On May 29, 2009, at 10:20 AM, Richard M wrote:
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Richard J. Williams"
<willy...@...> wrote:
[snip]
"This is the Vipassana practice itself which
involves carefully "scanning" the surface of
the body with one's attention and observing
the sensations with equanimity, becoming
progressively more aware of their ever-changing
nature."
In the checking notes there is a section that deals with the
problem of
what to do if the mind is not capable of thinking the mantra. The
solution is to not fight this, but to allow the mind to be drawn to
some physical sensation in the body. All well and good.
But I have always been struck by the severe warning against allowing
this to continue too long. It "...has the effect of making the mind
lazy and weakening the system". Heavens! A bit OTT?
Could it be that MMY wanted to protect his students from falling into
the hells of Vipassana?
LOL, who knows, maybe!
Pretty funny since one of the required readings as part of the
interdisciplinary requirements for all MIU students in the early days
was a translation of the Buddhist Surangama Sutra as describing and
representative of the technique of TM. I even know several dedicated
TM folks who were so in awe of this sutra that they memorized it or
even chanted it daily.
There used to even be a (horrendous) video lecture by Bevan Morris on
the subject at a TM Org website.
