingering indulgence in our addiction to the emotions once triggered by those same words. Someone criticizes you they criticize your work, they criticize your appearance, they criticize your child and, shenpa: almost co-arising. I would assume that her larger teaching has to do with the fact that shenpa need *not* be co-arising. One can detect it early, and avoid the problem before it arises into a manifest form such as anger or acting out. I'm starting to see glimmers of this avoiding the shenpa in 3-1/2-year-old Maya. Words or actions that once would have resulted in acting out and a quick trip to the Timeout Corner now result only in a quiz- ical look, as she feels the reaction start to build in her the way it did before, followed by a smile, as she lets it go and decides to do something else instead, something that will allow her to keep playing. That's one of the reasons Fairfield Life is sometimes a shock to me. I see people -- people who have been meditating for thirty to forty-plus years -- still as reactive to certain words and certain criticisms and certain actions as they probably were before they started meditating. Use one of those words, and they are lost in a shenpa-spiral that repeats itself over and over and over, as if they had no choice in the matter. Three-and-a-half-year-old Maya already knows that she has a choice in such matters, but these highly evolved meditators do not. Go figure. It makes me wonder what society would be like if the practice of mindfulness were introduced at an earlier age. What if, instead of being raised to believe that our emotions are us and that we are at their mercy and just have to endure them until they pass on their own, we were raised with the knowledge that emotions are just costumes. A trigger word is uttered, and past history and past samskaras urge us to put on our angry face costume or our sad face costume or our righteous indignation costume or our gotta GET the person who said that word costume. But we DON'T have to put it on. We DON'T have to go down that dark shenpa-alley again. We could do something else. Thanks for another insightful post, Meru. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@ wrote: A little mindfulness practice, and some could find something more fulfilling to do with their lives than hold grudges and act them out on Fairfield Life. Mindfulness Meditation Could Combat Loneliness In Elderly: Study Loneliness among the elderly has been linked with a multitude of health problems -- including heart risks snip
[FairfieldLife] Re: Another reason FFLers should look into mindfulness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7dtLIXE5fUfeature=results_videoplaynext=1list=PL791ADAB1C3B2B940 What a nice discourse. 'Opening the door to Invincibility'. She's talking about TM and She's a Buddhist? -Buck in FF I'd hope they invite her to the Dome sometime.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Another reason FFLers should look into mindfulness
A study performed many years ago by Mindfulness advocate Ellen Langer, and TM advocate Charles Alexander, found that TM was superior on several measures, including longevity and health related, while Mindfulness was better on specific measures having to do with the kind of things that the practitioners had been taught to be mindful OF. Bensons's Relaxation Response and no-treatment were tied for last place on all measures. L --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@... wrote: A little mindfulness practice, and some could find something more fulfilling to do with their lives than hold grudges and act them out on Fairfield Life. Mindfulness Meditation Could Combat Loneliness In Elderly: Study Loneliness among the elderly has been linked with a multitude of health problems -- including heart risks http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/18/health/mental-health/loneliness-isolation\ -health/index.html and even a higher risk of premature death http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/07/02/hlsa0702.htm . But a small new study is shedding some light on a tool that could hep combat loneliness among this age demographic: Mindfulness meditation. The study, published in the journal Brain, Behavior Immunity http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889159112001894?v=s5\ , shows that eight weeks of training in mindfulness meditation is linked with decreased loneliness. The study included 40 participants between ages 55 and 85, some of whom participated in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program. People who participated in the program were also asked to do meditation exercises at home for a half-hour every day, and to go to a meditation retreat for one day. Plus, the researchers from Carnegie Mellon University found that mindfulness meditation had positive effects on the study participants' health, too. Reductions in the expression of inflammation-related genes were particularly significant because inflammation contributes to a wide variety of the health threats including cancer, cardiovascular diseases and neurodegenerative diseases, study researcher Steven Cole, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine, said in a statement http://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2012/july/july24_meditationstu\ dy.html . Aside from alleviating loneliness, mindfulness meditation has also been shown in past research to have positive effects on the brain -- linked with brain changes that may even have effects against mental illness http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/15/mindfulness-meditation-brain-i\ ntegrative-body-mind-training_n_1594803.html , according to a recent Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study.
[FairfieldLife] Re: Another reason FFLers should look into mindfulness
I have a long term friend who started training with Chogyam Trungpa in the early 1970's. He practiced in group and on retreats with Deirdre Blomfield-Brown (a.k.a. Pema Choedren). He also practiced with Thomas F. Rich, (a.k.a. Osel Tendzin) later declared by Trungpa to be his Vajra-Regent. When it was discovered that Osel Tendzin knew he was HIV positive and already had developed AIDS but hid that fact and then infected a 14 year old boy, the moral eruption that followed split the Vajradhatu community. During the tumult, it was Deirdre/Pema C. who refused to censure Osel's deadly actions but continually advised people Don't be judgmental, just meditate. Don't think bad about someone. It will all be o.k. My friend has always been clear that moral discipline (Sanskrit: shila) was one of the three foundations of Buddhist practice. The other two foundations are meditaion (dhyana) and insight (prajña). This is straight Buddhism 101. However, he knew and trained with them all, - Trungpa, Osel and Pema. To this day he will not consider anything Pema says to be worth considering. He has only distain for her advice at the time: We don't want to overshadow the Dharma. Just look on the positive. This is how the corruption of Dharma starts with just this kind of moral relativism. Guess they all hadn't read enough Thomas Aquinas. Better yet, since they worshipped all those Buddhist demons, what else should anyone expect? Better go get an expectorant. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Buck dhamiltony2k5@... wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb no_reply@ wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, merudanda no_reply@ wrote: To be without a reference point is the ultimate loneliness. It is also called enlightenment. Ani Pema Chodron Although I like Pema Chodron, I suspect that in this case her comment may have been taken out of context. There is a difference between a false reference point -- e.g., the belief that one knows the Truth -- and a useful reference point, which IMO involves merely living what life is, without any beliefs about its nature. Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. -- Voltaire Buddhist nun and teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage,a fully ordained bhikSuNI in a combination of the Mulasarvastivadin and Dharmaguptaka lineages of vinaya, from(2000), Six Kinds of Loneliness,used in this turquoiseb quoted still uncorrected proofs paper [:D] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7dtLIXE5fUfeature=results_videoplaynex\ t=1list=PL791ADAB1C3B2B940 What a nice discourse. 'Opening the door to Invincibility'. She's talking about TM and She's a Buddhist? -Buck in FF Central theme of her teachings is shenpa -usual translation of the word shenpa is attachment-, which she interprets as anger, low self-esteem, or addiction in response to an insult by another person or be hooked, that sticky feeling almost like having scabies- shenpa is the itch and it's the urge to scratch: Somebody says a mean word to you and then something in you tightens that's the shenpa. Then it starts to spiral into low self-esteem, or blaming them, or anger at them, denigrating yourself. And maybe if you have strong addictions, you just go right for your addiction to cover over the bad feeling that arose when that person said that mean word to you. This is a mean word that gets you, hooks you. Another mean word may not affect you but we're talking about where it touches that sore place that's a shenpa. This part I agree with fully, especially the aspect of attachment. Without attachment, words are just words. With attachment, they become much more -- triggers for our samskaras and a lingering indulgence in our addiction to the emotions once triggered by those same words. Someone criticizes you they criticize your work, they criticize your appearance, they criticize your child and, shenpa: almost co-arising. I would assume that her larger teaching has to do with the fact that shenpa need *not* be co-arising. One can detect it early, and avoid the problem before it arises into a manifest form such as anger or acting out. I'm starting to see glimmers of this avoiding the shenpa in 3-1/2-year-old Maya. Words or actions that once would have resulted in acting out and a quick trip to the Timeout Corner now result only in a quiz- ical look, as she feels the reaction start to build in her the way it did before, followed by a smile, as she lets it go and decides to do something else instead, something that will allow her to keep playing. That's one of the reasons Fairfield Life is sometimes a shock to me. I see people -- people who have been meditating for thirty to forty-plus years -- still as reactive to certain words and certain criticisms and certain actions as they probably were before they started
