Hi,
Following on from the recent disussions on relative pitch etc...but
moving away from scientific/academic analysis and back into context:
A friend recently gave me some Vipasanna Meditation literature after she
just completed their 10-day course here in Oz.
It looked interesting (if not a little tough:-) so I was browsing
through their website checking it out and came across this interesting
article on "The Art of Living"
http://www.executive.dhamma.org/art.htm
In particular:
"However, one who reached the ultimate truth found a real solution. He
discovered that whenever any defilement arises in the mind,
simultaneously two things start happening at the physical level. One is
that the breath loses its normal rhythm. We start breathing hard
whenever a negativity comes into the mind. This is easy to observe. At
subtler level, some kind of biochemical reaction starts within the
body--some sensation. Every defilement will generate one sensation or
another inside, in one part of the body or another.
This is a practical solution. An ordinary person cannot observe abstract
defilements of the mind--abstract fear, anger, or passion. But with
proper training and practice, it is very easy to observe respiration and
bodily sensations--both of which are directly related to the mental
defilements.
Respiration and sensation will help me in two ways. Firstly, they will
be like my private secretaries. As soon as a defilement starts in my
mind, my breath will lose its normality; it will start shouting, 'Look,
something has gone wrong!' I cannot slap my breath; I have to accept the
warning. Similarly the sensations tell me that something has gone wrong.
Then having been warned, I start observing my respiration, my sensation,
and I find very quickly that the defilement passes away."
...
"In this way, the techniques of self-observation shows us reality in its
two aspects, inner and outer. Previously, one always looked with open
eyes, missing the inner truth. I always looked outside for the cause of
my unhappiness; I always blamed and tried to change the reality outside.
Being ignorant of the inner reality, I never understood that the cause
of suffering lies within, in my own blind reactions toward pleasant and
unpleasant sensations.
Now, with training, I can see the other side of the coin. I can be aware
of my breathing and also of what is happening inside me. Whatever it is,
breath or sensation, I learn just to observe it, without losing the
balance of the mind. I stop reacting, stop multiplying my misery.
Instead, I allow the defilement to manifest and pass away.
The more one practices this technique, the more quickly one will find
one will come out of negativity. Gradually the mind becomes freed of the
defilements; it becomes pure. A pure mind is always full of
love--selfless love for all others; full of compassion for the failings
and sufferings of others; full of joy at their success and happiness;
full of equanimity in the face of any situation. "
It got me wondering if the monks who developed the use of shakuhachi for
SuiZen were on the same track as Vipassana practice (which is an ancient
buddha meditation practice anyway) and just approaching it from a
different angle (ie: using the flute as a tool to focus, as opposed to
just sitting meditation).
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