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I have been interested in ‘Eastern’ religion, culture and mythology for most of my life now.  Thinking back I actually have no idea where the interest came from and when it began, over the past 10yrs or so the interest has slowly rested around thoughts and practices I have recently learnt are all Buddhist in origin.

This post will capture my journey in discovering meditation and in doing so my discovery of Buddhism and all the side bars which go along with what may end up being a fundamental change in my world view.

25th Sep 2009

Let me expand slightly on the thoughts and events that lead to this date.  I don’t think I am alone in having frustrations from time to time.  I do suspect though, after years of observing others and introspection that things seem to affect me more than others.  In my younger days I attributed this to a lack of passion/motivation in those around me.  This developed into propositions around engagement and an individual’s sense of value; that it wasn’t normal to not care and those that didn’t failed to reach their potential and therefore not truly happy.   The dichotomy for some years has been between remaining engaged (caring) and remaining content.  How do we care and not get frustrated/upset/angry etc when what we care about doesn’t work out they way we planned/imagined.

As I look for evaluative information and logic to help understand why things are, my search has also taken me through various takes on behaviour and personalities.  And I guess somewhere in psychology and science is where I hang my hat for now.  If we understand the real core drivers for why we think and act the way we do then we can manage both the good and bad aspects more effectively for better outcomes in life.

The thing is.... I am not sure anymore if it is all as simple as that.  I think it definitely helps but I think it may only be part of the picture.   My thoughts continuously return to the term ‘world view’, and who we are as individuals sits on top of this; the cultural, social etc underpinnings.   It is these elements in people like the Dalia Lama which I like a lot of westerners find appealing.  Someone so content also maintaining Ideals such compassion and understanding has always intrigued me.

It appeared to me that his learning and discipline came from meditation in some shape or form, so after a few books from the Dalai Lama I started looking into meditation.  Over the past two weeks or so I have been furiously working through the infinite meditative techniques in search of their purpose, their practice and their source.  A thin grasp on technique lead me to question the purpose and philosophies behind them, to better understand the technique.  I think this is key to meditation, sure you can learn a few and perform them but I don’t believe without a firm grasp on the thinking that drives them it is difficult to gain benefit.  And the more I read the more I realised it isn’t really meditation alone but meditation in a Buddhist world view that is the true strength.

The questions/challenged thoughts to date:

28th Sep 2009

So...  perhaps a little sharig of what I have discovered to date.   There is no point regurgitating the vast amount of information available on the internet however I thought some key bits of info that you can look into more if you're interested.   Probably alos worth noting, I am learning all this so it may not be accurate.

There are three threads of Buddhism; Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana.   Theravada is the oldest around today and goes back pretty close to the identifiable origins of Buddhism (250 BCE). It is believed to come out of India in to Sri Lanka, Burma and other SE Asian Countries where it is still strong today.  Mahayana was a split from Theravada around 50 CE and is found in various Eastern Buddhist denominations these days such as Zen.  Vajrayana is where the Tibetan Buddhist roots lie and dates back to 500 CE in India and 700 CE in Tibet, China, Indochina and Southeast Asia.

So from my reading Theravada is the oldest and orginal form of Buddhism which lead onto what most people today identify as Buddhism; Tibetan Buddhism.   My understanding so far leads to me believe the core differences are around the expansion of Tantric practices in Tibetan Buddhism.  Also the underlying philosophy in Tibetan Buddhism is that "Buddhahood" (freedom from suffering) is available to and achievable by everyone.  In this and other ways it appears to have a less strict adherence to doctrine.  The politcal events around Tibet, the Dalai Lama and this openness are probably the three key reasons why it has become so recognised and perhaps popularised in Western Culture.  It is worth noting though that all these forms can be found in most countries around the world these days and they all fundamentally follow the same basis; teachings of the Buddha and the Pali Canon.

Let me try and break the heart of (generic) Buddhism down into the core points;

Out of Samadhi comes two key meditation techniques to cease suffering;  Samatha and Vipasanna.  The first is on concentration and the second is on seeing the true nature of things.  There is also a third that pops up from time to time in my reading; Metta, which is the cultivation of lovingkindess, love without attachment.  I will expand on these next time, but these three forms are now my focus of learning and practice. Tantric practices (e.g. Tantra and Mantra) born in the Vajrayana (Tibetan Buddhism) is not something I plan to explore at this stage although I do plan on discovering the drivers to its development and its appeal in Western Buddhism.

15th Oct 2009

I have been reading up on the concept of No-Self.  In some ways it's been quite a disconcerting concept, some of the reading has suggests the practice develops a dissociative disorder.  Another paper made an unreferenced mention of a U.S man who had basically blown away his notion of self with the practice of meditation and was now undergoing psychological treatment.

I guess the first thing to point out is that they are talking about the practice of Vipassana  meditation practices specifically.  This exists in all the traditions of Buddhism I believe although it appears to be taught slightly differently in the varying schools. I will cover the technique in more detail later however Vipassana is basically the focus on sights, sounds, tastes, smells, touch and thoughts as individual 'things' and their non-permanence.  Yes it sounds strange now but it makes more sense later.  Anyway this meditation is based around the concept that everything changes and does not define you (my interpretation of my reading).  And this is what is meant by No-Self, as apposed to 'I don't exist' which was my first thought.   In this light I don't believe the concept is difficult or even that different to some of the training and therapies given in western cultures.  I relate the concept to such thinking as 'that guy is shouting at me, but it's his issue and nothing to do with me so it won't bother me'.  Now apply that to basically everything you're consciously aware of and imagine not letting any of it influence/effect/define you or who you are.  Achieving that means no craving or aversion, means Nirvana. Yes a massive simplification but hopefully and accurate one.

The fears about dissociative disorders, or blowing way your Ego(Freud) are misplaced, it's actually through and strengthening of the Ego that the line between what you are and what you are not is discovered.

I will try and find some of these papers and post the links...