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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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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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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Learned Audience, in this system of mine one Prajna produces eighty four thousand ways of wisdom, since there are that number of ‘defilements’, wisdom reveals itself, and will not be separated from the Essence of Mind. Those who understand this Dharma will be free from idle thoughts. To be free from being infatuated by one particular thought, from clinging to desire, and from falsehood; to put one’s contemplation, and to take an attitude of neither indiffernece nor attachment toward all things – this is what is meant by realising one’s own Essence of Mind for the attainment of Buddhahood.

Sutra of Hui-Neng (The)

This is Hui Neng’s learning and he keeps coming back to it. When he received the transmission from Hong Ren to become the next patriarch, Hong Ren recited the Diamond Sutra including the phrase: One should use one’s mind in such a way that it is free from attachment at which Hui Neng become enlightened.

But, this is it. In our meditation we are learning to let thoughts, feels and delusions go. And in our lives we get to practise it. It’s quite liberating really.

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Personally, when I look back over the course of my life and I look at the suffering I have caused myself and caused others, I am not proud. Indeed I am humbled by it. I think a lot of time we ignore the suffering we are causing – both to ourselves and to others. Afterall, it is uncomfortable to think about it, especially when we like to think of ourselves as good people.

Looking at suffering is important because it points us to the causes of suffering:- desire, anger and delusion.

Our meditation practice is not just about entering a peaceful state of mind. More fundamentally it is about giving ourselves a head start to dealing with the causes of suffering. I say a head start because it still requires mindfulness and the development of compassion in our daily lives.

In meditation we put thoughts and seeking at bay. In doing so we give rise to bliss. A bliss that we learn to carry into our lives. Where does this bliss come from? Well, apparently it was always there. We just covered it up with longing and with thoughts.

But bliss is subtle and desires are habitual. So we need to recondition our minds to realising that we have been covering up bliss with desire and aversion. And we need to stay alive to the fact that desire leads to suffering. In other words we need to work on the delusion that desire leads to permanent happiness.

We also need to see that the happiness that comes from attachment to pleasure and aversion to pain actually is fleeting and see the real cause of the happiness when we get what we want is that we have momentarily stopped wanting. And well, that’s partly what our meditation practice is about.

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Krishnamurti used to complain about a pain in his head. It fits though doesn’t it. Is it that we are shutting down the left brain to engage the right brain? Betty Edwards talks about a slightly altered experience. And in learning to draw through her book I can vouch for needing to perceive differently.

Curiously she says at the end of the video that we need to choose more consciously which brain we’re coming from. My question back to her is: apart from having a stroke, how? I think I’ll stick with meditation.

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Yet for me 80 minutes, which is what I do like to do in a morning, is definitely better than 15 and it seems that with 30 I’m only just getting started. But that’s just my experience.

Then there are seshins although I’ve never been on one. It must be fabulous.

What’s your experience?

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