Staying power (1)
Sooner or later, one gets distracted. And then, one misses something - something quite significant. Hence, in order to really understand anything at all, developing the ability to remain undistracted is essential. In terms of 1st person awareness, such ability is taken to high levels of sophistication in the Buddhist training of shamatha, or calm abiding.
Intro
Anyone familiar with basics of Buddhism is aware that Buddhist training consists of ethics, meditation and wisdom, i.e. three modes of establishing oneself on the Middle Path (skt. madhyama-pratipad) common to each and every Buddhist lineage. A non-invasive form of following the Path is ethical discipline, coupled with mindfulness (standing here for meditation) and right view (standing here for wisdom). The shortest route to awakening is the Path of wisdom, direct introduction into Suchness, a top-down model of awakening, wherein the steps are pursued post-realization as a method (skt. upaya) of subsequent harmonizing and benefiting other beings. While the former path can be, and indeed should be pursued by everyone considering themselves practitioners of Buddhism in any form, the latter path is accessible only to especially gifted individuals under suitable conditions. Hence, the most effective method in terms of transformation and real-time progress is the Path of meditation. This path is actually an integration of all three aspects, being based on ethical observances plus intention/devotion and framed in right view/understading. In addition, meditation is an accessible form of training for anyone willing to do what's necessary, but general desiderata may be summed up as (1) sincere interest, and (2) relative health of bodymind.
The Path of meditation, so often equated with Buddhism in the West, consists again of three general stages: (1) preliminary training, (2) calm abiding, and (3) special insight. In this series, I will focus on calm abiding. The reason for this will hopefully become clear as we move along.
To be continued...
Intro
Anyone familiar with basics of Buddhism is aware that Buddhist training consists of ethics, meditation and wisdom, i.e. three modes of establishing oneself on the Middle Path (skt. madhyama-pratipad) common to each and every Buddhist lineage. A non-invasive form of following the Path is ethical discipline, coupled with mindfulness (standing here for meditation) and right view (standing here for wisdom). The shortest route to awakening is the Path of wisdom, direct introduction into Suchness, a top-down model of awakening, wherein the steps are pursued post-realization as a method (skt. upaya) of subsequent harmonizing and benefiting other beings. While the former path can be, and indeed should be pursued by everyone considering themselves practitioners of Buddhism in any form, the latter path is accessible only to especially gifted individuals under suitable conditions. Hence, the most effective method in terms of transformation and real-time progress is the Path of meditation. This path is actually an integration of all three aspects, being based on ethical observances plus intention/devotion and framed in right view/understading. In addition, meditation is an accessible form of training for anyone willing to do what's necessary, but general desiderata may be summed up as (1) sincere interest, and (2) relative health of bodymind.
The Path of meditation, so often equated with Buddhism in the West, consists again of three general stages: (1) preliminary training, (2) calm abiding, and (3) special insight. In this series, I will focus on calm abiding. The reason for this will hopefully become clear as we move along.
To be continued...
Labels: buddhism, meditation, shamatha
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