Meditation

“What do like to do best in the whole world, Pooh?” “Well’, said Pooh, what I like best…” and then he had to stop and think because although eating honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called.” Winnie the Pooh. AA Milne

When I am asked on a census form to state my religion, I will write Buddhist. I was not born a Buddhist, nor am I recognized member of a Buddhist group. My wife is a real Buddhist from Thailand and does not discourage my claim to be a Buddhist, although we have many discussions about the differences between my version and her version. My wife’s name is Sanskrit, Sumala (Rathaporn) Pawakanun. She recites devotional chants in Sanskrit and Pali, the ancient language of Theravadan Buddhism.

Thailand was Siam until 1939. Human history in this part of the world, extends back thousands of years. Pottery and bronze tools have been found that date to about 5000 years ago. More recent settlements by Thai tribes came from southern China as early as the 4th century. Deshpande described Siamese Buddhist history in terms of the prolific art that emerged: “In the 13th-15th centuries, Thai tribes were assimilated, absorbing the cultures of their predecessors that had arisen from Indian religions, Hinduism and Buddhism. Mediaeval Siamese art reflected the ideas of Theravada Buddhism. The distinctive character of Siamese Buddhism lay in its ethical orientation, the pursuit of bun - religious merit - that improves the believer's karma. One common form of bun was the creation by one's own hands or by commissioning of sculptures of the Buddha that were presented to a temple. The most popular Buddha image depicts a key moment in the process by which the earthly prince Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha - a being who discovered Sublime Wisdom. Sculptors made use of a language of symbolic gestures - mudra. A combination of pose and gesture pointed to one particular episode in the life of the Buddha, some particular aspect of doctrine.”

Many years ago when the Tibetan Karmapa visited Vancouver, I attended a Bodhisattva initiation ceremony and he placed a red string around my neck that signalled my new status. The task of the Boddhisattva is to develop compassion in the service of fellow sentient beings. This book is one expression of my Boddhisattva duties. I have studied Buddhist texts from many countries, practiced meditations and developed a personal version of Buddhist philosophy which I will outline here. This is the sunshine coast school of Buddhism circa year 2550 (Buddhist calendar):

The Buddha’s path directs you toward disengagement from goal-oriented activities so that you can explore your own mind, develop insight into the really real and emerge with equanimity and compassion. Meditation is one method of understanding how our mind works, how we know things and what conclusions we can derive from our knowledge. I prefer sitting on a beach, on a mountain, in a garden, in a boat, or floating on an inflated tire on a lake. Sitting inside buildings is not so appealing. One of my practices is sky and cloud watching which requires you to lie on a grassy or mossy patch of ground and looking up. One of the rules of mediation is not to look around and become distracted. Sky watching requires you to look up at the same patch of sky and let events such as birds, clouds and insects pass without following their paths.

The practice of meditation is based on a fundamental disinterest in the redeeming possibilities of language. Meditation leads to ineffable experiences and away from the beliefs, demands and rules of the local group. The Buddha manifests his identity as a professional philosopher by sitting upright in the Lotus position, poised, calm and alert. The lotus position is stable and can be maintained for hours. He has a gentle smile and his philosophical work looks effortless and natural. The Buddha required no books, wrote no books and said nothing during years of intense mind study. He studied the processes of his own mind and focused on being present in the world. His PhD thesis required seven years sitting under the Bo tree.

• The Buddha recognized selftalk and all the other spontaneously arising contents of mind. He discovered the reactive aspects of mind and all the manifestations of selfish desire.
• The Buddha discovered the constant contest between self-interest and generosity.
• The Buddha explored the causes and nature of pride, greed, criticism, anger and hate. He explored the illusions of self.
• The Buddha revealed the truth of spacetime as a ceaseless and integral flow of events.
• The Buddha discovered the meshiness of events all interconnected; causes and effects without beginning and without end.
• He developed, compassion for sentient beings caught in Samsara – needs, desires, passions, confusion, conflict and impermanence.
• The Buddha discovered the way out – enlightenment. Even if we do not know exactly what enlightenment means, we all have a glimmer of hope that there is a state of grace available to us characterized by peace, happiness and profound understanding.
• The Buddha’s path does not point you to a college course, a career, an investment, a new car or big house as way stations or destinations on the path toward enlightenment.
• Much of the work on the path is solitary and has little or no outward manifestation.
• The path of enlightenment is a non-event and is boring. We can develop a sketch of how a highly developed mind might work and refer to an ideal or enlightened mind.
• The enlightened mind sees all, knows all, and identifies with none of the local conditions that would limit knowledge and understanding.
• The enlightened mind creates the best conditions for the greatest insight, understanding and greatest opportunity to experience rapture.
• The enlightened mind recognizes the interrelationship of all living beings; cherishes life and treats others with tolerance and compassion.
• The enlightened mind thrives in the natural world and never kills other sentient beings.

Religion for the 21st Century 2009 Edition is available in print or download formats. The book is intended for a well-educated smart reader, who is interested in a world view of religious expressions past, present, and future. The main theme is that each religious group has its own  claims and stories and will tend to reject others. A reader committed to one point of view may not accept the egalitarian review presented here.

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The  Psychology & Philosophy series was developed by Persona Digital Publications. All rights to reproduction by any means are reserved. We encourage readers to quote and paraphrase topics from Religion for the 21st Century, 2009 edition, published online and expect  citations to accompany all derivative writings. The author is Stephen Gislason and the publisher is Persona Digital Publications. Located on the Sunshine Coast, Sechelt, British Columbia, Canada.