The mixing of the two, Buddhism and psychotherapy is one thing but what makes it effective or not is the mixer, the person behind the "mixing". The person can empower the so-called techniques (ideas whether considered Buddhist or psychotherapy) or the person can fall into coloring it in such a way that it is not what it is in the hands of another person. Even in the world of concrete objects rather than the world of subtle meaning, we find that a hammer as a tool becomes something different in the hands of a master carpenter and even more so, in the hands of a master carpenter who is also an artist. The human mind needs to be able to access the mind before concepts that divide. Something like living in the question or innocent wonder. The two categories spoken of here can be distinguished yet we also need to know that equally well that are not separate at the deeper levels. Also no so-called technique or teaching is separate from the person who is using it. Humor, humility, compassion and the wisdom of the reality of love and all such qualities are universal, not limited to any lines we might draw by making maps of the territory. Useful but not primary, we can't get the territory from the map. Thanks be and may all farewell on their way.
Sanzen is a Japanese invention. It was encounters with anyone, not necessarily a (verified) Zen teacher, that made up early chan. See e.g. Huineng. The problem today is that sanzen is often the place of abuse. Koan practice was actually done in the open once, in front of the sangha. Zen may be Buddhist, Chan wasn't. It was a reinterpretation of Daoism with Buddhist inspirations (see Hinton: Essence of Chan). The more you study early chan, the stronger you will know by yourself. You may also find it in Broughton's Bodhidharma Anthology: concepts like karma and rebirth were already deconstructed by the group surrounding Bodhidharma. And do not make the same mistake as the Dogen school and understand "practice" as sitting!
One can still go on these adventures, and many seekers still do. Where there is a will, there is a way. And if it's your karma it will happen. I am on a similar adventure now 🙏🏼
Hello Mr. Sit head thank you for all of the work that you put into this. If you can't afford a microphone, try to put a few blankets around where you speak to cut down on the echo. These days, the quality of podcasts and sound has gotten so good that people don't enjoy listening to people who sound like they're talking in a cave.
I respectively say that you both should get new microphones. You both sound like you are speaking through a closed door. Simplicity is good, but the message has to get across.
No matter one's enthusiasm or chosen 'school', the beginner is going to have to 'find their seat'', develop some flexibility, build up their core (sitting) strength, and learn to settle the mind and slowly work up to a minimum time for the mind to purify. Eventfully, the breath will grow subtle, and the experience of unification (upacara smamdhi/access concentration ) will give rise to ''awareness''. It feels great! THEN, one begins to truly desire to deepen practice. This isn't (for most) a linear process! The main thing (at first) may be to just plant the ''seeds'' of the certainty that this path is one with heart and to be returned to as often as necessary. In the meanwhile, practice ethical restraint, sense restraint (eschew the porn, and video games that amount to ''rehearsing violence''), cultivate compassion, and BE VERY SERIOUS about ''right livelihood''! Metta!
i've been depressed for a month or a few months even whlie trying to use dharma only to cure it; thanks for making this video and interview. I just started antidepressants and they have been seriously helping my life, and i may be restarting with therapy. also, ya my experience has been very similar to yours, John. Just enough light to start SLOWLY clearing away the clouds.
Thanks for sharing - sending lots of love to you. You’re not alone - so many people have been where you are and found their way back ❤️ I’m so glad to hear that the antidepressants are helping, and I’ll say that, just speaking for myself, therapy was a game changer as well. All of it combined very helpfully with my dharma practice. Best of luck and best wishes to you
Great program, thank you! The moderator and program creator conducted a very informative and well understood teaching in addition to Joseph’s brilliant wisdom.
Thanks for this great interview. Always great too hear Meido Roshi. I love the straight up advice and clarity he offers. This type of honesty and integrity is very much needed in today's world. Blessings.
My experience is that Jhanas are needed in particular for those meditators who tend to self-castigate themselves around their practice. The blissful states are not an aim or goal but, for me, a resting place that is quite useful.
But, how do you know you are breathing without bodily sensations? You can only know the breath by feeling it. Also anapanasati is not kasina practice and is done to develop satipatthana, this includes by definition mindfulness of vedana
@@jmcfootball96 but how? If you wouldn’t have physical sensations you wouldn’t be aware of yourself breathing. „Contact“- is one of the links in the dependent origination, it happens at a sensedoor, in this case the physical body. How are you aware that there is breath?
@@omarkyon1933 thank you for the support :D I am ‚doing it‘, however the tradition I‘m in and my personal experience both tell me you can’t ‚know‘ t he breathing without contact. We only experience this world through our sense doors, breathing is no exception to this.
@@johannessannwald2719 true. I think maybe what she means by directly interacting with the breath is the experience of the breath shifts from sensation to awareness. Though it might originally be perceived through sensation, its possible the resulting experience of the breath accumulated from some combination of sensations results in a kind of "just knowing" of the breath. A kind of awareness that it is there.
I found the counter intuitive part really interesting. Like if you want to be less hungry and craving food all the time, eat less, not more. Sometimes tbings are the opposite of what we think. Understandi g cause and effect and how each new moment is created from past habits and conditionings. So do more of the tbing you want to become. Give what you want to recieve
the problem with scarce info is you get people like leigh brasington spreading bs about fake jhanas and westerners believing it coz no one knows any better.
We've had a lot of Pa Auk disciples as guests - not just Tina and Beth Upton, but Shaila Catherine, William Jackson, and Nikki Mirghafori. We've got videos of all of them here :)
