Uses and misuses of mindfulness meditation

[firecat]

Executive summary: It's a tool, and as with many tools, you can either create/repair nifty stuff with it, or you can injure yourself with it.

http://www.tricycle.com/blog/meditation-nation

This helps me understand why, although I love studying Buddhism and listening to dharma talks, I resist the meditation part -- I've done enough of it to sense that there might be a lot of pain to wade through if I do it a lot more. (Not recommending this behavior, just observing.)

Comments

[mithriltabby]

To me, meditation is like hitting the gym to exercise a particular muscle— in particular, the “letting go” muscle. It comes in handy for discarding looping thoughts. But it can dredge up stuff when I observe my mind and wonder “where did that come from?”

Speaking of Buddhism, have you tried Brad Warner’s work? I find him very accessible (and my mother thinks he’s the next Alan Watts), though it was James Austin’s work that got me into Zen.

[firecat]

I haven't tried Warner or Austen. I really like Stephen Batchelor's Buddha Without Beliefs and the AudioDharma podcasts.