picture by Andy Larkin

 

 

Open Road Meditation & Mindfulness Dialogue

 

March 15, 2021

 

A note on this picture:

 

A couple of years ago I began illustrating a South Indian book on meditation and mindfulness called “A Hundred Verses of Self-Instruction” by a 19th century yogi from South India named Narayana Guru. This picture shows Verse 16, which reads as follows:

 

A very vast wasteland suddenly

flooded by a river in spate – thus comes the sound

that fills the ears and opens the eyes of the one who is never distracted;

such should be the experience of the seer par excellence.

 

Everyone who meditates probably hears about some far-off experience called “enlightenment” that’s had only after years of heroic meditation sitting in a cave. When you read this verse, you might think that’s what’s being described, but I don’t think the author intended that. In a certain sense, there’s something in us that’s always focused, never distracted. It was working when you first opened your eyes this morning and looked out on your world. It was a wordless awareness that heard every thought you’ve had today, and it monitored your heartbeat and your respiration when you were deeply asleep. If you look for it, you can’t see it, and you can’t say anything about it, other than that it Is. So the picture shows you, the “seer par excellence,” in the center, with that wordless awareness functioning continually in all these ways. As that awareness is all-filling, the author likened it to a river in full flood.

 

I hope you enjoy the picture!

 

With best wishes to all

—Andy Larkin

*

 

We are what we think.

All that we are arises with our thoughts.

With our thoughts we make the world.

 

—words of the Buddha, from The Dhammapada, version by Thomas Byrom

*

 

Welcome to our seventh meditation and mindfulness dialogue! The numbers below refer to passages from the book Your True Home by Thich Nhat Hanh. (JS)

*

 

A few months ago, I squeezed a whitehead near the tip of my nose, squeezing out a most satisfying tiny white tube of gook. It turned out that in my enthusiasm, I must have squeezed out some of the material that actually constituted that part of my nose, because the next morning there was a pit displayed there, of inestimable depth.

Over the ensuing months I have sometimes used cortisone cream or vitamin E to help along my body’s unceasing but ineffective efforts to rebuild that little piece of nasal real estate. Most of the time, I have just watched, in my bathroom mirror, the ceaseless process of rebuilding, destruction, rebuilding, etc… Had this happened sixty-five years ago, when I was fifteen (and it probably did, given all the squeezing I was doing in those days), it would have healed in a week. 

This increasing inability of my body to fight my and time’s ravishings is part of a gradual slowing down of my systems. I can feel and see, in and on my body and brain, the cascade of imperfections always coming and coming.

The falling away of functions is like being stroked; I am being prepared, so gently really, molecule by molecule, to detach completely from this pulpy shell that is me and not-me.

All ways of going are good. I am very grateful to be able to participate, so far, in this way.

 

—Ken Margolis

*

 

[Here are some excerpts from Michel’s meditation and mindfulness journal. I highly recommend the practice of keeping a journal to everyone. JS]

 

February 1, 2021

#75  Your True Nature

This idea could challenge some of us. For me, the point I think Thây is trying to make is: not only is “heaven” or “nirvana” possible, but, like the ability to awaken (be a buddha), is already contained within all of us. If this existence is simply part of the journey, then, maybe, I don’t have to attach to the identity of this self (or body driving that story). I can release those judgements—good/bad, up/down, like/dislike, etc.—and simply be. I think this is where the challenge of living arises: letting go of attachment to preconceived (or inherited) beliefs or notions about life and what comes next. We can focus on the life we live now and be part of the now. The future, not needing our control, or guidance, will attend to itself without our involvement (including whatever comes after “life.”)

We can and do (briefly) experience nirvana (“heaven on earth”). Sometimes, I think, it happens and we’re too busy with past/future concerns to notice. Other times, we realize what we’ve found and, in our excitement, we begin grasping at that (old) moment, trying to hold on to “perfection” forever. It’s fleeting, this thing called “now.” If we learn to hold gently, with open hands, we might be able to relax into a moment, become more familiar and comfortable in that space, and eventually we may even bring some of it with us to share with others.

Whatever it is, or whatever it looks/feels like, words will fail us to describe and share with others. We’ll know that they would benefit from what we found, (our experience—but one of their own), yet each person must find his/her own way to nirvana/heaven in the now. The journey is where we find “the meaning,” not the destination. I suspect this is why the Buddha had so much to say—not only do words fail us, but others (each uniquely) hear a message differently, based on their own life experience. My excitement, over a moment in heaven on earth can pull me out of my “moment….”

For me, it is like practicing zazen (just sitting) in the Zen dojo. I practice in a safe neutral space with the intent that the effect of learning to be present to the “now” will leach over into everyday life. I see heaven/nirvana interaction the same way. As I learn to be more present to “now,” I am able to do so during ordinary (non-cushion practice) life. Likewise, as I experience heaven, I can just be with this. Eventually, the experience will be transferable (translatable?) to everyday life too. May you find your nirvana soon.

 

February 4, 2021

#78  The Wounded Child

This is a toughie. I am aware of my wounded child within. I just don’t, (or haven’t been aware of how to), understand “embracing” the child within. I have made some deliberate efforts to connect. So far, I’ve not had much success even being aware of him. One day, I’ll be able to create a sense of safety for him and be attentive to his needs—through practicing mindfulness. Until then, I keep doing my best to care for this mind/body and practice mindful living often—on and off cushion—mostly “off cushion” currently.

I don’t know about you, but I want to connect with my child self—wounded or not. To reconnect, reopen, or revive the state of child-like awe and wonder—to embrace and protect that awareness. Being a “grown-up” doesn’t mean being “old.” Our world values strange, alien ideals which we were compelled/forced to adopt/adhere our self identity. A result is we close off from parts of the world, or shut down awareness to the beauty, and then struggle for the rest of our adult life to return to that connection, awareness, “innocence” we once possessed. Some never find it again, due to looking for outward objects for inward fulfillment. Our inner child, wherever he or she is hiding, is waiting to be heard, seen, loved, held, protected, and known again. We only need to be quiet, look and listen.

 

February 14, 2021

#82  Something to Believe In

It is a day dedicated to ideals of love—regardless of its origins or current capitalization. I am a little bit tender of heart. NEWS INSIDE from the Marshall Project, (Issue 6, December, 2020)

(https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/06/04/i-wonder-if-they-know-my-son-is-loved),

 

“I Wonder If They Know My Son Is Loved” by Ymilul Bates: This was a heart rending story of what one mother experienced as she visited her young son. Words fail to express other feelings for me, beyond the sadness I experience thinking of what my own mother has faced to come visit me—and I wonder how she has “felt” about all of this—worsened by guilt that I dragged my parents into this place with me. But that’s love, isn’t it? To follow your loved ones wherever they may go—emotionally, if not physically—to set aside my comfort and accept a new paradigm for “normal,” and go to a place (made to create fear and isolation) to bring and/or share comfort, compassion and love to a person I care about. I wonder if I could do it, to be strong enough to overcome discomfort and fear to share a restricted moment with an other, for whom I feel love—could I? I want to hope so. I’ve only known this side of the exchange—receiving the gift of love and compassion, the gifting of value estimation to remind me that I do have worth in this world. Whether it has been my mother and father, uncle and aunt (in person), or the generous volunteers of Group Dialogue and Theatre for OHOM, or religious volunteers and teachers—each has brought light, color, beauty, love, compassion inside, and shown me that I am more than a number, a statistic, a criminal code violation followed by a sentence, that I am still a human being, that I still have worth and value, that I am still lovable, able to love, and that I am worthy of it. The saddest, darkest hour must be for those here for whom the call never comes for a visit, a program, a call-out to school or any other life-affirming event; because these walls give back only noise, overwhelming light, or absolute darkness, (never warmth), and they never give back love, compassion, or humanity. So on this day of love, SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN is  love. We each do our part to hold on to our spark, but to fan the flame I found I must give it away to another—two sparks become a flame, many sparks can become a fire to warm ourselves, together.

(Now, I’ve paused to read…Thây.)

Thây spoke of mindfulness as the “something” to believe in, which is present in everyday concrete actions, such as sitting or drinking water. I offer this to add. Experiencing love. If I give of myself, whatever the moment may be, to the experience of love, and I do it mindfully, (focused, fully present, not distracted by past or future, or worries clouding the now), then I can sink into the moment and really feel  this love. I will also be ready to return love, fully committed and freely.

I can’t think of a time, since being incarcerated (August, 2007) to the present, or even prior to being locked away, that the idea of love has not been my quest, my holy grail. I didn’t always have the words, or the capacity to express/receive (with full awareness) love as it was offered. But I was always pursuing it as a precious gem, a treasure beyond compare, buried beneath a mountain. I have experienced various moments over the years, when awakened to the reality and beauty of love, and now know it was not a fable, or a lie, or something just for those others more special than I. To this day I still struggle and search for my place in the sun, and I Believe, when it’s my time, I’ll find the completeness held within. Until then, I can BELIEVE IN this reality I have for now, knowing I have love inside and outside these dark and musty walls.

 

February 28, 2021

#88  The Deepest Relief   (the day after turning 49!)

“…the deepest kind of relief is the realization of nirvana” (or heaven on earth, if you would prefer different terms.) The best part of today’s thought is this: Everything is “perfect” as it is; I have everything necessary to fully realize heaven on Earth for this self right now, and all I need to do to access this is—breathe, all the rest can take care of itself….

I find the allegory of farming—“cultivation” to be highly relevant. We must prepare soil for planting—tilling, weeding, fertilizing, watering, more tilling, resting, exposing to nature, etc.—then we can “plant” seeds, water and fertilize for a specific result.

I think life can be much the same. Mindfulness can be both plowing/tilling of soil—turning up the deep and rich fertile ground—and it can also be the time allowing the ground to rest in nature…. We reap what we sow, so they say—I think “they” are right…..

When I neglect all of my practice, I find the ground hard and dry; no matter how abundant the rains have been. But when I maintain even a small practice I find life is grander, and I am more of the person I desire to be. I may not attract all the butterflies and pollinators to my “field,” as I desire; at least the ones who do attend my field are appreciated and seen.

I want to encourage each and everyone to discover and develop a time and space to focus  on and to “cultivate” a garden of life. I believe it will make all the difference to be deliberate, rather than hoping for a “happy accident” to come about—it’s not as common as many wish it was. I too shall strive towards a daily, regular, focused, recharge of love.

 

—Michel Deforge

*

 

Shakespeare said: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” Like Plato’s Cave, this is a deep metaphor. When called upon, we play our parts. At the moment, I’m offstage. Nothing is required of me. I don’t have to pretend to be Johnny Stallings until I get my next cue.

 

Bright sunlight this morning (3/6/21). Always welcome this time of year. The forms and colors of Spring are vivid. I like to sit quietly, like this, in the morning. Even words like “meditation” and “mindfulness” are unnecessary. It’s too ordinary (and too extraordinary) to be named. I like how, in the last verse of the Hsin Hsin Ming, Seng Ts’an says: “No past, no future, no now.” No now!

 

—(pretending for a moment to be) Johnny Stallings

*

 

Below is a copy of the Dalai Lama’s morning meditation to begin with right intention for the day. I think you will enjoy and relate.

I thought it might be great for the dialogue people too. It makes me think of the intentions we must make to come regularly with kind and open intentions for everyone’s well being.  

This prayer was written by Shantideva, a Buddhist monk of the Mahayana tradition who lived around 700 AD. It is said that His Holiness the Dalai Lama considers this text to be THE source for developing altruism in your character and the “Spirit of Awakening.” It is also said that His Holiness the Dalai Lama recites this prayer every morning as part of his waking rituals.

 

Bodhisattva Prayer for Humanity

May I be a guard for those who need protection

A guide for those on the path

A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood

May I be a lamp in the darkness

A resting place for the weary

A healing medicine for all who are sick

A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles

And for the boundless multitudes of living beings

May I bring sustenance and awakening

Enduring like the earth and sky

Until all beings are freed from sorrow

And all are awakened.

 

What a beautiful prayer to start a new day! A Bodhisattva is a person who has attained Enlightenment, but who postpones Nirvana in order to help others to attain Enlightenment. 

 

The bodhisattva ideal:

 

The teachings of Buddhism are about your life, about being the person you are. The practices of Buddhism are about being willing to be intimate with yourself, with your idiosyncrasies. So when we talk about compassion and the ideal of the bodhisattva, we are talking about how we as ordinary people—with this body, this mind, this life, these problems—can find generosity, effort, and wisdom right here and now. We realize that they are always available.

Bodhisattvas are beings who are dedicated to the universal awakening, or enlightenment, of everyone. They exist as guides and providers of relief to suffering beings. They are models who exemplify lives dedicated to eradicating suffering in the world. Bodhisattvas can be awesome in their power, radiance, and wisdom, and they can be as ordinary as your next-door neighbor. Bodhisattvas appear wherever they can be most helpful. Being a bodhisattva is especially about being an adult – a playful, compassionate, creative adult. 

Johnny embodies the life of a bodhisattva.  I think there are others in the dialogue group that we may view this way.

 

—Katie Radditz

 

[Leaving aside questions of nirvana and enlightenment, in my view, anyone who sincerely desires to love all people, and “all creatures great and small” is in tune with the bodhisattva ideal. Maybe a bodhisattva is nothing more or less than a kind person. JS]

*

 

[Howard is doing an online study course with Nancy Yeilding and other friends on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. JS]

 

I just sent in my assignment for Nancy Yeilding’s class and I thought maybe with a little modification it could be my contribution to the meditation letter.

 

Sutra II:43

 

Perfection of the body and sense organs through destruction of impurity by self-purification.

 

The deepest inquiry of yoga was expressed by Ramana Maharshi as, “Who am I?” 

When I say “my body” or “my mind” there is a presumption of separation. There is “I” and there is “my body” and the two are at odds with each other. “I” want to “control my body” or “I” want to “control my mind” but who is this “I” who thinks it can chop pieces off of the whole and then control them?

The body is not some dog that has to be beaten into submission. But neither is it some dog that has to be well fed and trained. It is the very matrix of my being. It is the finest intelligence, awareness, the consequence of a billion years of evolution. It perceives the world and it simultaneously creates the world. There is no brain without the body…and no heart, either.

In Buddhism they say the first prerequisite for enlightenment is a human birth. 

There’s a famous Zen story in which a person brags that his master can walk on water. Another student says, “My teacher can also perform miracles. When he is tired he sleeps; when he is hungry he eats.” To me this story has infinite implications and ramifications. 

What is purity?—what is purification? Meister Eckhart said, “To be pure is to have no thoughts.”

How to have no thoughts? Listen, listen, listen. 

I feel that “tapas”—purification—is listening, with all the connotations of that beautiful word. When I am listening, there is no division. If I am listening and the voice of division arises, it is just another sound like the song of the bird or the beep beep beep of the truck backing up…it has no more “authority” than that. 

If I listen, I can sleep when I am tired and eat when I am hungry.

 

—Howard Thoresen

*

 

Here’s a recent one:

 

                     Radical Justice 

 

My dream displayed two words: radical justice.

No scene, no story, just those syllables delivered

to a man, American, in the age of gizmos, of radical

injustice careening toward catastrophe. So my outer life 

says to my inner life, What do you mean? Are you saying 

Give back the Western Hemisphere to First People here?

Are you demanding Deep reparations for slavery?

Do you specify The rich divest utterly? Do you say 

Radical kindness to all creatures of the Earth? 

 

If these, they are far beyond my power, yes? Well,

no. For if I choose to be a citizen of justice, every act 

will question: What is best for every one and all?

 

—Kim Stafford

*

 

In meditation I was made aware of the fact that I have forgotten to smile…for quite a long time. In fact, I have been unable (chosen not) to read, think about, write about, many things. I have been unwilling to communicate in many ways, including with myself, or the larger consciousness. I feel a failure (no lectures, please). Realizing that I had stopped taking my “smiling medicine,” I became aware of a song I wrote as part of a song writing challenge here at DRCI a while back. I share the lyrics despite the fact that I believe that song lyrics often don’t translate well to silent poetry. So, if any of you are “anti-rhymers”—read no further. Rhyme facilitates meter, which combines in powerful ways with melody & harmony, in my not so humble opinion. Maybe sometime I will be able to share this in its entirety, it is the best advice I can offer myself & others. Thank you so much for The Open Road in both forms, much anticipated, highly appreciated.

 

Learning To Smile

 

Without a smile, I walk a mile

Smilin’ just not my style

I miss my friends, I miss my wife

I miss my outside life

 

But there’s beauty to see

Air to breathe

Thoughts to think and hear and be

 

A smile overcomes all grief and pain

It takes me home again

So I force a smile, walk that mile

Smilin’ might become my style

 

Because there’s beauty to see

Air to breathe

Thoughts to think and hear and be

 

So, check out this smile, it’ll be here a while

It helps me through this trial

My spirit lifts, the smile grips

My mood and won’t let go

 

So there’s beauty to see

Air to breathe

Thoughts to think and hear and be

 

I’m alive, I’m headed home

When I smile I’m free

 

—T. String Clements

© 2019

*

 

I had to smile when I read the Feb 15, 2021 Open Road M & M dialogue filled with many intrigues. In particular, and most notably to me, the 3rd to the last line in the poem by Kim Stafford, which says: “My greatest gift for you is the space between words.” The reason this stood out to me is that I recently was reading a book titled Forbidden Science by Douglas Kenyon, which is a collection of articles, one of which is titled “Altered States” by Patrick Marsolek. In this is a reference to an experiment by…

 

“…Dr. Les Fehmi…a psychologist and neurofeedback researcher from Princeton, also studying the value of subjective experience, as well as what we know about the physical mechanisms of the brain. He promotes an open focus state of awareness signified by synchronous alpha frequencies in the brain. He first experienced these alpha frequencies for himself when he tried and failed. ‘At the moment of surrender I experienced a deep and profound feeling of disappointment. Fortunately, I surrendered while still connected to my EEG and while still receiving feedback. It was surprising to observe that I now produced five times the amount of alpha than before the act of surrendering.’ After learning how to open his focus and create the alpha waves, he ‘felt more open, lighter, freer, more energetic and spontaneous. A broader perspective ensued, which allowed me to experience a more whole and subtle understanding. As the letting go unfolded, I felt more intimate with sensory experience, more intuitive….’

“Fehmi found that imagining space was one of the ways to force the brain to stop grasping and move into open focus. The state is experienced as ‘a vast three-dimensional space, nothingness, absence, silence, and timelessness. The scope of our attention is not only expanded, but is experienced with greater immersion. Thus, the ground of our experience is reified, realized as a more pronounced sense of presence, a centered and unified awareness, an identity with a vast quality-less awareness in which all objects of sensation float, as myself.’ This sounds surprisingly similar to meditators’ reports when they quieted the orientation area in their brains. You can get a taste of open focus now, if you want. As you read, become aware of he space in between the letters on the page while you are attending to the words and the meaning of the words. Can you also be aware of the space between you and the paper? At the same time, is it also possible to be aware of the sounds around you? Let all of that stay with you as you attend to the words and to the meanings of the words you read.”

 

When I read Kim’s words, this immediately came to mind. I’d also like to include the next two paragraphs of this for you:

 

“Fehmi believes that the way we pay attention is important. If someone is always in narrow objective focus, he will start to experience stress, regardless of the content of his attention. Fehmi was chronically in narrow focus; that is why he experienced such a profound breakthrough. He finally gave up and went into the open focus state. Consideration of our society’s chronic narrow focus may help us to explain both rampant drug use and fascination with meditation and ecstatic spiritual states. These methods help us to alleviate the tension of remaining chronically narrow focused in our consensus trance.

“The relief that comes with altering our attention and our consciousness is more than just feeling good. Fehmi’s open focus, hypnotic trances, and other ecstatic states have been shown to bring about the remission of many stress-related symptoms, chronic pain, insomnia, even eye and skin disorders. People who have been the most narrow focused may experience the most profound results. With practice most people can experience lasting changes.”

 

I can personally attest that the more I try this idea of “space between” things, the more my body seems to relax.

 

–Joseph Opyd

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Aches and Tensions #337

 

“When I breathe in, I generate the energy of mindfulness. With this energy,  I recognize my body’s aches and tensions. I begin to embrace my body tenderly, and allow any tension to be released. Many of us accumulate a lot of tension and pressure in our bodies, working them too hard. It’s time to come home to our body. This is possible anytime, anywhere, whether we are sitting, lying, standing or walking.”

Aches and tensions I have been intimately familiar with the past two weeks – actually for about a year before that. My feet have had so much wear and tear from years of sports that I was hobbling in pain, no matter what the shoes I wore. After complicated foot surgery two weeks ago – pins, screws, splints, twenty stitches looking like black spider legs – I know the aches and pains of slow recovery.

I have returned to the practice of sitting and breathing, thirty minutes each day, this past year. Usually it takes me a little while to let go. Breathe in – I wonder how Harry and Meghan are feeling. Breathe out – Will this fingernail ever stop splitting? In – Should I divide those peonies now or wait until fall?  Out – Those dang voter suppression bills are gonna sink us if they all pass…  Finally the breath and the body prevail and the mind goes. But not lately.

The severe pain of the foot surgery has caused extreme tension in my body. I can hardly walk (nor should I), and my breathing is shallow and rapid. I resumed sitting about five days after surgery. Not easy. Aches, pain, tension create a mind disjointed from the body, let me tell you. I’m sure everyone has experienced this (or is experiencing it now) and can remember how pain can suck you dry.   The first three days of sitting were hopeless. I just sat and went through the motions, waiting for something to change. And then I read this ‘everyday wisdom,’ #337. There it was: “It’s time to come home to our body.”  And then, that is just what happened. Breathing in, breathing out – this body is miraculous. This breath is miraculous. And since then, when I sit, my body smiles and relaxes. We are back together —mind, body, breath.  And where did that pain go, anyway?

 

—Jude Russell

*

 

One of my favorite writers has been Thomas Merton. One example of why:

 

What I wear is pants.

What I do is live.

How I pray is breathe.

Who said Zen?

Wash out your mouth if you said Zen.

If you see a meditation going by, shoot it.

Who said “Love?”

Love is in the movies.

The spiritual life is something people worry about when they are so busy with something else they think they ought to be spiritual.

Spiritual life is guilt.

Up here in the woods is seen the New Testament:

that is to say,

the wind comes through the trees and you breathe it.

 

—from the memoir “Day of a Stranger,” published in the Hudson Review, Summer 1967

 

In this ground-breaking essay, Merton allows himself to speak in the unexpurgated voice of the self he was excavating to be most true. You can read the entire essay here:

 

https://hudsonreview.com/1967/07/day-of-a-stranger/

 

—Deborah Buchanan

*

 

This is for the meditation & mindfulness newsletter. It’s out of my heart, not “Your True Home.”

 

Many times in my life I would sit and deeply think to myself. This is before I knew what it was to meditate. Many times I have imagined my self being a massive stone out in the sea. With wave after crushing wave breaking on me. The wave represented all of the whips and scorns of life. Nothing could ever break me.

 

The inevitability is that the erosion, pressure & time have slowly taken their toll on me. With a full and happy heart I will turn to sand on an eternal beach inside the hourglass of time.

 

Blessings,

Peace,

Joy,

Unconditionally

Love

All

There is in Life

 

—Rocky Hutchinson

*

 

Reflections On Meditation

 

Greetings to this worthy sangha. My name is Peter Oppenheimer. I’m an old crony of Johnny Stallings. I think it was 1973. Johnny and I were spending days, and some nights, together in a hospital in South India, attending to our teacher’s teacher, a well-known guru thereabouts.  

 At one point, when I think, only Johnny and I were in the room, Guru motioned from his bed for me to come near. He said, “I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be around. Do you want to ask me anything?”  

I was taken aback. Daily I had countless questions, but in the calming aura of his presence and under the spotlight of his gaze, I couldn’t immediately think of one. “Oh yeah,” I thought and asked, “Can you teach me how to meditate?” His response was quickly made and quickly over, “Meditate on the world without you in it.” Boom.  That was/is both a tall order and has become a lifelong aspirational practice of mine.

Oddly enough, years later when I told my own guru about what his guru had suggested to me as how to meditate, he said, “That’s funny. Guru told me the opposite.  He told me to meditate on the room that I was in as being all inside and having no outside.”  

And there’s another secret of meditation. There can be many ways to meditate, but the paths all converge at the same goal. What is that goal?   

An inner quietude, an inner fortitude, an inner gratitude, an inner clarity, an inner affection, an affection both that we have tasted from others and from Nature, and an affection that we have within us as a treasure to share with others. This manifests as universal good will. These are all primary indicators of successful meditation.

If that’s the goal, then how do we get there?

During the ensuing 5 decades after those words of the guru, I have studied and practiced several types or schools of seated-meditation, such as the one taught by Johnny’s and my guru, several practices taught by different Indian schools of yoga, and zazen, the practice of Zen Buddhist meditation.  

There’s been a through-line in all of these approaches to meditation. They all start from and aim at maintaining a state of mindfulness, a “Be Here Now” approach to mental self-discipline.  Another common thread I’ve noticed is using one’s breath to help focus on the here and now. Just notice, your breath. Be with it, and in essence become your breath. In and out. In and out. Calmly. Mindfully. Affectionately. It is the energy from your breath that keeps your heart beating and the blood circulating. Be mindful of that going on.  Part of mindfulness or “being here now” includes body awareness – pains and pleasures, strains and pressures. How fully can you be with your breath and your body?  If you can be simply present for what’s going on within you, the chances are good that you will be able to be present and available to what arises in the world around you.

Sitting meditation is not for everyone.  Sometimes in the case of trauma survivors, sitting and observing one’s thoughts can be too triggering.  The state and fruits of “Meditation,” as discussed above, can be attained not only through sitting, but also if done whole-heartedly through, among others things – walking, running, dancing, drawing, singing, cooking, conversing, writing, communing with nature, laughing, sharing affection, or simply taking a moment to feel comfortable in one’s own skin and feel open to what arises. Then the practice becomes to be prepared to treat everything which arises (within and without) with generosity, uprightness, patience, enthusiasm, concentration, and  wisdom.

Finally, coming back to my Grandguru’s instruction to “meditate on the world without you in it,” years later a Zen teacher of mine, with whom I sat periods of zazen, described meditation as “cutting the storyline of your own inner narrative.”  My and Johnny’s Guru, Nitya, sometimes described meditation as shifting one’s identity from the ego-center to the spirit-center. The ego is our self with a small “s” and revolves around uniqueness, what separates us from others. Whereas the spirit-center is our Self with a large “S” and revolves around that inner spirit which ignites and unites us. When we forget or transcend our smaller self and slip into a flow state, there arises within us an identity or belongingness with the world around us. It’s a state of both peacefulness and vibrance. All of this is what I have come to know as a meditative state.

I invite and welcome any additions, corrections, questions or comments from the sangha. I will be happy to respond and continue the conversation. With Love and Best Wishes to all……

 

—Peter Oppenheimer

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[Peter is inviting people to have a dialogue with him. Feel free to use the monthly Meditation & Mindfulness Dialogue as a place to have conversation, and respond to what others have written. If people inside or outside the prison walls want to be pen pals with others in this “sangha,” let me know. I can help with that. JS]