On 5/28/2014 11:37 PM, [email protected] [FairfieldLife] wrote:
I was thinking about those here, that I know of - Barry, Barry2, and
Anne - who have closely studied with a guru, or spiritual teacher, and
how the concept, the practice of mindfulness, makes a lot of sense, in
that context.
>
Mindfulness is meditation, a practice which involves thinking. The term
"mindfulness" is really a misnomer because the whole idea of yogic
meditation is to transcend the mind of discursive thinking and to
experience emptiness. The goal of both mindfulness and meditation is
yoga - the experience of /samadhi/.
The potential problem with some teachers-student relationships is that
the teacher may become the focus of the meditation and thus tend to keep
the seeker on the conscious level of thinking - the meditation often
becomes a form of /guru yoga/.
For example, Fred Lenz used to put a framed photo Chinmoy on a coffee
table and have his students meditate on the image, calling it "The
Transcendental." Apparently this had an adverse effect on some seekers.
Go figure.
My Guru, the Lama:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/367198
>
As I have expressed before, I am not a big fan of mindfulness, as a
meditation practice, on its own, eyes open, or closed, because to my
way of thinking, it puts the cart before the horse. However, I can see
the strong value in having a spiritual teacher that a person actually
has a personal relationship with, combined with mindfulness.
That way, the teacher is functioning, much like the correct use of the
mantra, in TM - bringing the student to subtler levels and
experiences, without the student having a say, in where they want to
go (aka, take it easy, take it as it comes). Breaks boundaries, quickly.
Seems to me, that the advantage, of a personal relationship, with a
spiritual teacher, combined with mindfulness, if done right, would be
big, dramatic breakthroughs, in many, many areas - much faster, than
the gradual 'erosion' of the mantra - though possible not as
comprehensive, either...Both of the Barrys have mentioned significant
interactions, as a result of, both, their attention, or mindfulness,
on where the guru was pointing, in addition to the strength of the
experience, itself, as a result of the guru's proximity.
A risky spiritual investment, with a potentially huge upside, and
downside - an interesting way to roll.
Barrys and Anne (and anyone else), any insights, comments, peanuts,
popcorn, confetti, fun-fetti, hair-in-a-can, or spare change??
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