March 21, 2010
- Zen, Vipassana, & Becoming Impermanence ~ Shinzen Young -
Found this Shinzen Young video that explains the differences between a Burmese Vipassana and Zazen better than I ever could. This is kind of what I meant when I said “the Burmese Vipassana seems to be at odds with my Zazen”…
See also, Brad Warner’s recent post on Zen-as-Art. Key passage:
It’s really up to you. Furthermore, beyond the basics I teach you, it’s up to you to come up with your own style of playing. Your style will be influenced by what I’ve taught you. But if you’re any good at all you’ll be able to incorporate those influences into something uniquely your own.
I think that’s how good Zen teaching should function as well. Good Zen teachers shouldn’t try to unify what they teach any more than poets should try to make their poems all sound the same or novelists should try to write the same book. That would be counter to their art.
Fascinating! Thanks for that.
There was this one meditation teacher who told me that meditation is improv all the time, I have my own understanding of what she meant and it seems to correspond to the second quote you have posted.
Comment by Pavel — March 24, 2010 @ 7:15 pm
Yeah, glad you caught this one Powell, it was sort of a continuation of our earlier discussion. :)
The question of “how” to meditate is a tough one. Too much improv, and it’s difficult to compare notes (with other students or with a teacher), but too many rules and you make little progress.
Like, I couldn’t go up to a Zen instructor (as far as I know) and start talking to them about Daniel Ingram’s janas and nanas. That’s not the way spiritual training works in Zen, even if it is how it works in Burmese Therevada. And they both WORK, is the thing, but if you’re looking for training, its best to follow the training regimen offered.
Of course, improv freestyle meditation is a viable alternative, I think, but there you run the risk of getting lost in the wilderness. We only have so much time to “get it done”…
The best path though, as always, is very likely the middle path. :)
Comment by Ian — March 24, 2010 @ 8:05 pm
I wonder if it is possible to get lost in the wilderness, I feel like it happens to me all the time, but there is also an element of progression and learning in it. Given the non-linear nature of the path I do not have the clarity to be able to tell whether I am ever getting lost, the best I can do is make assumptions. Given that there are so many metaphors to what we are looking for, it should be quite hard to look for the wrong thing :-) (or fail to look at all)
Anyhow, anyway and anywhere, I really like this new line of research on your blog, the fact that you are going for meditation full throttle and in general the progression that your writing has made, it is a pleasure to come over here.
Comment by Pavel — March 25, 2010 @ 12:12 pm
Thanks Pavel, I am glad its enjoyable. I do kind of feel I’ve streamlines things in a good way here, so I can keep content flowing along with my explorations without getting overly analytic/head-brained about it. Trying to walk a fine line between good quality content and overly thought-out writing. Gotta keep my self balanced…
Although there’s a smiley face here, I think you’ve made a really deep point. In the past, having a specific spiritual training regime was important, because other than those regimes, there was nothing. No internet, certainly, and few books. Plus, its not like books on esoteric subjects were often translated. Therefore, if you lived in India, and wanted to do some spiritual work, you had Yoga. In Japan, Zen, Shinto, Shingon, whatever. But all systems that worked were created within a certain cultural matrix. Going off the main path in such cases probably was pointless, for the most part, as the “wilderness” was much larger, and there were no roads between the various “towns”.
Now that all the cultural matrices are joining together though, we finally, for the first time in history, have all these “many metaphors” easily available to us. And so, perhaps, also for the first time in history, a sort of improv spirituality is at last possible. The puzzle pieces are coming together.
It really is a beautiful time to be alive. On the other hand, there’s also that Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times…” :)
Comment by Ian — March 25, 2010 @ 12:30 pm
Traditions and standardized conceptual frameworks can also provide the means by which people can talk to each other about experiences and techniques that might otherwise be very hard to explain clearly. I have a friend from another mystical tradition who knows much that I find useful and interesting, but it took us months to even begin to line up our terminology so that we could benefit from each other’s understanding.
MTCB, page 93 :)
Comment by Ian — March 26, 2010 @ 4:27 pm
It’s a great book, it seems to cover everything.
Comment by Pavel — March 27, 2010 @ 9:25 am