Insight Meditation (eBook)

Joseph Goldstein (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2003 | 1. Auflage
208 Seiten
Shambhala (Verlag)
978-0-8348-2445-4 (ISBN)

Infos

Thefruit of some twenty years' experience leading Buddhist meditation retreats,this book touches on a wide range of topics raised repeatedly by meditators andincludes favorite stories, key Buddhist teachings, and answers to most-askedquestions.

Textauszug

FromPartOne Fearof Enlightenment Meditatorssometimes report that fear of liberation holds them back in their practice, asthey proceed into uncharted territory, fear of the unknown becomes an obstacleto surrender. But this is not really fear of enlightenment. It is rather fearof ideas about enlightenment. We all have notions about freedom: dissolving ina great burst of light, or in a great cosmic flash. The mind might invent manydifferent images of the experience of liberation. Sometimes our ego createsimages of its own death that frighten us. Liberationmeans letting go of suffering. Do you fear the prospect of being free fromgreed? Do you fear being free from anger or delusion? Probably not. Liberationmeans freeing ourselves from those qualities in the mind that torment and limitus. So freedom is not something magical or mysterious. It does not make usweird. Enlightenment means purifying our mind and letting go of those thingsthat cause so much suffering in our lives. It is very down-to-earth. Imagineholding on to a hot burning coal. You would not fear letting go of it.Infact, once you noticed that you were holding on, you would probably drop itquickly.But we often do not recognize how we hold on to suffering. It seems to hold onto us. This is our practice: becoming aware of how suffering arises in our mindand of how we become identified with it,andlearning to let itgo.We learn through simple and direct observation, seeing the process over andover again until we understand. Whenthe Buddha described his teaching in the most concise way, he said that hetaught one thing and one thing only: suffering and the end of suffering.Understanding this reality for our self frees our mind and opens more fully thepossibilities for compassionate action in the world. OneTaste Isenlightenment gradual or is it sudden? Whole schools of Buddhism have grown uparound this issue. But it has always seemed to me that liberation is bothsudden and gradual, that there is no polarity between the two. Enlightenmentis always sudden. It is grace, when the conditions are right, it happens. Butthe path leading up to that moment is gradual. We practice, we create thefield, we prepare the ground, and the mind eventually opens suddenly andspontaneously. Then again, after sudden awakening can come a gradualcultivation and ripening of the enlightened mind. TheBuddha declared straightforwardly that our mind in its natural state is purebut that it is obscured by visiting defilements. In one of his discourses hesaid, 'The mind is radiant, shining, glowing forth, but it is stained bythe defilements that visit it. The mind is radiant, shining, glowing forth, andfrom the uprooting of defilements that visit it, it is freed.' Techniquesmay vary, but the essential teachings of the Buddha—,on the nature of sufferingand the realization of freedom—,are found in all the Buddhist traditions.Countless forms have evolved in all the places where the Dharma has flourished:India, Burma, Thailand, Tibet, China, Japan, Korea, Sri Lanka, Cambodia,Vietnam, and elsewhere. Munindra-ji told me long ago that he was familiar withover fifty techniques of insight meditation in Burma alone. Donot become attached to the idea that there is only one right way or techniqueof practicing the Dharma. Freedom and compassion are the reference points forall practice. Everything else is skillful means. There are many experiencesalong the way. As soon as we take a stand any place at all, thinking 'thisis it,' we have already overshot the great jewel of...

Produkt-Details

• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Buddhismus
• ISBN-10: 0-8348-2445-0 / 0834824450
• ISBN-13: 978-0-8348-2445-4 / 9780834824454