Q. I am doing a lot of different practices now, and am often concerned as to whether they are "working" or not. What practices should I do? How do I know if my practices are working? When should I change them, never or as often as I feel like it?
G. Doing many different practices presents a challenge to determine which ones are helpful or productive. How you decide which practice to do, and if you change it, where you get the next one, are critical issues.
we have 100 billion neurons, each with possibly thousands of synaptic interconnections to others, so there are likely 50 trillion interconnections. If only 5% of them are related to "awakening"/deconstructing the "I", that leaves only 2,000,000,000,000 to be "fixed/unwound", which may take more than a few days of casual practice, despite what some tell you.
As shown below, the big, often unrecognized challenge is that the real work is occurring "off line", beyond conscious "working memory" where we endlessly discuss and evaluate how we're doing (just who ARE we talking to, anyway?). we can't even guess from the vantage point of "secondary consciousness" (capable of handling 7 +/- 2 things @ a time) what is going on in "primary consciousness" (50 trillion interconnections, massive storage and parallel processing capability).
Have "you" ever personally operated your brain centers or memory networks? Have you been able to "make" them do something, "fix" them somehow? How could you really know if your spiritual practices are working?
It's like looking at your laptop/smartphone and knowing the integrated circuits and software are working today. you only know something's not OK if sites, mail, apps, FB, etc. are garbled, erratic, slow to load, etc. Can you apply this logic to see which practices you should do and for how long?
The MOST critical element (other than persistence) is to develop an intuition, a deep inner feeling in your belly, as to what is "right". we somehow "know" when we have that feeling. It doesn't arise from endless analysis and internal debate. It isn't "in your head", it feels totally "yes".
In Zen practice, i was originally assigned the koan, "Mu", the standard first practice at Dai Bosatsu Zendo (DBZ) by the Roshi Eido Tai Shimano (now very controversial). "Mu" didn’t "hook in", "dance" or feel right at any level. In dokusan, w/Eido Roshi, i asked to use Bassui's meditative inquiry, with natural questions like "Who is this that sees, hears and understands?", and whose famous "Dharma Talk on One Mind" was in the DBZ sutra book. Eido Roshi supported this, which was a critical turning point.
my other Zen teacher, Toni Packer, was also strongly supportive of "natural" meditative inquiry. Toni is well-known for her iconoclasm in relinquishing succession of a leading Rinzai Zen Center, dropping traditional Zen rituals, garb, and practices and forming her own Springwater Center. Toni was heavily influenced by J. Krishnamurti, (controversial) w/whom i spent time, and who had a great influence.
In selecting your practice, feel what catches, and engages, your interest. The practice that is YOURS will grab you. If it doesn't deeply engage you, let go of it, for no matter how wonderful it is for others, it won't work for you, simply because you won’t do it.
Do it diligently for a month or two, before you reject it. The mind, anxious to derail this process, will be anxious to suggest another, and another practice. Resist this. Sink into the root of the practice, being absorbed so completely that it goes on by itself.
The classical approach of having a teacher, guru, roshi, etc. select the approach for "you", works to the extent that you believe it does. Belief in this process does reduce doubts and resistance that arise as the practice progresses. However, IME, that will only carry you so far; if you aren't deeply personally engaged, ultimately it won't matter who gave it to you, or if was from a burning bush, or a "sacred parchment" in a tree.
Not surprisingly, as my focus remained on meditative inquiry approaches, there is much in Happiness Beyond Thought on how to work with them.
As you progress, like a smartphone/laptop, you've been "upgraded", perhaps with a beta of next generation software, new hardware (new cognitive functional pattern or neuroplastically-modified regions), or even a new OS. you've been debugged, and had "spam" and "viruses" removed. It would be surprising if a new approach wouldn't be useful.
 |
| Toni Packer |
we have 100 billion neurons, each with possibly thousands of synaptic interconnections to others, so there are likely 50 trillion interconnections. If only 5% of them are related to "awakening"/deconstructing the "I", that leaves only 2,000,000,000,000 to be "fixed/unwound", which may take more than a few days of casual practice, despite what some tell you.
As shown below, the big, often unrecognized challenge is that the real work is occurring "off line", beyond conscious "working memory" where we endlessly discuss and evaluate how we're doing (just who ARE we talking to, anyway?). we can't even guess from the vantage point of "secondary consciousness" (capable of handling 7 +/- 2 things @ a time) what is going on in "primary consciousness" (50 trillion interconnections, massive storage and parallel processing capability).
 |
| Secondary (tiny box) and Primary (large box) consciousness relative neural capacities |
Have "you" ever personally operated your brain centers or memory networks? Have you been able to "make" them do something, "fix" them somehow? How could you really know if your spiritual practices are working?
It's like looking at your laptop/smartphone and knowing the integrated circuits and software are working today. you only know something's not OK if sites, mail, apps, FB, etc. are garbled, erratic, slow to load, etc. Can you apply this logic to see which practices you should do and for how long?
The MOST critical element (other than persistence) is to develop an intuition, a deep inner feeling in your belly, as to what is "right". we somehow "know" when we have that feeling. It doesn't arise from endless analysis and internal debate. It isn't "in your head", it feels totally "yes".
 |
| Roshi Eido Shimano |
In Zen practice, i was originally assigned the koan, "Mu", the standard first practice at Dai Bosatsu Zendo (DBZ) by the Roshi Eido Tai Shimano (now very controversial). "Mu" didn’t "hook in", "dance" or feel right at any level. In dokusan, w/Eido Roshi, i asked to use Bassui's meditative inquiry, with natural questions like "Who is this that sees, hears and understands?", and whose famous "Dharma Talk on One Mind" was in the DBZ sutra book. Eido Roshi supported this, which was a critical turning point.
my other Zen teacher, Toni Packer, was also strongly supportive of "natural" meditative inquiry. Toni is well-known for her iconoclasm in relinquishing succession of a leading Rinzai Zen Center, dropping traditional Zen rituals, garb, and practices and forming her own Springwater Center. Toni was heavily influenced by J. Krishnamurti, (controversial) w/whom i spent time, and who had a great influence.
 |
| J. Krishnamurti |
Do it diligently for a month or two, before you reject it. The mind, anxious to derail this process, will be anxious to suggest another, and another practice. Resist this. Sink into the root of the practice, being absorbed so completely that it goes on by itself.
The classical approach of having a teacher, guru, roshi, etc. select the approach for "you", works to the extent that you believe it does. Belief in this process does reduce doubts and resistance that arise as the practice progresses. However, IME, that will only carry you so far; if you aren't deeply personally engaged, ultimately it won't matter who gave it to you, or if was from a burning bush, or a "sacred parchment" in a tree.
Not surprisingly, as my focus remained on meditative inquiry approaches, there is much in Happiness Beyond Thought on how to work with them.
Practice with intensity, and integrity, and don't fool yourself; before long, things will change in your life, i.e. the metaphorical "screen" on your iPhone/laptop will be "sharper" and "stuff" will load faster. They call it "en-lightenment", because you will be lightened
before, and whether or not, awakening ever happens. Focusing on getting a HUGE experience can really hinder your efforts. The ego that (believes it) created that experience will soon take over the place with a long-term contract.
Unfolding occurs over time. you do not suddenly master playing
the violin, speaking French so no one laughs, painting abstract art or
doing quantum mechanics. you "perform" better as your capacity/understanding develop, whether or not you become
Picasso, Einstein, flawlessly fluent in French – or awakened.
Practice may at times feel flat and dry, not progressing as fast or continuously as you think it should be. your mind and thoughts surprise, disappoint, frighten and depress you. Meditation has not mysteriously created them; they were already there. With less background noise, they are now visible. With persistence, thoughts lose their strength, coherence and energy. They may return, but with smaller, duller hooks to pull you into obsessive, troublesome thoughtstreams.
When this occurs, persist for some time.
See if it is just the mind’s resistance and conditioning trying to
derail the process. Take a break for a while, like a week or two, and see if interest returns. If not, maybe it's time for the
next step. This approach may have done
its work. Don’t hang on trying harder and harder; when the boat has taken you
across the river, leave it and continue on.
As you progress, like a smartphone/laptop, you've been "upgraded", perhaps with a beta of next generation software, new hardware (new cognitive functional pattern or neuroplastically-modified regions), or even a new OS. you've been debugged, and had "spam" and "viruses" removed. It would be surprising if a new approach wouldn't be useful.
The next practice manifests from a teacher, book, YT video, etc. "When the student is ready, the teacher appears." Look for “yes” with deep knowing this is the right, next step. IME, this is a confirmation of the path; this mysterious appearance of the "right" next key to the next door.
Don't window
shop, running from workshop > workshop, teacher > teacher, or practice > practice, almost addictively. you only have so
much time to find water - either dig 100 shallow wells or one deep one.
your real nature, your natural state is stillness, happiness and presence. It is not something you need to manufacture or obtain; it is already there, running on the desktop. Just get the clouds out of the way.
your real nature, your natural state is stillness, happiness and presence. It is not something you need to manufacture or obtain; it is already there, running on the desktop. Just get the clouds out of the way.
Ramakrishna, the 19th Century Indian yogi, admonished students to “go further, go further”. At some level, you know if you are truly free. Be totally, brutally honest. There is no risk of going "past” enlightenment; there is a great loss in not going far enough.
Thanks for the post Gary, Shahul
ReplyDeleteHi Shahul,
DeleteGreat that you found it useful. There is a lot of good, practical, guidance here for many FAQs on meditation practices. Tks for the feedback.
stillness