Comments on: A Tibetan monk said THIS?!

By: Steven Sashen

Steven Sashen — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:04:14 +0000

The Purification practices are based on the idea that you need to change something about yourself — your “energy”, your chakras, your thoughts (what kind you have, whether you have them or not, whether you’re focussed or not, etc.) — and that once you have “fixed” that problem, then you’ll finally get to the goal. It takes continued application and effort, there are (ostensibly) stages along the way that show you if you’re getting closer to the goal (though, usually, the first stage is REALLY far away). The practices typically *sound* simple (e.g. watch your breath without interruption), but prove to be more than challenging, and it usually takes quite a bit of time to “get into the groove” of them.

The Path of Recognition practices are not simple-sounding-but-hard. Instead of asking you to change your attention or perception, they give you pointers which direct your attention some interesting phenomenon: actual processes of attention and/or perception. That is, they point out aspects of the way we experience the world that are often overlooked, not noticed, habituated to, or that happen quickly enough that we usually miss them. It just so happens that noticing these ways we perceive (or don’t perceive, as the case may be), shifts our experience of subject/object to one that is open, spacious, focused-without-effort, relaxed, et cetera…. but it does so in just a few moments, and can be done anywhere, any time.

I like to say that the Recognition practices are like balancing a bike. Learning to balance is an internal process. It’s like you know what balance feels like, but you just hadn’t applied it to bikes yet. Once you know how to balance, though, you can easily hop on a bike, find that balanced feeling inside you, and start riding. The Recognition practices are like finding that meditative (balanced) place that’s already inside of you… and once you know how to find/feel it, you can tap into it whenever you like.

That help?

By: Carina

Carina — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:03:35 +0000

What is the difference between the path of purification and the path of recognition?

By: Champa

Champa — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:37:35 +0000

Wow! I am blown away by the comments on your site, Steven – thank you so much for the opportunity to contribute. I love the way roz expresses it. It’s so hard to ‘get it’ if you try. If you don’t try, it’s so easy to forget what it is you were trying for, or even to realise that you’ve forgotten. Still with me? It’s a bit like staring at one of those pictures that’s got two totally different images in one. A white vase on a black background, or two black faces looking at each other on a white background. Or the old crone and the young woman in a feathured hat. Know the ones? Sometimes you can stare and stare at the picture, but you just can’t see the other image even though you know it’s there. So, for me, meditation techniques are the equivalent of staring at the picture. There comes a point when your mind relaxes, you stop trying to see and the switch in perception occurs. But still you can’t know exactly when or how it happened. It just did. But that’s not very satisfactory, because when you put the picture down (stop the meditation practice) the experience is over. There’s no realisation attached to it. It was just a trick.
The lady who was brave enough to announce that she just wasn’t getting it was probably the only one who actually did. She just didn’t realise it. The problem I’ve had for the past 30 years is that nobody would tell me what it was that I was trying to find. They just said ‘practice more’. so I did, and nothing changed. When someone finally came along and pointed to it and said ‘that’s what you’ve been looking for’, I was able to recognise it. It was here all the time! Thanks Steven!

By: Leela

Leela — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:33:28 +0000

Actually it’s not surprising at all. It’s well known that meditating will make you
more open to other people’s energy, so meditating in the densely populated areas, like cities, opens you up to the mindstreams of the millions of people who live there. And that is not helpful for meditation.

Our teachers (Tibetan lamas) recommend earplugs, meditating in the early hours of the morning before others are awake, and meditating first thing before you have exposed your mind to media, conversation, and your own preoccupations.

No, it’s really not surprising at all if you understand how meditating works on the mind (and body).

By: Vikas

Vikas — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:12:22 +0000

Thank you Neville,

you said everything in short lines!
In my opinion and my experience, the higher states in meditation exists, but they will go away soon. And it is good that they go away, because we all grasp “nirvana” to avoid life, it is a proof that we really dont want to live here on Earth!!! And with meditation practice comes so much judging from our side, which really is ugly (self involment-EGO)..
So for me the basic question is, can I make the whole life meditation, without preparation or protection?
And if I need to prepare-protect, the how to do it and not to move to far from my own heart.

best wishes ; Vikas

By: Steven Sashen

Steven Sashen — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:00:22 +0000

You’ve hit the nail on the head, Neville.

The questions you’re asking are often left unaddressed or, worse, ignored by most teachers and lineages. Of course each person may have their own reasons — some of which may be valid (that is, attainable) and others may not be. The lineages, though, usually make promises of what can be attained… and never look carefully to see how likely that attainment is (e.g. what % of practitioners “get it”?), what other causes may be at play for those who seem to get it (e.g. what’s unique about them… or why doesn’t EVERYONE get it?).

And then there’s the problem of using language in a way that’s not accurate and leads to misunderstanding. As you pointed out, calling something the “timeless state” is fraught with contradiction and problems. The challenge is that that using language that’s more accurately descriptive doesn’t sound as cool or as desirable… which brings us back to the question: Why?

(This is something we explore quite a bit in the I AM course, actually… and often find that by examining the question from a radical new perspective, our reasons, relationships, and practice itself can change quite dramatically and easily.)

By: Neville

Neville — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:43:16 +0000

As I see it, if you have reached or stumbled upon the timeless state, there is no coming out of it, wherever you are and in whatever circumstances. It is logical because if you come of out it, it cannot be something timeless.
As for the effect of meditation lasting for a longer or shorter time, it is just an experience which you are trying to capture again and again, which in itself is frustrating and leads to more disturbance in the mind!!!
So the question still remains why do we meditate? Is it to gain something or just because we want a peaceful experience in that moment.
Still quite confused over that.

By: Anna

Anna — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:05:09 +0000

I thought it was just me! What incredible persistence those monks have. Oh, wait a minute I “meditated” for 20 years, mostly in an ashram type setting, and when I went in to cook in the kitchen it seemed to fly out the door. Couldn’t maintain the “meditative consciousness”. Makes me wonder what state is “natural”. We go in and out of “consciousness”, ebb and flow. It is all part of one rhythm, whether we “feel” it is or not. That allows me to have no judgment and relax. Ahhh. Maybe that is meditation.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:26:36 +0000

Damn right Roz!

By: roz

roz — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:04:33 +0000

Oh it is so much about purification. We are energy! Our thoughts
have an energetic vibration. Many years ago a book hit the stands called
You Are What You Eat if I am not mistaken we are also what we think. Almost everything is manifested from thought energy. It appears before us and it is manifests energetically within our phyiscal form.
I love the Buddhist concept of Dharma. A few weeks ago I had this wonderful opportunity to talk to an Atheist. He asked me about the Dharma and I said as I experience it. it is both the Teacher and the student, the lesson and the answer, the beginning and the end of all of this. It appears to be interactive. One might even call it God but I don’t know if it really is. Our mission might be twofold the cultivation of being an Oasis in this world and the waking up,ending the story of me,realization that we are in a living in a virtual “Green Room” consciousness or whatever you want to call this” School
Room?” One thing I do know is we should consider letting go of our sense of separation because it makes us afraid and therefore angry. One day we will all wake up and walk away from all of our stuff and SEE.