This a full chapter in my new book coming soon!
This is an attempt to bring some clarity to Meditation in general and to give a brief preview of the Buddhist Attitude to“Full Awareness of Mind and Body Duality” as a conundrum (confusing or difficult problem or question to solve).
From the very outset, I was never keen on meditation but kept a safe distance except some academic interest for posterity.
Why?
When I was working in Colombo as a skilled person on Quality Training in general and in Hospital Administration (non existent 30 years ago and possibly even to this day), in particular. I met six guys/girls with some form of mental derangement, as a third party referral option (by some of my friends in Colombo) to me.
Psychology (I had an aversion to it from my student days) was not my interest and I referred them to a psychiatrist whom, I knew from my early days without a formal referral note (I did not want to label them with a psychological tab).He send them back to me without a formal diagnosis or label stating he could not figure out the problems in them by his way of probing.
The general impression given to me by the psychiatrist was to ignore the derangement (No Drugs prescribed, probably expecting them to disappear on their own accord) and see the outcome. That was not the way, I was used to addressing a current or recurrent problem.
I decided to dig a little, more.
The common denominator was that they all had gone into Practice of Meditation in their free time after retirement.
My prescription then even before seeing them was, if you are 65 or above, do not try NewSpecial Skills, like meditation but practice good living and take the prescribed medicine for high blood pressure, diabetes, hypothyroidism and the like. I have now lowered this age of “No Meditation without supervision” to 55.
In my case, I did not practice meditation at all but I practiced a method of my own to facilitate (“focus this moment” coming from management background of “Quality Control”) completing my pending work load.
One at a time but fully focused.
Now I call this the “Moment Meditation”.
This did good in my research work without a reliable supervisor. In all, Meditation was an antithesis to my own, normal intellectual activity (especially dealing with science and research).
My observation of these six guys and girls were;
1. They were perfectly normal in their own fields.
2. They were friends of my friends and I had an obligation.
3. They had ailments like diabetes, hypertension but never psychological.
4. They had happy families except one or two.
5. They were trustworthy and had ample free time.
6. All of them had at least one new medical problem (pain, headache, increase in frequency of daily habits, obesity, binge eating and drinking) which they never had before trying meditation practice. In other words, mental derangement was a new phenomenon.
7. They were drawn into this practice not by compulsion but by trends at that time (mind you 30 years ago).
8. They were simply experimenting and not trying to correct their defiles or acquire new merits.
In a nutshell, they were very simple guys with common sense, in day to day life but not in Mind Control (better term is Purification of Mind of impurities). My prescription was to tell them, give up the new habit, which is a very simple prescription in geriatric age (simple rearrangement of one’s bedroom or work table leads to disorientation in old age) and those guys/girls fully recovered in no time.
Why I am writing this now.
I found a few books published (even before I was born) by an erudite monk for his fellow monks.
The book enumerated five or more warnings.
1. One can go mad.
2. One can get new diseases.
3. Some diseases may disappear.
4. The diseases that had gone into hibernation might resurface.
5. One may try, to become an egocentric and compulsive teacher.
The biggest vulnerability is to become a teacher and trying to convert others to his or her fold. These things are happening in this country and around the world.
Why I do not know.
Beware!
If you an old guy please do not try uncharted territories or make others to follow you.
You are in hot water by your own misguided trips.
There are lot of Messiahs in the Youtube.
They are stage crafted to mislead and misguide, the gullible souls.Unfortunately, I think even Dr. Steven Greer probably falls into this undesirable (probably well meant but stage managed for other reasons) radar screen. There are many more coached by misinformation campaigners with sinister motives.
There are many forms including, mind control, telepathy, remote viewing and in general, subservience to propaganda protocols.
Coming back to duality of mind and matter in Buddhist context, meditation is for taming the mind and elevating it into a level of Dhamma Perspective of no soul, unsatisfactory nature of Bhava (being) and impermanence.
The egoistic belief is the most common affliction and the hindrance for perfection and forward march. One should have this perspective (Three Principles), even before sitting on a meditation session, lest one would get engrossed in elevated moods in trance states that invariably become a major hindrance to peace and purity of mind. Not only that, one should not use these states of mind, in magic craft and self elevated illusion of grandiosity.
The objective of other religions is either subservience to a almighty gods or spirits or alien contacts of some kind.
In Buddhist perspective, the sole objective is to shed these illusions and the grandiosity of self or soul. In search for the true nature or the behavior of mind / matter duality.
The"Self" preservation” is an antithesis in Dhamma.
In Dhamma;
1."Sila" or the Discipline
2."Samadhi" or Sustained Effort
3."Pagna" or Wisdom are the prerequisites.
The understanding of the three things (no permanent soul entity, impermanence and unsatisfactoriness of all events) of Dhamma is a prerequisite for attaining the goal.
No soul concept, (No binding self), impermanence and unsatisfactory nature of life of beings are the three things one should contemplate before attempting meditation.
Or else it is a waste of one’s time and energy..
May even lead to madness!
Be mindful of the goal.
It is not a gift but an achievement unsurpassed.
