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Posted by Butcho
on 6/20/2009, 4:37 pm, in reply to "question to Butch"
162.39.190.X
--Previous Message--
: Hello Butch
:
: Do you have anywhere published in details
: your way of meditaiton?
:
ren ying,
My method of meditation is pretty much the "Vipassana" or "Insight" method made famous by the Buddha. I combine Vipassana with my Hatha Yoga practice.
At its heart Vipassana is the practice of mindfulness. It is a practice that is both pragmatic and spiritual. Clarity of thought gives way to an openness to the great mystery of existence.
But for me insight comes in stages. I claim no perfection of understanding. I still catch myself being judgmental at times. But I also know that being non-judgmental does not mean not knowing an apple from a pear. Or a good piece of fruit from a bad. Being non-judgmental does not mean being stupid. Quite the contrary. It simply means not letting conditioned thinking control one's mind.
Vipassana with Hatha Yoga is a "dual" method of cultivation much like the "Cultivating Stillness" method of Taoism. Both mind and body are cultivated. Although the language is different both methods are about making a full return to the Emptiness that is empty even of emptiness, the Great Affirmation, or in the language of Taoism the full return to the Wu-Chi, to the eternal Tao. The Void that is the Source of T'ai-Chi. The axis of the wheel. Both methods are looking at the microcosmic energy centers of the body and linking them to the macrocosmic. And both methods are based upon the philosophy that everything comes out of nothing. Both go beyond the material, and yet neither denies the material.
"Every human being's essential nature is perfect and faultless, but after years of immersion in the world we easily forget our roots and take on a counterfeit nature." Lao Tzu.
I cultivate so that my original nature can shine through. I do not think the method of cultivation is nearly as important as the reason for cultivation. The heart can find its way home no matter the path it takes. But the heart has to want to. The heart of stone is content with its false self. It is asleep, fast asleep. The heart of flesh is at least to a degree alive, awake, and will not be content until it is fully awakened from the Red Chamber Dream.
The ego, the conditioned sense of self, does not want to wake up. Many are called, but few choose to heed the calling. The Spirit listeth where it willeth.
Butcho
165
"The Tao is basically utterly open. Utter openeness has no substance. It ends in endlessness, begins in beginninglessnes".
-Li Daoqun
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