Guest guest Posted August 17, 2006 Report Share Posted August 17, 2006 On Aug 16, 2006, at 12:18 PM, carolina112900 wrote: > > > Buddhist meditation takes everyday mind > as its natural starting point, and it > requires the development of one > particular attentional posture -- of > naked, or bare, attention. > > Defined as: > " the clear and single-minded awareness of > what actually happens to us and in us at the > successive moments of perception, " bare > attention takes this unexamined mind and opens > it up, not by trying to change anything but by > observing the mind, emotions, and body the > way they are. > > It is 'the' fundamental tenet > of Buddhist psychology that this kind of > attention is, in itself, healing: that by > constant application of this attentional > strategy, all of the Buddha's insights can > be realized for oneself. > > > As mysterious as the literature on meditation > can seem, as elusive as the koans of the > Zen master sometimes sound, there is but one > underlying instruction that is critical to > Buddhist thought. > > > Common to all schools of > thought, from Sri Lanka to Tibet, the unifying > theme of the Buddhist approach is this > remarkable imperative: " Pay precise attention, > moment by moment, to exactly what you are > experiencing, right now, separating out your > reactions from the raw sensory events. " This > is what is meant by bare attention: just the > 'bare' facts, an 'exact' registering, allowing > things to speak for themselves as if seen for > the first time, distinguishing any reactions > from the core event. > > > > DIMINISHING REACTIVITY > > In this attentional strategy that is followed > throughout the meditative path. It is both the > beginning practice and the culminating one: > only the objects of awareness change. > Beginning with the in and out breath, proceeding > to bodily sensations, feelings, thoughts, > consciousness, and finally the felt sense of I, > meditation requires the application of bare > attention to increasingly subtle phenomena. > Culminating in a state of 'choiceless awareness' > in which the categories of " observer " and that > which is observed " are no longer operational, > bare attention eventually obviates self-consciousness > and permits thekind of spontaneity that has long > intrigued the psychologically minded observers of > Eastern practices. This is the spontaneity that > Western psychologists confuse with a true self idea. > From the Buddhist perspective, such authentic actions > leap forth from the clear perception of bare attention; > there is no need to posit an intermediate agent who > performs them. > > The key to the transformational potential of bare > attention lies in the deceptively simple injunction > to separate out one's reactions from the core events > themselves. Much of the time, it turns out, our > everyday minds are in a state of reactivity. We > take this for granted, we do not question our automatic > identifications with our reactions, and we experience > ourselves at the mercy of an often hostile or > frustrating outer world or an overwhelming or > frightening inner one. > > With bare attention, we move from this automatic > identification our fear or frustration to a vantage > point form which the fear or frustration is attended > to with same dispassionate interest as anything else. > > There is enormous freedom to be gained from such > a shift. Instead of running from difficult > emotions (or hanging on to enticing ones), the > practitioner of bare attention becomes able to > 'contain' any reaction; making space for it, but > not completely identifying with it because of the > concomitant presence of nonjudgmental awareness. > > ........... > > One famous Japanese haiku illustrates this state. > It is one that Joseph Goldstein has long used to > describe the unique attentional posture of bare > attention: > > > The old pond. > A frog jumps in. > Plop! > > > Like so much else in Japanese art, the poem > expresses the Buddhist emphasis on naked attention > to the often overlooked details of everyday life. > Yet, there is another level at which the poem > may be read. Just as in the parable of the raft, > the waters of the pond can represent the mind and > the emotions. The frog jumping in becomes a thought > or feeling arising in the mind or body, while > " Plop! " represents the reverberations of that > thought or feeling, unelaborated by the forces of > reactivity. The entire poem comes to evoke the > state of bare attention in its utter simplicity. > > from the book " Thoughts without a Thinker " > by Mark Epstein, M.D. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.