This lead me to thinking about what are the qualities other than mindfulness needed to bring the mind to stillness; antidotes if you like. Forgiveness and acceptance are the obvious ones, both of oneself and others. Selflessness because of the snare of desire and the delusion of trying to maintain an identity. And paradoxically faith in oneself, that you’ll get through things. Commitment because we have responsibilities in the world and we can trust ourselves to meet those to the best of our ability, so stop worrying. Mindfulness of connectedness because that’s what makes us whole.

What do you think?

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1. The higher and lower siddhis (or powers) are gained by incarnation, or by drugs, words of power, intense desire or by meditation.
2. The transfer of the consciousness from a lower vehicle into a higher is part of the great creative and evolutionary process.
3. The practices and methods are not the true cause of the transfer of consciousness but they serve to remove obstacles, just as the husbandman prepares his ground for sowing.
4. The “I am” consciousness is responsible for the creation of the organs through which the sense of individuality is enjoyed.
5. Consciousness is one, yet produces the varied forms of the many.
6. Among the forms which consciousness assumes, only that which is the result of meditation is free from latent karma.
7. The activities of the liberated soul are free from the pairs of opposites. Those of other people are of three kinds.
8. From these three kinds of karma emerge those forms which are necessary for the fruition of the effects.
9. There is identity of relation between memory and the effect-producing cause, even when separated by species, time and place.
10. Desire to live being eternal, these mind-created forms are without known beginning.
11. These forms being created and held together through desire, the basic cause, personality, the effective result, mental vitality or the will to live, and the support of the outward going life or object, when these cease to attract then the forms cease likewise to be.
12. The past and the present exist in reality. The form assumed in the time concept of the present is the result of developed characteristics and holds latent seeds of future quality.
13. The characteristics, whether latent or potent, partake of the nature of the three gunas (qualities of matter).
14. The manifestation of the objective form is due to the one-pointedness of the effect-producing cause (the unification of the modifications of the chitta or mind stuff).
15. These two, consciousness and form, are distinct and separate; though forms may be similar, the consciousness may function on differing levels of being.
16. The many modifications of the one mind produce the diverse forms, which depend for existence upon those many mind impulses.
17. These forms are cognized or not, according to the qualities latent in the perceiving consciousness.
18. The Lord of the mind, the perceiver, is ever aware of the constantly active mind stuff, the effect-producing cause.
19. Because it can be seen or cognized it is apparent that the mind is not the source of illumination.
20. Neither can it know two objects simultaneously, itself and that which is external to itself.
21. If knowledge of the mind (chitta) by a remoter mind is postulated, an infinite number of knowers must be inferred, and the sequence of memory reactions would tend to infinite confusion.
22. When the spiritual intelligence which stands alone and freed from objects, reflects itself in the mind stuff, then comes awareness of the Self.
23. Then the mind stuff, reflecting both the knower and the knowable, becomes omniscient.
24. The mind stuff also, reflecting as it does an infinity of mind impressions, becomes the instrument of the Self and acts as a unifying agent.
25. The state of isolated unity (withdrawn into the true nature of the Self) is the reward of the man who can discriminate between the mind stuff and the Self, or spiritual man.
26. The mind then tends towards discrimination and increasing illumination as to the true nature of the one Self.
27. Through force of habit, however, the mind will reflect other mental impressions and perceive objects of sensuous perception.
28. These reflections are of the nature of hindrances, and the method of their overcoming is the same.
29. The man who develops non-attachment even in his aspiration after illumination and isolated unity, becomes aware, eventually, through practised discrimination, of the over-shadowing cloud of spiritual knowledge.
30. When this stage is reached then the hindrances and karma are overcome.
31. When, through the removal of the hindrances and the purification of all the sheaths, the totality of knowledge becomes available, naught further remains for the man to do.
32. The modifications of the mind stuff (or qualities of matter) through the inherent nature of the three gunas come to an end, for they have served their purpose.
33. Time, which is the sequence of the modifications of the mind, likewise terminates, giving place to the Eternal Now.
34. The state of isolated unity becomes possible when the three qualities of matter (the three gunas or potencies of nature) no longer exercise any hold over the Self. The pure spiritual consciousness withdraws into the One.

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Anyway, when we understand that difficult meditations can awaken us to our attachments they become a very interesting tool. That thought that won’t go away is asking to be embraced. By just sitting through a thought that is disturbing us we see just what our ego is gripping onto and see its fears and delusions so much more clearly. Surely that suits our purposes very much. Where is this identity that we’re mistakenly identified with based? Is this really me? Good questions. Experience compassion towards onesself, move beyond the questions and back to just sitting in awareness.

Mind you easy meditations are just as useful too. Stillness and clarity give us a taste of what we’re working towards. Like a reflection in the window. Yet the contrast highlights that we’re still coming and going. We let the easy meditations go too.

Whatever our experience in meditation, it is just experience; nothing more nor less. Don’t hold on to either because then they’re obsessions. One of the things we’re cultivating is the continuing ability of the mind to let go from moment to moment.

Just a thought. May you live in peace.

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The other psychological phenomenon this creates is isolation. People feel economically isolated and unable to contribute in the way that society informs us is the most important, which of course is economic contribution. This creates masses of stressed individuals. And we know what stress does.

Anyway, you might want to take a look at the video I found and see what you think.

It strikes me that it all comes down to identification. Wrong identification leads to isolation. The answer it strikes me is not to flatten society, but to know who we really are. I guess that’s just me.

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1. Disciples upon the Path of Discipleship are strongly influenced by Mercury and Saturn – one bringing illumination and the other offering opportunity.
2. At the various initiations, the influence of the planets affects the candidate in a totally different manner than earlier. Cyclically the energies from the constellations pour through the planetary centers.
   1. At the first initiation, the disciple has to contend with the crystallizing and destroying forces of Vulcan and Pluto. The influence of Vulcan reaches to the very depths of his nature, whilst Pluto drags to the surface and destroys all that hinders in these lower regions.
   2. At the second initiation, the candidate comes under the influence of three planets – Neptune, Venus and Jupiter. The three centers – solar plexus, heart and throat – are actively involved.
   3. At the third initiation, the Moon (veiling a hidden planet) and Mars bring about a fearful conflict, but at the end the man is released from personality control.
   4. At the fourth initiation, Mercury and Saturn again bring about great changes and unique revelation, but their effect is very different to the earlier experience.
   5. At the fifth and final initiation, Uranus and Jupiter appear and produce a “beneficent organization” of the totality of energies found in the initiate’s equipment. When this reorganization is complete, the initiate can then “escape from off the wheel and then can truly live.”

If you’re unfamiliar with the terminology, here’s what I think. The fifth initiation produces the buddhist arhat and is known as the revelation in esoteric terminology or the ressurection, the fourth is the crucifixion or renunciation, the third is transfiguration when thought is transcended, the second is the baptism or stream enterer in buddhism when desire is overcome, and the first is recognition of the inner Christ or one’s buddha nature when the physical appetite is brought under control. The problem is that these often become a source for spiritual pride and ambition. And if they’re that throw them away. I did. But from time to time they’re an interesting review of the work ahead.

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Saturn represents structure, boundaries and limitations. Psychologically speaking it represents the ego, not as some central point of I, but as a structure which we have developed to cope with the world around us.

Interestingly, I think as we tread the path Saturn represents self-enforced or self-chosen limitation. In the world of form limitations are a self-evident given. One the one hand, a clear form enables the light to shine through it into the world. And on the other hand a form that we struggle with enables us to confront the delusion in our own minds. And this is I think where the role of sila, or ethical conduct, comes in on the spiritual path.

For this reason, ethical conduct is as much a practise as meditation. In sila we are constructing a new form, which acts as a vehicle of the light, but it is not the light. To quote Bodhidharma: Buddhas do not observe precepts. Buddhas do not break precepts.

To free the mind from all improprieties is the Sila of Mind-essence;
To free the mind from all perturbations is the Dhyana of Mind-essence.
That which neither increases nor decreases is the ‘diamond’ of Mind-essence.
‘Going’ and ‘coming’ are only phases of Samadhi.

The Sutra of Hui Neng

But I think there’s more to it than this. We are simplifying our lives, reducing all of the unnecessary clutter. But we are also expressing our true nature. Meditation is ultimately an act of self-expression in a very concentrated and very limited form, i.e. sitting on a mat. This is what gives this mode of self-expression its power. Sila is like this, but carried out into the world.

In the form that we construct through sila, we see our desires made naked. Yet our very nature is free, so in the same way we choose to liberate ourselves from that very same desire and live moment to moment, just like in the moment to moment awareness of dhyana. All forms are after all impermanent. Coming and going are only phases of samadhi.

So who knows what Saturn will bring, as it continues the transit of the 12th house, but it does seem to be the clearing up of old forms and the preparation of new ones.

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Atisha, a Buddhist Master who rised in Tibet during the 11th century, made a list of greatest achievements, which I’ve cut down and rearranged to the paramitas.

The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

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Alcohol and drugs harm this part of the brain, which is why perhaps you often find injunctions to not drink or take drugs.

On the other hand, from what I can gather sleep, regular high protein meals, exercise, goal setting and following, and most interestingly meditation all help to develop the prefrontal cortex.

It seems that meditation thickens the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) which controls the amygdala (anger and fear), the hypothalamus (appetite, sex drive), the nucleus ambens (pleasure) and the insula (empathy).

But if we were to support our meditation practice, we could engage in exercise, in fact all the things we listed above. And again from what I’ve been able to find, Omega-3 oils play an important role in brain function, according to Amen in Change Your Brain, Change Your Body, who also says that DHA, which is in flaxseed oils “is critical for normal brain development in fetuses and infants and for the maintenance of normal brain function throughout life.”

What’s also interesting is that the ACC seems to contain a lot of serotonin transporters. Amen says elsewhere that Inositol is “a natural chemical found in the brain that is reported to help neurons use serotonin more efficiently.”

And how about this? Vitamin D3 “activates receptors on neurons in regions important in the regulation of behavior, and it protects the brain by acting in an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capacity.”

But don’t accept what I’ve found out. Rather think about how your physical lifestyle is affecting your practice.

Something I’d like to add is that there is a deliberate practice that uses the ajna chakra, or 3rd eye as it’s sometimes called. The “ā” meditation, which uses a process of visualisation and an energy sweep through the ajna chakra.

And then there’s mindfulness of emptiness, beyond thought. Perhaps the physical brain correspondence here is the connection between the PFC and the cerebellum. Perhaps strengthening this connection is the physical correspondence of opening the third eye. Food for thought, don’t you think?

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There’s been a whole lot of evidence over the past few years that meditation impacts the brain. And different types of meditation impact the brain differently. I think that this is an interesting area of study and I want to write more about this. The reason that I haven’t written for the past two weeks is that I have found a whole new approach to this which I’ve been using my spare time to study.

For example, the cerebellum appears to be responsible for the speed of thought amongst other things. And negative thinking appears to impair this part of the brain. Conversely it is stimulated by gratitude and positive thinking. I know that when I get into a negative frame of mind that I can’t think. So controlling negative thoughts isn’t just something we’re doing for the greater good, it’s also something we’re doing for our own brain in order to function well. What this also tells me is that we’re not designed to be negative. Get smart by keeping those negative thoughts at bay.

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At this moment you are the buddha.
Take care of the buddha twenty-four hours; cultivate the buddha twenty-four hours.
Not for a single moment forget to remember your buddhahood.
As your remembrance deepens, as your awareness becomes clear, as you dissolve into your witnessing, the buddha spontaneously arises – in your actions, in your words, in your silences.
He becomes your whole life, and a life of great joy, a life of blessings, a life which is pure poetry, essential music,
an eternal dance.
At this moment you are the buddha.
Take care of the buddha twenty-four hours; cultivate the buddha twenty-four hours.
Not for a single moment forget to remember your buddhahood.
As your remembrance deepens, as your awareness becomes clear, as you dissolve into your witnessing, the buddha spontaneously arises – in your actions, in your words, in your silences.
He becomes your whole life, and a life of great joy, a life of blessings, a life which is pure poetry, essential music,
an eternal dance.

Osho

I came across this quote yesterday and thought it was a really nice description of the process. The ending of longing and obsessive thinking through mindfulness leads to the awakening of the intuitive nature.

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