Leave no room for the military to thrust after political power Uphold the principle of an apolitical military

 

Leave no room for the military to thrust after political power
Uphold the principle of an apolitical military

Reproduction

Leave no room for the military to thirst after political power

Uphold the principle of an apolitical military

June 19, 2020, 4:08 pm

by Kumar David

General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is America’s highest serving military officer. He made a mistake when he appeared in a photo-op with Donald Trump, following forceful dispersal of peaceful protesters outside the White House on 1 June. He apologized, admitted it was a mistake and said "my presence in that environment created a perception that the military is involved in domestic politics". What is more crucial for Lanka’s Presidents, Prime Ministers and military brass to digest is what Gen. Milley said next: 
"We must hold dear the principle of an apolitical military which is deeply rooted in the very essence of our republic".

Several former generals have spoken out against Trump’s partisan approach to a human rights issue - equality for black Americans. His first Defence Secretary, retired Gen. James Mattis, said he never dreamed that troops would be ordered to violate the constitutional rights of their fellow citizens. However, it is this declaration from Gen. Milley, the current top serving officer, that is stunning; it is a public rebuke of the President.

Fast forward to the role of the military in Gotabhaya’s Administration. So many generals, admirals, inspector-generals, retired and serving, piles of kaki and bristling medals shine around, about, within, between and adjacent to his person. They jostle for positions and crave for Ministry Secretary-ships and Chairmanship of Corporations. Task Forces are so over-populated with generals that they trip over each other’s regalia. True it is still not time to call this Administration a military junta but that for sure is not for a scarcity of soldierly personages in the squad. The fundamental distinction between the culture and the traditions of the top echelons of America’s military and our own is that the former boldly tell the President: ‘We hold dear the fundamental principle of an apolitical military, an ethos deeply rooted in the essence of our republic’. 

Can we say this of Lanka’s military? 

Only a careless analyst will stake his intellectual reputation on such an assertion!

Though the regime has used coronavirus as a smokescreen to strengthen its stranglehold on society it has still not declared itself a ruling junta or suspended the constitution. Gota and poropaya are confident of winning the elections and have outflanked both flavours of the UNP and rendered them impotent. The SLFP is a miserable rump and crackpot Sira may lose his seat in Polonnaruwa – good riddance. The Tamils and the TNA are exhausted and have given up the fight. The ghost of Tamil polity can do no more after the LTTE pranced with the devil and the army buried thousands. The TNA and Sumanthiran have offered to boot-lick the putative dictatorship if humble pleas are entertained till 5 August after which the lick will end. Shades of GGP, but at least the old rogue got a Cabinet post in lieu of 30 pieces of silver. MAS, Sambanthan and Mave come cheap; no such offers will materialist without the monks’ blessings and fat hopes of that! Lead counsel MAS bowed his head in sheepish humility when the Court kicked him resoundingly on his soft posterior; I guess he didn’t want to displease the President. 
The Muslims cower in fear with no capacity to protect themselves from President, military or the disdain of a most Sinhala people.

To come back to my theme, ours is a military that is not prepared to tell the President "We want no part of anything that smacks of politics; we want no part of bossing around with public health, archeology, food distribution, intimidating minorities, collecting corporate and state sinecures, or accruing glowing medals on a burnished uniform for carrying your political spittoon". 

If the military leaves room to be sucked into politics it must take the blame – another share of the blame must be assigned to their overlord and his ilk.

The graver danger is long-term. 
Imagine that Gota departs for some presently unfathomable reason. 
What after that? 

The military having tasted power will continue to seek successors who ensure a military-aligned state to which their appetites are now being honed. 

Imran Khan is a case in point; his rise and continued stay in power is partly a gift from the military. 

Participation, the overbearing involvement in power of military brass is a dangerous development that cannot be reversed merely by political actors even as brave and distinguished as Imran. This is a task that will one day need the direct intervention of the people. That is the real as yet unaccomplished lesson of Pakistan.

A piece called "Wounded Democracy" Pradeep Peiris et. al in the Daily Mirror of 16 June quote a CPA survey which shows that over 90% of Sinhalese consistently "trust the military" since 2011; while 2018 parliament and political parties score a miserable 16 to 17%. 
This is a consequence of the Sinhalese victory in the Civil War. 
It was the same in Serbia despite genocide in Srebrenica. 

In Iraq Saddam’s atrocities against Shias and Kurds earned him the loyalty of the majority Sunnis, and everywhere the way to the affections of a race is to massacre an adjacent race or faith. 

Love of the military is deeply embedded in the Sinhala psyche because it won the war and Gota is playing from a strong hand when he bids for a grand-slam for a military dominated regime.

Therefore, there is an unavoidable contradiction in championing democracy. 
It is the people themselves who make a mockery of democracy. 

The grotesque Mervyn de Silva polled 150,000 votes in Gampaha in 2012, ladies of easy virtue outpoll proven, uncorrupted politicians and 90% of Lanka’s parliamentarians have not passed the O-Level. 
Such MPs, the corrupt, drug dealers and thugs win most elections. This is largely due not to vote buying, but is the outcome of a fairly free franchise. The incongruity to which there is no easy answer is what then are we attempting to shield when advocating democracy? The question is as old as democracy itself! 
The contrarian exclamations with which one throws up one’s hands in horror are: "We must preserve democracy!" 

"The masses are asses!"

The riposte to this charge is intellectually flabby but at the same time empirically impregnable. "No better form of government has been invented"! One and all call themselves republics (Latin res publica, a public affair) rule by the people, not excepting the Republic of Singapore and the People’s Republic of China. Madam Elizabeth holds titular rank in a place where her ancestors since 1648 (or at least 1688) are ceaselessly reminded that Parliament is supreme. 

Can you believe it, even an ugly tyranny like Egypt feels obliged to use the fictional name Arab Republic of Egypt?

The masses may be asses but a dangerous and profoundly false subtext is slipped in. "Since the masses are asses nothing could be better than the military taking power; great progress will flow; great achievements can be made". 
I impress on readers the frequency and duration of the cancer once it takes root. 
What progress? 
What achievements? Show me one from each box – I challenge you!

What to do when one starts forgetting passwords

 

What to do when one starts forgetting passwords

Practically nothing.

Unless of course one is proactive with the first signs of senility.

Some time ago, when I was busy (university on long term strike) and working all night downloading and testing Linux Distributions, temporarily, I forgot all the passwords for my bank accounts and emails.

With some soul searching I developed a kind of reference and more importantly put them down in writing.

Now I forget where the little note book is kept.

Mind you I have been using www.wordpress.com to Google to every possible web outlets including wikipedia and Dropbox.

So many different passwords.

Finally, I decided to take a very long break and only used my cellphone.

That has its own disadvantages Yahoo thinks I exist in one incarnation and one phone and every time I try to log in with the PC (unfortunately automated) I need damn verification of my PC.

Internet has become a pain in the neck (or ARxx may be).

I have stopped using Facebook (many reasons) and use Twitter for my photo sessions (cannot log in with the computer or my tablet). The Twitter also thinks I am of one incarnation not many like Aliens who are with us.

In fact, they treat me like an Alien.

So my decision to wind off with Internet keep my sanity intact.

Today, I plugged in an external hard disk (Suse installed) and could not boot it or read its contents. With trial and error I managed to boot with Linux tricks and it went in, in one stroke into Google Blog Spot and asked for my gmail password 19 characters long in Sinhala characters. I hit the ceiling but using my reference code I blog my universal irritation here.

Good Bye to Internet and Happy Christmas and New Year, 2019!

Conspiracies in Science, Religion and Politics

Below is an introduction I have written on the front cover of one of my many books.

I think current War in Ukiraine is the manifestation of WIN or War Machine of America.

Ukraine president is working like a CIA agent.

I have no intention of writing a book on War in Ukraine but I will bet my bottom dollar that more books will be written about it hiding all the underlying facts.

I advice the reader to read the book by Jared Diamond "guns, germs and steel"

 

It is strange that in America more people are dying due to Corona Virus and they are short even for baby milk in America.

 

Conspiracies in Science, Religion and Politics 

Internet of things is taking us to uncharted territory.

I adore its freedom, anybody with proper portal could voice his or her opinion without hindrance. There is no peer review or scrutiny. If properly used it can be a haven (not heaven) but it can be a place for raging fire/war.

The secrecy, misinformation and conspiracy are commoner garden occurrence in the corporate world. I believe conspirators have even penetrated this democratic institution. I could not find a solution to this conspiracy even in the major religions. Linux with its copy-left and sharing philosophy, has become an antithesis to this grand design. I have used this philosophy as a counter thesis to misinformation and conspiracy. This world has produced lot of nice people. I have illustrated only a few of them.

The conspiracy should be sunk at all costs.

Like a lotus that flower above muddy bottoms, we should do all what we could do to bring the truth to the surface.

Why in book form?

Internet is fluid, superficial and the contents “Go” by the “Number of Hits”, status by nature. In a book one can delve in deeper.

I have to make a confession.

I have not “fact checked” most of the claims made by certain authors. In conspiracy or speculation, “fact checking” is humanly impossible. Errors are built into the system by repetition and the difference between “fact” and “fiction” becomes almost imperceptible.

In this scenario conspiracy thrives.

I am one who is averse to lies or deception.

I want scientists to be “bona fide” true gentleman / lady and when I find so called scientists, deliberately lie for some personal or corporate gains, it is obnoxious.

Unfortunately, I have seen doctors working in alliance with representative from pharmaceutical companies, use lies, deception, partial disclosure of side effects and exaggerating flimsy benefits. Having made unwitting entry into fields foreign to my own, as a preparation for this book, now I am convinced conspiracy in theory is universal, an Achilles tendon to scientific verification.

Wikipedia had been a major source and I am thankful to all those who contribute to Wikipedia.

But any errors of commission or omission are all mine.

I have placed many personalities in this book not knowing their direct or indirect contribution to either science or conspiracy. I had no personal choices, in the selections made, in this exercise and I may have inadvertently, left out many important personalities.

I present this book to those personalities left out unwittingly, but nevertheless, suffered ridicule and reprimand for their genuine interest and dedication in seeking the truth. I hope this book is an inspiration for those who seek transparency in science, governance and politics.

Benefits of Meditation and Lapses in My Memory

Benefits of Meditation and Lapses in My Memory

I have reproduced a piece I have written 4 years ago,the reason being that I forgot all my bank cards PIN numbers for a brief period recently.

I used A's Pin Number to B's Pin number and after three attempts bank inactivated all my cards.

Mind you, I luckily had an account in a different Bank and survived until my new card arrived.

All this due to enjoying my retirement and paucity of use of the daily routines.

So I immediately, joined my account with a family member.

The other thing that one forgets is the passwords for email accounts.

I have addressed that scenario in length elsewhere.

Just like forgetting PIN numbers and passwords if one abruptly stops Practicing Meditation, what ever the benefits accrued will dissipate in no time.

That is why, I recommend (and practice MM) Moment and Frequent Meditation (mental) exercises. Having said that I have not found a solution for lapses in my memory.

I still do not carry a Memory Note with me. Now my NEW method is counting the the lapses of my memory on daily routines.

How many lapses a day?

That seems to keep my memory fine tuned.

I sometime forget to fill the bowl with water for my dog.

He is totally blind and when this happens he seems to go in circles round the house to bring attention to its needs.

He reminds me of the routine and the lapse in my memory.

My dog has a fantastic memory (in our age he is nearing 100 years) and still behaves like a 7 year old kid and won't do anything to annoy me.

That is the difference of a pet and a human soul. Humans when old becomes very grumpy for no reason.

There is lot to learn from a dog.

This is part of the introduction to my Book on Meditation.

Benefits of Meditation

There are many claims of benefit of meditation often poorly substantiated. Some of these benefit can be obtained without resort to meditation but simple change in life style.

Suppose a meditator changes his food habits drastically say to a vegetarian diet and practice meditation as a routine and finds that his blood cholesterol is lowered significantly, and then if he or she attributes it to the practice of meditation, there is a big flow in that argument.

One is not sure whether the change in diet did effect the blood cholesterol level or the practice of meditation or both did have independent or summation effect on the level of blood cholesterol. Unless one take a random sample and assess the partial correlation, then only one can attribute combination or independent effects on a particular quantity tested.

Qualitative changes cannot be tested since one cannot quantify the results. In actual fact the effect of meditation is often qualitative and very individualistic and one cannot feel the same effect a different mediator would have felt at the time of his or her meditative stance or instance/s.

This is very true as far as the Jhana States are concerned.

With that reservation in mind one can describe the many unmeasurable benefits attributed to meditation in Buddhist literature.

Metta Meditation

In Buddhist literature it is claimed that one who practises Metta Meditation falls to sleep easily and get up in the morning peacefully.

It is wished in the last three lines of the Sutta. By reciting Karaniya Metta Sutta one should feel physically and psychologically better, one is made free of illness and one attains the highest goal or victory.

That is of course the Nibbana.

They may be just wishful thinking or one may actually feels better physically and psychologically.

It is also claimed that the natural immunity to cancer and infections are increased by practicing Metta Meditation.

This is something Venerable Ajhan Brahma Wanso preaches in most of his teaching.

Present Moment Meditation

This is something that is worth discussing here. It has direct relationship to day to day activities. I believe it has significant contribution to the efficiency of one’s trained skill, simply due to the intense concentration one may apply in his or her work skill at hand (without any distraction).

It is simply the focused attention to the task at hand. If one is focused on any work, the efficiency goes up by leaps and bounds. This is very well shown in management training.

When focused attention is combined with attitude to work and other measurable increase in environmental components the work output and the efficiency levels improve.

This is something shop or floor manager can use in day to day basis.

It is called a Quality Drill.

It does not matter how one qualifies the content or the output but the efficiency of the skill concerned improve by both repeated practice and focused attention to the moment of the activity.

Samatha Meditation

There is no specific measurable benefits of Samatha Bhavana or meditation except the attainment of the four goals or paths of entry to Nibbana,

Buddhist spiritual goal is stream entry through development of Jhanas five in this life and more on celestial life.

Samatha probably is better for those who are less intelligent (One who is not able to master the finer scientific points in Dhamma).

Vipassana Meditation

This the highest goal of Buddhist meditative practice.

It is claimed that all states of Jhana can be attained by Vipassana Bhavana or Meditation. I may be wrong in this assertion but that is what is spread among the lay persons without full knowledge or the understanding of mediation.

But when I looked at the terminology, it is said that Vipassana Bhavana would not contribute to absorption states.

This (Vipassana) is called the gaining in insight by direct contemplation and vision.

Only in Samatha Bhavana one attains the Jhana absorption levels up to five.

Only when an aspirant has gained the higher Jhana level of the 5^th that one could develop the five kinds of supernatural powers (Abhiñña) the divine eye, divine ear, recall of past births, thought-reading and various psychic powers i.e. walk on water.

The attainment of the supernatural powers is not the real goal of Buddhism.

The attainment of these powers may actually be a distraction or hindrance to a true aspirant or a pathfinder of Buddhist path of glory.

The ability to absorb into Jhana states should not be the goal of Buddhist meditation.

The Jhana states have no hindrance and the Jhana/s could be the way forward of stream entry. The practice of meditation may bring many benefits and they are difficult to quantify or qualify except perhaps the benefit of present moment of meditation or focus which should be practiced without a label of a particular religion.

It is when one has labels and targets or goals of attainment, the practice of meditation becomes a commercial enterprise of undesirable consequences, ignoring the correct but simple way of development of the mental culture.

I am one who believes that mediation has value in all wakeful hours of the day.
The only exception is when one is asleep and when one dreams.

I am one who talks about dreams and write about dreams and their physiological value is unparalleled only by the practice of meditation in the wakeful state.

The meditation practice is the awareness of the wondering mind and its taming.

That is the Buddhist way.

The goal is not achieving of miracle powers, even though they may or may not come as a byproduct.

Sleeping (and dreaming) is the practice of letting the mind go into an unobtrusive and unhindered state in which the mind is unaware of the physiological inputs that operate in random manner with aberrations of awareness (of the totality) but with interludes of dreaming cycles.

On the other hand meditation is to “let go the attachments” one has with all the mental faculties both sensual and mind centered.

Goals of Buddhist Meditation

The goal is the spiritual attainment (Jhana states can be a byproduct) and stream entry by progressive cultivation of meditation basically by four common methods (there are many more).

1. Metta Meditation.

2. Samatha Meditation with Kasina or various Kamatahans.

3. Vipassana Meditation.

4. Moment Meditation (my simple creative method of short durations of multiple attempts).

This is adequately dealt by Venerable Ajhan Brahma Wanso, inthe book "Happiness Through Meditation". It is also published as “Meditation, Bliss and Beyond”.

It is the best book currently available on Meditation in general and my intention here is to make it more of global nature and take the religious tag at the moment of its use.

Memory and Meditation

I want to share a drill I practice on day to day basis.

This is especially because, I am beginning to lose my memory and there are short lapses infrequent though, but enough to raise alarm bells on my part lately.

Once I forgot all my password for bank cards briefly.

This was during our long industrial action when I had a laid back approach to life in general and sleep in particular.
I was not having an adequate sleep (totally engrossed in Linux downloads and testing the isos) at night.

This coincided with forgetting of passwords for half a dozen emails and Linux forum passwords. This shook my inner senses and I now have a ready made retrieval method based on memory drill.

The combination of Metta Meditation and Moment Meditation have worked wonders for me since then.

I now even have a simple protocol to remember 16 number Visa Card.

The memory loss was partly due to gray matter losing its material and the neural networks not recharging to peak levels, probably due to old age (this handicap is seriously encroaching my body parts, if not the brain).

Metta meditation makes one sleeps well not in one go but in two short spells (Night is the shortest spell when I do most of my work to avoid mosquito menace. The mosquitoes make me aware of my lack of Metta Meditation).

Our dog is the target animal for Metta.
Mosquitoes was the antidote to Metta.

Then in the morning I have a brief 5 minutes of Moment Meditation practice at the end of it, I have a mental list of 10 things or map out the tasks to do for the day.

If the list go up to 20, I do it in two spells like my sleep.

A morning list and an evening list.

That has worked well for the last one year and I still do not carry a piece of paper with all the tasks.

If I have to carry a piece of paper to to remind me the day to day work, I think I should say Good Bye and take first steps for the next round of birth.

That is on top of my wish list.

Since, I have not yet achieved stream entry, in spite of my mediation efforts, that will eventually happen and is only viable option left for me. There is a simple addition to that wish list. No electronic aids or tinkle to alert me of the wish list or missing tasks.

I do not use a cell phone by default. I do not want a gadget to master my brain. I rather "Master my Brain" instead without a phone alert or a piece of paper.
I wonder, how long I can practice it.

Meditation

Meditation

This is an attempt to illustrate higher or Abhidhamma Terminology.

I had been ambivalent about any attempt at meditation due to my own medical attention to some who had adverse effects very early in my medical career.

This is not an attempt to go into them but to put Reverend Narada Thera's succinct description of them in Pali terminology.

Buddhist psychology is at variance with modern psychology and there are no equivalent English terminology for Javana and Bhavanga Sota or stream of consciousness as described by William James.

Javana or impulsion of the mind is described as a bee getting attracted to a flower.

It is called Vittaka.

The intentional attention of the mind at Jhana state is called Vichara.

Jhana is a state where, when one gives  willful attention to an object of meditation for a very short duration he/she glimpses (one may or may not attain this state ) the state of mind of the beholder.
 

Its nature is evanescent.

At this point one's blood pressure may fluctuate drastically and one who is on Western medication should ask one's doctor before attempting meditation.

Meditation has no therapeutic value.

1. At first Jhana one perceive, Vittaka, Vichara, Piti, Sucka and Ekggakata

2. At second Jhana one deletes the Vittaka.

3. At third Jhana one deletes Vittaka ad Vichara

4. At fourth Jhana one admonish Vittaka, Vichara and Piti.

5. At fifth Jhana one drops even happiness or Sucka and is left with only Ekaggata.

In other words one attains equilibrium or equanimity.

That is the essence of Jhana in meditation.

Any of these states without the understanding of the basic tenants of Dhamma of Anitta, Dukka or Anatma is of no value to the practitioner.

Benefits of Meditation and Lapses in My Memory

I have reproduced a piece I have written 4 years ago,the reason being that I forgot all my bank cards PIN numbers for a brief period recently.

I used A's Pin Number to B's Pin number and after three attempts bank inactivated all my cards.

Mind you, I luckily had an account in a different Bank and survived until my new card arrived.

All this due to enjoying my retirement and paucity of use of the daily routines.

So I immediately, joined my account with a family member.

The other thing that one forgets is the passwords for email accounts.

I have addressed that scenario in length elsewhere.

Just like forgetting PIN numbers and passwords if one abruptly stops Practicing Meditation, what ever the benefits accrued will dissipate in no time.

That is why, I recommend (and practice MM) Moment and Frequent Meditation (mental) exercises. Having said that I have not found a solution for lapses in my memory.

I still do not carry a Memory Note with me. Now my NEW method is counting the the lapses of my memory on daily routines.

How many lapses a day?

That seems to keep my memory fine tuned.

I sometime forget to fill the bowl with water for my dog.

He is totally blind and when this happens he seems to go in circles round the house to bring attention to its needs.

He reminds me of the routine and the lapse in my memory.

My dog has a fantastic memory (in our age he is nearing 100 years) and still behaves like a 7 year old kid and won't do anything to annoy me.

That is the difference of a pet and a human soul. Humans when old becomes very grumpy for no reason.

There is lot to learn from a dog.

This is part of the introduction to my Book on Meditation.

Benefits of Meditation

There are many claims of benefit of meditation often poorly substantiated. Some of these benefit can be obtained without resort to meditation but simple change in life style.

Suppose a meditator changes his food habits drastically say to a vegetarian diet and practice meditation as a routine and finds that his blood cholesterol is lowered significantly, and then if he or she attributes it to the practice of meditation, there is a big flow in that argument.

One is not sure whether the change in diet did effect the blood cholesterol level or the practice of meditation or both did have independent or summation effect on the level of blood cholesterol. Unless one take a random sample and assess the partial correlation, then only one can attribute combination or independent effects on a particular quantity tested.

Qualitative changes cannot be tested since one cannot quantify the results. In actual fact the effect of meditation is often qualitative and very individualistic and one cannot feel the same effect a different mediator would have felt at the time of his or her meditative stance or instance/s.

This is very true as far as the Jhana States are concerned.

With that reservation in mind one can describe the many unmeasurable benefits attributed to meditation in Buddhist literature.

Metta Meditation

In Buddhist literature it is claimed that one who practises Metta Meditation falls to sleep easily and get up in the morning peacefully.

It is wished in the last three lines of the Sutta. By reciting Karaniya Metta Sutta one should feel physically and psychologically better, one is made free of illness and one attains the highest goal or victory.

That is of course the Nibbana.

They may be just wishful thinking or one may actually feels better physically and psychologically.

It is also claimed that the natural immunity to cancer and infections are increased by practicing Metta Meditation.

This is something Venerable Ajhan Brahma Wanso preaches in most of his teaching.

Present Moment Meditation

This is something that is worth discussing here. It has direct relationship to day to day activities. I believe it has significant contribution to the efficiency of one’s trained skill, simply due to the intense concentration one may apply in his or her work skill at hand (without any distraction).

It is simply the focused attention to the task at hand. If one is focused on any work, the efficiency goes up by leaps and bounds. This is very well shown in management training.

When focused attention is combined with attitude to work and other measurable increase in environmental components the work output and the efficiency levels improve.

This is something shop or floor manager can use in day to day basis.

It is called a Quality Drill.

It does not matter how one qualifies the content or the output but the efficiency of the skill concerned improve by both repeated practice and focused attention to the moment of the activity.

Samatha Meditation

There is no specific measurable benefits of Samatha Bhavana or meditation except the attainment of the four goals or paths of entry to Nibbana,

Buddhist spiritual goal is stream entry through development of Jhanas five in this life and more on celestial life.

Samatha probably is better for those who are less intelligent (One who is not able to master the finer scientific points in Dhamma).

Vipassana Meditation

This the highest goal of Buddhist meditative practice.

It is claimed that all states of Jhana can be attained by Vipassana Bhavana or Meditation. I may be wrong in this assertion but that is what is spread among the lay persons without full knowledge or the understanding of mediation.

But when I looked at the terminology, it is said that Vipassana Bhavana would not contribute to absorption states.

This (Vipassana) is called the gaining in insight by direct contemplation and vision.

Only in Samatha Bhavana one attains the Jhana absorption levels up to five.

Only when an aspirant has gained the higher Jhana level of the 5^th that one could develop the five kinds of supernatural powers (Abhiñña) the divine eye, divine ear, recall of past births, thought-reading and various psychic powers i.e. walk on water.

The attainment of the supernatural powers is not the real goal of Buddhism.

The attainment of these powers may actually be a distraction or hindrance to a true aspirant or a pathfinder of Buddhist path of glory.

The ability to absorb into Jhana states should not be the goal of Buddhist meditation.

The Jhana states have no hindrance and the Jhana/s could be the way forward of stream entry. The practice of meditation may bring many benefits and they are difficult to quantify or qualify except perhaps the benefit of present moment of meditation or focus which should be practiced without a label of a particular religion.

It is when one has labels and targets or goals of attainment, the practice of meditation becomes a commercial enterprise of undesirable consequences, ignoring the correct but simple way of development of the mental culture.

I am one who believes that mediation has value in all wakeful hours of the day.
The only exception is when one is asleep and when one dreams.

I am one who talks about dreams and write about dreams and their physiological value is unparalleled only by the practice of meditation in the wakeful state.

The meditation practice is the awareness of the wondering mind and its taming.

That is the Buddhist way.

The goal is not achieving of miracle powers, even though they may or may not come as a byproduct.

Sleeping (and dreaming) is the practice of letting the mind go into an unobtrusive and unhindered state in which the mind is unaware of the physiological inputs that operate in random manner with aberrations of awareness (of the totality) but with interludes of dreaming cycles.

On the other hand meditation is to “let go the attachments” one has with all the mental faculties both sensual and mind centered.

Goals of Buddhist Meditation

The goal is the spiritual attainment (Jhana states can be a byproduct) and stream entry by progressive cultivation of meditation basically by four common methods (there are many more).

1. Metta Meditation.

2. Samatha Meditation with Kasina or various Kamatahans.

3. Vipassana Meditation.

4. Moment Meditation (my simple creative method of short durations of multiple attempts).

This is adequately dealt by Venerable Ajhan Brahma Wanso, inthe book "Happiness Through Meditation". It is also published as “Meditation, Bliss and Beyond”.

It is the best book currently available on Meditation in general and my intention here is to make it more of global nature and take the religious tag at the moment of its use.

Memory and Meditation

I want to share a drill I practice on day to day basis.

This is especially because, I am beginning to lose my memory and there are short lapses infrequent though, but enough to raise alarm bells on my part lately.

Once I forgot all my password for bank cards briefly.

This was during our long industrial action when I had a laid back approach to life in general and sleep in particular.
I was not having an adequate sleep (totally engrossed in Linux downloads and testing the isos) at night.

This coincided with forgetting of passwords for half a dozen emails and Linux forum passwords. This shook my inner senses and I now have a ready made retrieval method based on memory drill.

The combination of Metta Meditation and Moment Meditation have worked wonders for me since then.

I now even have a simple protocol to remember 16 number Visa Card.

The memory loss was partly due to gray matter losing its material and the neural networks not recharging to peak levels, probably due to old age (this handicap is seriously encroaching my body parts, if not the brain).

Metta meditation makes one sleeps well not in one go but in two short spells (Night is the shortest spell when I do most of my work to avoid mosquito menace. The mosquitoes make me aware of my lack of Metta Meditation).

Our dog is the target animal for Metta.
Mosquitoes was the antidote to Metta.

Then in the morning I have a brief 5 minutes of Moment Meditation practice at the end of it, I have a mental list of 10 things or map out the tasks to do for the day.

If the list go up to 20, I do it in two spells like my sleep.

A morning list and an evening list.

That has worked well for the last one year and I still do not carry a piece of paper with all the tasks.

If I have to carry a piece of paper to to remind me the day to day work, I think I should say Good Bye and take first steps for the next round of birth.

That is on top of my wish list.

Since, I have not yet achieved stream entry, in spite of my mediation efforts, that will eventually happen and is only viable option left for me. There is a simple addition to that wish list. No electronic aids or tinkle to alert me of the wish list or missing tasks.

I do not use a cell phone by default. I do not want a gadget to master my brain. I rather "Master my Brain" instead without a phone alert or a piece of paper.
I wonder, how long I can practice it.