--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Richard J. Williams" <richard@...> wrote: > >>> Non meditation as a term means 'no thought' which >>> is almost exactly what the term transcendental... >>> >>> meditation means, 'beyond thought'. >>> > Vaj: >> In the context of these quotes, that is not what is >> meant by non-meditation. In TM-speak, the closest >> thing I can think of is nitya-samadhi, CC, where >> samadhi allegedly is permanent and "no meditation >> necessary". In the context of Dzogchen atiyoga or >> Mahamudra, non-meditation is a state of dissolving >> any object meditated on nor any subject who >> meditates... >> > It looks like somebody put the cart before the horse. > > You've got to define first what meditation is, before > you can define non-meditation. You've been using > circular logic (regressus ad infinitum). Go figure. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parmenides_(dialogue) > > The historical Buddha himself was said to have > achieved enlightenment while meditating under a banyan > tree. Most forms of Buddhism distinguish between two > classes of meditation practices: shamatha and vipassana, > both of which are necessary for attaining enlightenment. > > The former consists of practices aimed at developing > the ability to focus the attention single-pointedly; > the latter includes practices aimed at developing > insight and wisdom through seeing the true nature of > reality. > >> It also refers to the fourth stage of Mahamudra in >> which nothing further needs to be 'meditated upon' >> or 'cultivated.' This might be somewhat similar to >> meditation on brahman, which really is not a >> conventional object. Also the state of non-meditation >> doesn't complain about thoughts or no thoughts, >> either is perfectly fine. >> > According to Feuerstein, the word meditation originally > comes from the Indo-European root 'med' -, meaning 'to > measure'. From the root med are also derived the > English words mete, medicine, modest, and moderate. It > entered English as 'meditation' through the Latin > 'meditatio', which originally indicated every type of > physical or intellectual exercise, then later evolved > into the more specific meaning 'contemplation'. > > Work cited: > > 'Yoga and Meditation (Dhyana)' > by Georg Feuerstein > Moksha Journal, Issue 1. 2006 > ISSN 1051-127X, OCLC 21878732
Those of us who responded to the initial post by Buck were just riffing off of it, each of us interpreting 'non meditation' as we saw fit. I think Buck may have meant 'non meditation' to refer to those who do not meditate, or those that did and stopped, and possibly those who meditate but do not practice TM. It seemed to me he was referring to non meditation as a kind of social disease that by virtue of those who do not meditate those who do are somehow infected by a less than stellar existence by virtue of their influence. Meditation as a specific kind of practice does not seem to naturally to occur to almost everybody, it is a behaviour learned from a very few that discovered these processes. So blaming the non meditators for not doing what oneself is doing seems kind of pointless. Interesting that you brought up Parmenides. My given name is a derivative of the name of the man who is thought to be Parmenides teacher, something I only discovered by following the link to in the wikipedia article to one about Xenophanes. I never knew that. I always rather liked Parmenides.
