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Michael Hawkins
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« Thread Started on Nov 14, 2009, 7:52pm » | ![[Quote]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/quote.gif) |
A very gifted ecstatic contemplative in the American Midwest — a “natural” who has engaged me through an email mentorship for the past year or so — is also the possessor of a brilliant capacity for engineering alternative-energy facilities, and is thus in great demand in the world.
Recently (but not for the first time), he brought up the subject of a rigorous and skillful meditation practice. With his busy schedule, wherein he is often on the road and living out of motel rooms, it is difficult to structure his days for the purpose of sitting a solid three hours (in three sessions), let alone spending each night lucid in the non-material realms.
For this young man, however, the main difficulty is not lack of time.
It is the fact that, when he eventually finds time to sit, he quickly merges into ever-deepening meditative absorption states (jhana/samadhi), and when a given session ends, his desire for engaging the outside world in any way has completely evaporated. He just wants to sit in a cave somewhere, content to be saturated in bliss, joy and ecstasy while the world floats by just beyond.
Many meditation teachers would hear this and say, “You see? This is why meditative absorption (jhana/samadhi) is to be avoided at all costs — it is too enticing, to readily desired, just another object to which we are liable to become attached. Just ignore it! Pay it no mind at all….”
These teachers, of course, either have no experience with jhana/samadhi, or they have been conditioned to suppress the phenomenon. This, despite the undeniable fact that the Buddha himself encouraged his students to develop and sustain — throughout their earthly lives — the various stages of absorption (jhana/samadhi).
Truth is, Gautama described the 8th and culminating stage of the Noble Eightfold Path in terms of meditative absorption — thus bestowing on us the name of this blog!
Quote:8. Right absorption (samma-samadhi)
“And what, monks, is right absorption? (i) There is the case where a monk — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful mental states — enters and remains in the first absorption (jhana): bliss (piiti) and joy (sukha) born from withdrawal, and applied and sustained attentions (vitakka and vicára). (ii) With the stilling of applied and sustained attentions (vitakka and vicára), he enters and remains in the second absorption (jhana): bliss (piiti) and joy (sukha) born of absorption, unification of awareness, applied and sustained attentions (vitakka and vicára) — internal assurance. (iii) With the fading of pleasure (piiti), he remains in equanimity, mindful and alert, and sensitive to bliss (piiti). He enters and remains in the third absorption (jhana), of which the Noble Ones declare, ‘Equanimous and mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.’ (iv) With the abandoning of pleasure and pain (sukha and dukkha)– as with the earlier disappearance of elation and anxiety — he enters and remains in the fourth absorption (jhana): purity of equanimity and mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain (sukha and dukkha). This, monks, is called right absorption.”
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So, I did not discourage this young and gifted ecstatic contemplative from meditating. For me, a rigorous and skillful meditative practice is the most valuable and meaningful thing a person can do in this world.
When all else fails, a practice that gives rise to (and maintains) bliss, joy and ecstasy will provide a strong foundation, a loyal and trustworthy base on which we may always depend.
We may lose our job, our partner may leave us, the dog may run away… but the fruit of a rigorous and skillful meditation practice will always be there, ready to dissolve our neuroses and leave us in a place of true perspective, able to cope in a stressful world that would otherwise lead us to any number of medication “solutions.”
“But,” he insisted, “you don’t understand! If I let myself become absorbed in jhana, I won’t want to do anything! I won’t want to work, won’t want to leave the house — my whole life will fall apart!”
I do understand, actually.
For many years now, I’ve shared his sentiment, and have followed it for long stretches of time.
Without a good enough motivation, what point is there in getting up from the cushion, when the world offers nothing even remotely comparable?
What it comes down to — and this is what I told him — is the motivation of helping others.
It comes down to recognizing that, through our rigorous and skillful meditation practice, we have gathered fruit (attainments) that should not be horded, but should be made available to anyone who may need them.
Does this mean that my friend should quit his job and become a dhamma teacher?
No, not necessarily.
It just means that, instead of seeing everyone in the world as a potential hindrance to our practice — as someone who “would never understand” and is thus likely to detract us from what is most important — we need to open our hearts to everyone. We need to act from this place of bliss, joy and ecstasy, so that the little things (the things that make a big difference in everyday life) pour out of us in abundance. Small acts of connectedness — a smile, a door held open, a wave of the hand so that someone else can have that parking spot — are where the fruits of a skillful and rigorous meditation practice are most readily distributed.
In turn, our practice carries outward into the world, 24/7.
At some point, of course, there may come an opportunity to talk about meditation, about the Noble Eightfold Path, about Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, or about St. John of the Cross. At some point there may come an opportunity to mentor someone, to contribute to the small (very small) pool of ecstatic contemplatives who have chosen to build their lives around their practice.
As for the incapacitation that threatens the contemplative upon coming “up” from deep samadhi, I can only say that I understand it and that it is nothing to be dismissed out-of-hand.
At the same time, however, I know that the right motivation (caring for others) is enough to do the job, and that we ecstatic contemplatives must keep this foremost in our minds.
The rest, as they say, takes care of itself.
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jhananda
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« Reply #1 on Nov 14, 2009, 9:15pm » | |
Hello friends, while the fear that one will go into samadhi and never come out, or have any interest in subsistence, might be real, nonetheless, one will find that one cannot meditate all day and night long. The mystic, who, by definition is an ecstatic contemplative, will find that if he or she spends the whole night in meditative absorption into the immaterial domains, then he or she may meditate into the material absorptions for an hour or so at the beginning and end of each day, and maybe one or two times during the day as well, but that still leaves about 8 hours a day that one needs to occupy with something. So, why not occupy oneself with subsistence?
Arguably, the accomplished mystic is the best of meditation and spiritual teachers, but the world does not seem to find much use for us. We thus must occupy ourselves with something. It might as well be right livelihood, and what is more right livelihood than alternative energy and biofuels research, or some social action, such as counseling or teaching?
So, my fellow mystics, it is your job to meditate into oblivion every day, but friends, when one returns from samadhi one will find one still has plenty of time and energy left for subsistence.
Or, just come and meditate with me if one does not want to do anything but meditate. The winters in Tucson are pleasant and mild. Let us meditate and dialog, and meditate for days, weeks and months on end. When we run out of money and get hungry, then maybe we will do something about it, or maybe we will just go to one of the many free kitchens here.
A mystic has no care about all of the other nonsense of life anyway. Tucson is full of free kitchens anyway, so we will not go hungry. So, buy a diesel van or pickup truck and come to Tucson. We will go into ecstasy every day, then eat well at the free kitchens, and/or forage food, and we can even forage fuel for the diesel engine.
Love to all, Jhananda
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Michael Hawkins
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« Reply #2 on Nov 14, 2009, 9:45pm » | |
One day, Jeffrey, the Great Western Vehicle will occupy a physical space on the planet, and we will fill our days with the elements of retreat.
Until that time, we're having to negotiate the world as best we can, building our days and nights around meditation. As you say, the "nonsense of life" is nothing to get worked up about... but I always figure that, as long as I'm playing in the sandbox, I may as well figure out how to be as skillful and joyful as possible.
That said, I think Tucson is more amenable to work-free existence than is Boulder....
Love and blessings,
Michael
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jhananda
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« Reply #3 on Nov 14, 2009, 9:59pm » | |
Well, Michael, I am making my Tonka truck mobile so that I can drive from my sandbox in Tucson to visit your sandbox in Boulder in the summer when it is easier to subsist in Boulder than it is in Tucson. Then maybe I will be able to visit other sandboxes of mystics all over the country.
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Michael Hawkins
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« Reply #4 on Nov 14, 2009, 10:22pm » | |
Hopefully we'll have an up-and-running meditation group waiting for when you get here, brother Jeffrey. We've missed you dearly....
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David Whitehouse
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« Reply #5 on Nov 15, 2009, 5:32pm » | |
Ironically I'm finding that working full time supports my practice better than being unemployed (which I was for 6 months). My boss does not give me work to do often, and I can't just go crazy, so it forces me to develop some discipline 9 hours a day and find something to occupy my time. So I just sit at my desk and either read about interesting subjects online or meditate much of the day, and then I don't have much do to when I am home except relax, watch a funny movie and meditate some more. On the weekends I don't find I'm often as strict and my practice often slips to 2 - 4 hours a day. I also don't drink coffee or tea on the weekends though.
David
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jhananda
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« Reply #6 on Nov 15, 2009, 6:59pm » | |
Hello Michael, Roamer, David, et al. Thanks Michael for your warm welcome. I do look forward to sitting with your meditation group.
David, it is good to know that you have found a job that supports your contemplative life. I believe such a job is more about right livelihood than what it is that one actually does. For me, right livelihood is periods of intense work in archaeology, followed by periods of relaxation when I can focus my attention upon long-term projects, such as writing books on meditation and the contemplative life.
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innerpilgrim
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« Reply #7 on Nov 16, 2009, 1:05am » | |
Hi Michael, I tried to post here but I see it went to your blog. Can it be moved? Thanks, Jill
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Michael Hawkins
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« Reply #8 on Nov 16, 2009, 7:41am » | |
Hi Jill,
I will cut-n-paste it....
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Michael Hawkins
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« Reply #9 on Nov 16, 2009, 7:46am » | |
Innerpilgrim wrote this to the Samma-Samadhi blog:
Quote:Dear Michael, Wonderful work you are doing here. Keep it up.
My answer to the young man is to take his dilemma to the cushion. His answers might be different than mine or yours but from a deep center (samadhi), insight arises. He’ll know what to do if he just asks his inner wisdom.
I was in a similar fix in my twenties, not feeling qualified or even inclined to teach but felt that this knowledge needed to be shared. I sat on the fence for 30 years until this wonderful internet came along and I met all you shining people on the JSG. Now occasionally I do give a little dhamma talk to individuals but still don’t want to become another Jack Kornfeld, seduced by money and power. Not my thing and yet it is what I feel is my calling.
I think one of the last lessons we learn is what do with this everyday person that tags along even after Enlightenment. But it is not an important an issue, certainly not worth a lot of worry. Nothing is.
Love to all,
Jill |
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jhananda
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« Reply #10 on Nov 16, 2009, 10:19am » | |
Hello Jill, I think religious revivals, as characterized by the reemergence of mysticism, takes all kinds of people. Some will have a more public roll, and others will have less, but they are all important to the flowering of religion from mysticism.
For instance, the record of the Gospels suggests to me that Jesus was the student of John the Baptist. Now, John the Baptist was a hard-core mendicant, which is what it takes to become a genuine mystic. But, such people are too coarse and unrefined for general appeal. Jesus, on the other hand, who was a Nazarine, was very probably more acceptable to the public. I believe John the Baptist recognized this, so once Jesus had his enlightenment, then John the Baptist left the scene clear for Jesus to shine, and got him self martyred to clear the stage.
We could say then the 12 apostles would not have come to Jesus, if John the Baptist was still on the scene, but with his dramatic exit, Jesus was made more appealing. Jesus then got his 12 apostles ready to carry the mystical message of the rigorous contemplative forward, then he too left the scene dramatically by getting himself martyred. Martyrdom is really an excellent way to establish a new religion, because the martyred one becomes the ultimate sympathetic character in myth form, which only becomes a more powerful tool for change when dead than alive.
Love to all, Jhananda
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roamer
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« Reply #11 on Nov 17, 2009, 9:56pm » | |
Micheal, Jhananda, and Inner Pilgrim,
Thank you so much for offering excellent advice for someone on the fence about how to go forward in the practice as it begins to deepen and yield fruits.
If Micheal had took out the words gifted contemplative and brilliant engineering capacity, the story described would sound very much like my own. After some practice and internal struggle I've decided my conflict between daily life and samadhi is actually an opportunity to deepen my commitment to letting the bliss from absortive meditation enter all aspects in my life.
In part this commitment required a new realization on my part, that of submission or service to jhanas. At first the jhanas came and I thought it was all the result of my efforts, now after a few years I'm starting to see that I had this a little backwards. It seems the jhanas are the gift of enjoying the company of the divine, a gift whose seeds are planted in us all. The best I can do is just try to let it unfold in my life and guide me. In that light I'm trying to do a better job of listening to my inner cues, not just on the cushion but perhaps more important out and about amongst regular people.
For me this doesn't mean go teach the dhamma, I'm not there yet. It is however much in line with what Micheal suggests, acts of mindfullness and kindness wherever opportunities arise. With the wish that I can help others find the equinimity and joy I've been lucky enough to find.
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