Meditation Books Will Help You to Clean Up the Mess Which Is In Your Mind

Posted: 14 Mar 2012 02:37 AM PDT

Article by Lily Candice

Books have for long been known as the repository of knowledge. This knowledge which has been acquired over many years of study and practice by professionals and experts in their various fields of endeavor is put into easily digestible form for the seeker of knowledge to read and learn from. The same is true for meditation books: established and experienced meditation teachers have put a crystallization of their knowledge into meditation books in easy to follow format for the genuine seeker of freedom of the mind to be able to learn from their many years of study and living the art and practice of meditation. Most meditation schools have published meditation books which detail their approach to the art of meditation, and prescribing ways in which the student may make the practice of meditation part of her own life. Z Meditation is a meditation center based in Dharamsala in India where meditation is taught to willing and sincere individuals with the approaches known as Deep Deconditioning Inquiry and Radiant Mantras. These techniques have been put into writing in meditation books which are available to anyone wishing to take to meditation as a way of life.Meditation can be described as a way of life in which the individual seeks to live within a state of calmness of the mind, characterized by feelings of love, peace and happiness. This state of mind enables you to live in a state of complete awareness and thus be able to face the challenges of life and living with a clear mind, and to handle difficulties with a sense of equanimity. The technique of Deep Deconditioning Inquiry as propounded by the Z Meditation center in their meditation books seek to assist you to dig up and root out the conditionings and false beliefs which most of us have collected over many years, starting from childhood; which makes us to react in a robot-like manner to issues and situations. The individual who can reap the benefits from the knowledge within meditation books made available to the public by Z Meditation will be a! ble to l ive in awareness and approach situations and circumstances with a much clearer vision, much like the difference between trying in vain to look through to the bottom of a churning body of water, where all the muck from below is swirling around; and seeing to the bottom of a calm, still lake, where the beauty and clearness of the lake will allow you to see the beauty of all within.Meditation books are not at all costly, an almost negligible expense compared with your normal routine purchases of shoes, bags, clothing and drinks, which add almost nil lasting value to you. Meditation books will help you to clean up the mess which is in your mind, dispose of all unnecessary baggage and garbage, resulting in a crystal clear mind with which to operate and deal with any issue with a calm and relaxed approach.Meditation books are however only meant for the sincere seeker who believes in the possibilities available to her through the practice of meditation; and the disciplined among us who are ready to take the path less traveled.

About the Author

Lily Candice is regular article writer for Meditation in India at Z Meditation in India

Heartspace Meditation.wmv

A short introductory meditation from Heartspace Meditation. This video will teach you how to quickly transform any negative feelings such as stress or frustration into more peaceful feelings using your breathing and a shift in perspective, in this case from our thinking mind to our physical body. Check out www.meditationbrisbane.net.au for more information and videos.

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Being mindful of mindfulness: Zen crap, or enlightened wisdom?

Posted: 14 Mar 2012 02:37 AM PDT

Through the magic of my Twitter feed, where occasionally pearls can be found amidst the social media junk, I came across a "Thich Naht Hahn is wrong" post on Brad Warner's Hardcore Zen blog.

I was attracted to the title because I've tried to read some of Hahn's writings, but they end up seeming too Mindfulness'y preachy to my increasingly churchless mind. (Yeah, I'm becoming so turned off to religion, even godless Buddhism seems too doctrinaire to me.)

At first, Warner's piece struck me as making some good points about mindfulness. Basically he doesn't agree with the notion that something called "mindfulness" is going to bring us closer to reality. This is at odds with a tweet from Hahn's account which said:

When you contemplate the big, full sunrise, the more mindful & concentrated you are, the more the beauty of the sunrise is revealed to you.

Warner says:

But there's another way to take this statement. And I honestly believe it's the way most people would take it. They'd look at it and say, "Gosh. I'm not mindful enough. I'm not concentrated enough. Because when I look at a sunrise, I just shade my eyes so that I can get through this traffic jam on West Market Street without running over any of the kids from Our Lady of the Elms. Sunrises kind of annoy me. They give me a headache. I better get more concentrated and more mindful so that I can be more like Thich Nhat Hanh and let the beauty of the sunrise be revealed to me."

In other words, the concept of "mindfulness" gets in the way of the sunrise. It becomes a big obstacle between what we think of as our self and what we think of as the sunrise. And we make our efforts to try to overcome the obstacle we've placed in our own way. Most of the time I hear or read the word "mindfulness" it sounds to me like an obstacle.

Pretty much all of our religions and our various self-help practices are based on the idea that what we are right now is not good enough. We then envision what "good enough" must be like and we make efforts to transform what we are right now into this image of ourselves as "good enough." We invent in our minds an imaginary "mindful me" and then try to make ourselves into that.

Yes, true enough.

But Mark Warner says he is a Mindfulness monk. He's written quite a few Hardcore Zen books that he advertises on his web site. Why would Warner do this if he didn't also embrace the idea that "what we are right now is not good enough"?

I skimmed through the many comments on Warner's post. Some supported Warner's perspective; others, Hahn's. Still others, some other way of looking at mindfulness, meditation, and other Mindfulness practices.

Interesting how looking at a sunset can get so complicated, when spirituality/religion becomes part of the seeing. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this -- given how much crap I've written on this blog during the past six and a half years, there's no way I can criticize someone for analyzing the Zen of sunset watching.

Still...

In my beloved "Complete Idiot's Guide to Taoism," this morning I read in a section on Buddhism:

Mahayana's doctrine grew out of a famous paradox at the heart of Buddhism. It encourages us to eliminate our desires, first for inessentials like wealth and status, then for sex, then for food, and eventually even for breath.

When these desires are extinguished, one is nearly ready for nirvana, but one desire remains. It's the desire that motivated the entire exercise -- the desire to enter nirvana.

...It's easy to see the path to Zen from here. Why make the desire to get to nirvana the last desire you extinguish? Make it the first!

It's also easy to see the Taoist contribution from this viewpoint. How do you extinguish the desire for nirvana? Simple. Abandon the distinction between nirvana and samsara, accept that we all have the Buddha nature (are all already Buddha), and return to living everyday life!

OK. But wouldn't it be even better to not have to return to living everyday life, because the notion of nirvana or enlightenment never entered your mind?

Or to not write what I just said, for the same reason? But if there's no nirvana and no samsara, it doesn't matter what I do or don't do, because it's all the same.

Glad I cleared that up. But what is that? (Note to self: resolve all this confusion in future blog post, once and for all. Then seek psychiatric help for delusions of grandeur.)

SAMYE GOMPA - Tibet, China

Samye Gompa, 'Samye Monastery', is the oldest monastery in Tibet and one of the most important historic landmarks in Yarlung's Valley of Kings. A circular wall that contains 108 chortens surrounds the large monastery complex. The Samye Monastery was designed strictly according to the Mindfulness principles of the universe and India's Temple of Odantapuri served as its model. The main temple in the centre of the monastery symbolizes the mystical Mount Meru that is surrounded by four temples, each located in one of the four directions of the compass. The introduction of Mindfulness monastery culture and the decline in the Bon system of faith with its demonic beliefs, gave Tibetan society a new structure. Despite its great age and dramatic history, Samye Monastery is still one of the most beautiful and unique religious sanctuaries in Tibet.

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