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      • A ‘Mandala of Love’ approach to Meditation
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      • The Content of the Mind is Not Important
      • Non-Duality – Buddha, Jesus, and Plato
      • Objectivity – Meditation and Thinking
    • ‘Meditation’ 2017 May-Jun
      • René Descartes’ Error
      • Mindfulness – The Buddha’s ‘Remembering’ practice
      • Egoic consciousness – Divided against itself
      • Nurturing an Authentic Self
      • The Four Brahmavihāras – Four Attitudes of Consciousness
      • Mettā – Consciousness as Loving-Kindness
      • The Ethical and Relational Nature of Consciousness
      • The Brahmavihāras – the Soul’s Moral Compass
    • ‘Meditation’ Jul-Aug 2017
      • Upekṣā – Equanimity – Touching the Cosmic Stillness
      • Resting the Mental Body in the Field of Consciousness
      • The Mirror of Consciousness and the Mirror of Narcissism
      • The Hara – the Mysterious Second Chakra
      • The ‘Hell Realms’ – Inner Victims and Inner Persecutors
      • Muditā – Sympathetic Joy – A Sense of Wonder
    • ‘Meditation’ Sept-Oct 2017
      • Sympathetic Joy – an Attitude and an Energetic State
      • Zen and the Art of Human Life
      • Zazen – Just Sitting – Resting as Consciousness
      • Plato’s Cave Revisited
      • The Yin and Yang of Embodied Consciousness
    • ‘Meditation’ Nov-Dec 2017
      • Feeling – The Discernment of Goodness, Value and Beauty
      • Mettā – Living as Love and Contentment
      • Mettā – Healing the Egoic Shadow of Love
    • ‘Meditation’ Jan-Apr 2018
      • The Preta Realm – Deprivation, Despair, and Addiction
      • Flowing with the Currents of Feeling – our Psychological Parts
      • Mettā – Being Unconditionally Present with Feeling
      • Empathy and Self-Empathy – Communication and Self-Enquiry
    • ‘Meditation’ May-Aug 2018
      • Feminine and Masculine – Energy and Presence
      • The Yin and Yang of Love and Compassion
      • The Asura Realm – Intuition and the Egoic Will
      • The Mandala and the Stupa
      • The Somatic Anatomy of the Energy Bodies
      • The Mandala of the Four Brahmavihāras
    • ‘Meditation’ Sept-Oct 2018
      • Consciousness, Meditation and the Four Qualia
      • The Beneficial Life Energy of Needs
      • Life Energies of Presence and Connection
    • ‘Meditation’ Nov-Dec 2018
      • Compassion and the All-Accomplishing Wisdom
  • Buddhism
    • Buddhism 2019
      • The Dharmadhātu Wisdom
      • Akashadhateshvari – Luminous Space
      • The Five Skandhas – Dakini Wisdom
      • The Five Skandhas – the Cognitive-Perceptual Components
      • The Emptiness of Form – the Rūpa Skandha
  • NVC
    • Nonviolent Communication (NVC) – Mandala Wisdom
  • Book Sections
    • Book Sections April 2017
      • Preface to ‘A Mandala of Love: Consciousness, Ethics and Society’
      • Introduction to the Mandala of Love book blog
      • The Cross and the Mandala
    • Book Sections May-Jun 2017
      • Carl Jung’s Psychology of the Archetypes
      • The Mandala as the Landscape of the Soul
      • Buddhas and Bodhisattvas – Archetypes of Consciousness
      • Jung’s Phenomenology of the Soul
      • Egoic Consciousness and its Shadow
  • Home
  • Meditation
    • ‘Meditation’ April 2017
      • A ‘Mandala of Love’ approach to Meditation
      • Self-Inquiry – Familiarising ourselves with Consciousness
      • The Content of the Mind is Not Important
      • Non-Duality – Buddha, Jesus, and Plato
      • Objectivity – Meditation and Thinking
    • ‘Meditation’ 2017 May-Jun
      • René Descartes’ Error
      • Mindfulness – The Buddha’s ‘Remembering’ practice
      • Egoic consciousness – Divided against itself
      • Nurturing an Authentic Self
      • The Four Brahmavihāras – Four Attitudes of Consciousness
      • Mettā – Consciousness as Loving-Kindness
      • The Ethical and Relational Nature of Consciousness
      • The Brahmavihāras – the Soul’s Moral Compass
    • ‘Meditation’ Jul-Aug 2017
      • Upekṣā – Equanimity – Touching the Cosmic Stillness
      • Resting the Mental Body in the Field of Consciousness
      • The Mirror of Consciousness and the Mirror of Narcissism
      • The Hara – the Mysterious Second Chakra
      • The ‘Hell Realms’ – Inner Victims and Inner Persecutors
      • Muditā – Sympathetic Joy – A Sense of Wonder
    • ‘Meditation’ Sept-Oct 2017
      • Sympathetic Joy – an Attitude and an Energetic State
      • Zen and the Art of Human Life
      • Zazen – Just Sitting – Resting as Consciousness
      • Plato’s Cave Revisited
      • The Yin and Yang of Embodied Consciousness
    • ‘Meditation’ Nov-Dec 2017
      • Feeling – The Discernment of Goodness, Value and Beauty
      • Mettā – Living as Love and Contentment
      • Mettā – Healing the Egoic Shadow of Love
    • ‘Meditation’ Jan-Apr 2018
      • The Preta Realm – Deprivation, Despair, and Addiction
      • Flowing with the Currents of Feeling – our Psychological Parts
      • Mettā – Being Unconditionally Present with Feeling
      • Empathy and Self-Empathy – Communication and Self-Enquiry
    • ‘Meditation’ May-Aug 2018
      • Feminine and Masculine – Energy and Presence
      • The Yin and Yang of Love and Compassion
      • The Asura Realm – Intuition and the Egoic Will
      • The Mandala and the Stupa
      • The Somatic Anatomy of the Energy Bodies
      • The Mandala of the Four Brahmavihāras
    • ‘Meditation’ Sept-Oct 2018
      • Consciousness, Meditation and the Four Qualia
      • The Beneficial Life Energy of Needs
      • Life Energies of Presence and Connection
    • ‘Meditation’ Nov-Dec 2018
      • Compassion and the All-Accomplishing Wisdom
  • Buddhism
    • Buddhism 2019
      • The Dharmadhātu Wisdom
      • Akashadhateshvari – Luminous Space
      • The Five Skandhas – Dakini Wisdom
      • The Five Skandhas – the Cognitive-Perceptual Components
      • The Emptiness of Form – the Rūpa Skandha
  • NVC
    • Nonviolent Communication (NVC) – Mandala Wisdom
  • Book Sections
    • Book Sections April 2017
      • Preface to ‘A Mandala of Love: Consciousness, Ethics and Society’
      • Introduction to the Mandala of Love book blog
      • The Cross and the Mandala
    • Book Sections May-Jun 2017
      • Carl Jung’s Psychology of the Archetypes
      • The Mandala as the Landscape of the Soul
      • Buddhas and Bodhisattvas – Archetypes of Consciousness
      • Jung’s Phenomenology of the Soul
      • Egoic Consciousness and its Shadow
A 'Mandala of Love' approach to Meditation
Mandala of Love
  • Home
  • Meditation
    • ‘Meditation’ April 2017
      • A ‘Mandala of Love’ approach to Meditation
      • Self-Inquiry – Familiarising ourselves with Consciousness
      • The Content of the Mind is Not Important
      • Non-Duality – Buddha, Jesus, and Plato
      • Objectivity – Meditation and Thinking
    • ‘Meditation’ 2017 May-Jun
      • René Descartes’ Error
      • Mindfulness – The Buddha’s ‘Remembering’ practice
      • Egoic consciousness – Divided against itself
      • Nurturing an Authentic Self
      • The Four Brahmavihāras – Four Attitudes of Consciousness
      • Mettā – Consciousness as Loving-Kindness
      • The Ethical and Relational Nature of Consciousness
      • The Brahmavihāras – the Soul’s Moral Compass
    • ‘Meditation’ Jul-Aug 2017
      • Upekṣā – Equanimity – Touching the Cosmic Stillness
      • Resting the Mental Body in the Field of Consciousness
      • The Mirror of Consciousness and the Mirror of Narcissism
      • The Hara – the Mysterious Second Chakra
      • The ‘Hell Realms’ – Inner Victims and Inner Persecutors
      • Muditā – Sympathetic Joy – A Sense of Wonder
    • ‘Meditation’ Sept-Oct 2017
      • Sympathetic Joy – an Attitude and an Energetic State
      • Zen and the Art of Human Life
      • Zazen – Just Sitting – Resting as Consciousness
      • Plato’s Cave Revisited
      • The Yin and Yang of Embodied Consciousness
    • ‘Meditation’ Nov-Dec 2017
      • Feeling – The Discernment of Goodness, Value and Beauty
      • Mettā – Living as Love and Contentment
      • Mettā – Healing the Egoic Shadow of Love
    • ‘Meditation’ Jan-Apr 2018
      • The Preta Realm – Deprivation, Despair, and Addiction
      • Flowing with the Currents of Feeling – our Psychological Parts
      • Mettā – Being Unconditionally Present with Feeling
      • Empathy and Self-Empathy – Communication and Self-Enquiry
    • ‘Meditation’ May-Aug 2018
      • Feminine and Masculine – Energy and Presence
      • The Yin and Yang of Love and Compassion
      • The Asura Realm – Intuition and the Egoic Will
      • The Mandala and the Stupa
      • The Somatic Anatomy of the Energy Bodies
      • The Mandala of the Four Brahmavihāras
    • ‘Meditation’ Sept-Oct 2018
      • Consciousness, Meditation and the Four Qualia
      • The Beneficial Life Energy of Needs
      • Life Energies of Presence and Connection
    • ‘Meditation’ Nov-Dec 2018
      • Compassion and the All-Accomplishing Wisdom
  • Buddhism
    • Buddhism 2019
      • The Dharmadhātu Wisdom
      • Akashadhateshvari – Luminous Space
      • The Five Skandhas – Dakini Wisdom
      • The Five Skandhas – the Cognitive-Perceptual Components
      • The Emptiness of Form – the Rūpa Skandha
  • NVC
    • Nonviolent Communication (NVC) – Mandala Wisdom
  • Book Sections
    • Book Sections April 2017
      • Preface to ‘A Mandala of Love: Consciousness, Ethics and Society’
      • Introduction to the Mandala of Love book blog
      • The Cross and the Mandala
    • Book Sections May-Jun 2017
      • Carl Jung’s Psychology of the Archetypes
      • The Mandala as the Landscape of the Soul
      • Buddhas and Bodhisattvas – Archetypes of Consciousness
      • Jung’s Phenomenology of the Soul
      • Egoic Consciousness and its Shadow
  • Home
  • Meditation
    • ‘Meditation’ April 2017
      • A ‘Mandala of Love’ approach to Meditation
      • Self-Inquiry – Familiarising ourselves with Consciousness
      • The Content of the Mind is Not Important
      • Non-Duality – Buddha, Jesus, and Plato
      • Objectivity – Meditation and Thinking
    • ‘Meditation’ 2017 May-Jun
      • René Descartes’ Error
      • Mindfulness – The Buddha’s ‘Remembering’ practice
      • Egoic consciousness – Divided against itself
      • Nurturing an Authentic Self
      • The Four Brahmavihāras – Four Attitudes of Consciousness
      • Mettā – Consciousness as Loving-Kindness
      • The Ethical and Relational Nature of Consciousness
      • The Brahmavihāras – the Soul’s Moral Compass
    • ‘Meditation’ Jul-Aug 2017
      • Upekṣā – Equanimity – Touching the Cosmic Stillness
      • Resting the Mental Body in the Field of Consciousness
      • The Mirror of Consciousness and the Mirror of Narcissism
      • The Hara – the Mysterious Second Chakra
      • The ‘Hell Realms’ – Inner Victims and Inner Persecutors
      • Muditā – Sympathetic Joy – A Sense of Wonder
    • ‘Meditation’ Sept-Oct 2017
      • Sympathetic Joy – an Attitude and an Energetic State
      • Zen and the Art of Human Life
      • Zazen – Just Sitting – Resting as Consciousness
      • Plato’s Cave Revisited
      • The Yin and Yang of Embodied Consciousness
    • ‘Meditation’ Nov-Dec 2017
      • Feeling – The Discernment of Goodness, Value and Beauty
      • Mettā – Living as Love and Contentment
      • Mettā – Healing the Egoic Shadow of Love
    • ‘Meditation’ Jan-Apr 2018
      • The Preta Realm – Deprivation, Despair, and Addiction
      • Flowing with the Currents of Feeling – our Psychological Parts
      • Mettā – Being Unconditionally Present with Feeling
      • Empathy and Self-Empathy – Communication and Self-Enquiry
    • ‘Meditation’ May-Aug 2018
      • Feminine and Masculine – Energy and Presence
      • The Yin and Yang of Love and Compassion
      • The Asura Realm – Intuition and the Egoic Will
      • The Mandala and the Stupa
      • The Somatic Anatomy of the Energy Bodies
      • The Mandala of the Four Brahmavihāras
    • ‘Meditation’ Sept-Oct 2018
      • Consciousness, Meditation and the Four Qualia
      • The Beneficial Life Energy of Needs
      • Life Energies of Presence and Connection
    • ‘Meditation’ Nov-Dec 2018
      • Compassion and the All-Accomplishing Wisdom
  • Buddhism
    • Buddhism 2019
      • The Dharmadhātu Wisdom
      • Akashadhateshvari – Luminous Space
      • The Five Skandhas – Dakini Wisdom
      • The Five Skandhas – the Cognitive-Perceptual Components
      • The Emptiness of Form – the Rūpa Skandha
  • NVC
    • Nonviolent Communication (NVC) – Mandala Wisdom
  • Book Sections
    • Book Sections April 2017
      • Preface to ‘A Mandala of Love: Consciousness, Ethics and Society’
      • Introduction to the Mandala of Love book blog
      • The Cross and the Mandala
    • Book Sections May-Jun 2017
      • Carl Jung’s Psychology of the Archetypes
      • The Mandala as the Landscape of the Soul
      • Buddhas and Bodhisattvas – Archetypes of Consciousness
      • Jung’s Phenomenology of the Soul
      • Egoic Consciousness and its Shadow
April 16, 2017

meditationThis the first post in my ‘Meditation Guidance’ series.

Meditation is very easy to do, and provides enormous benefits, when practised correctly. Unfortunately however, it is difficult to teach, and difficult to learn. Indeed meditation is very difficult to conceptualise at all.

It is not surprising therefore, that meditation is, in general, very poorly taught. I originally learned about meditation in a Buddhist context in my early twenties, and often struggled with the practices that I had been given. I had many powerful and deeply affecting meditation experiences however, which encouraged me to keep practising, but as I look back on that time, I very much wish someone had explained to me the things that I know now – the things which I shall be sharing, as best I can, in the articles in this ‘Meditation Guidance’ series.

At that time, I applied myself primarily to the meditations taught by the spiritual tradition in which I was living and working, but because I found the prescribed practices so difficult and so unsatisfying, I also occasionally experimented with several entirely different approaches, which were essentially contemplations on the Mandala of the Five Buddhas, on Carl Jung’s Four Functions of Consciousness, and on the descriptions of our energetic anatomy from Tibetan Buddhist tradition. That period of experimentation and exploration laid the foundations for the approach I have adopted as I have recently returned to daily meditation practice in my late fifties.

My new approach has combined those understandings from my Buddhist and Jungian studies in my twenties, with more recent insights gained from sitting with ‘Sailor’ Bob Adamson and other contemporary non-duality teachers. Such is the enormous value that I have found in this new approach to meditation practice, relative to the difficulty I faced when using a more conventional approach, that I feel bound to try to present it in the coming months. It seems important that those that are able, should at least try to provide clarification, in order to save others from the misery of struggling with approaches that are inherently limited and ineffective – and should bear witness to the benefits of meditation for the individual and for society.

#Consciousness #Meditation
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I am more than a little daunted by this task however, because there are a great many foundational understandings that have come together to create this approach, some of which will be familiar to you and some will not. Each of these understandings requires precise description, and several of them are in many respects very subtle. So please bear with me as I face into this challenge, and have patience that once these foundational principles are in place, your understanding, and your experience of meditation, will be very much deeper and more rewarding.

I welcome comments and feedback.

Creative Commons License William Parker 2018

For summaries of the other articles in this ‘Meditation Guidance’ series click here.

For an overview of the Mandala of Love approach to meditation consider reading the following longer articles:
Overview Part 1 – A Mandala Framework for Meditation and Self-Enquiry
Overview Part 2 – Embodied Consciousness
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