September | 2017 | Mandala of Love

This is Post 22 in the ‘Meditation Guidance’ series.

In very general terms, the classic Zen meditation practice of Zazen, or ‘Just Sitting’, can be thought of as a meditation that takes the body as a whole, and its environment, as the ‘object’ of the meditation practice. For those that have not experienced the practice, it can be difficult to understand how this seemingly diffuse and unfocused approach to meditation could, in a very natural and effortless way, give rise to strong states of psycho-physical integration, where it appears that Consciousness is the unifying power that is producing the state of effortless concentration, rather than any willed concentration on a particular ‘object’. Indeed the ‘object’ of attention in Zazen practice, if there is one, is Consciousness – the field in which the experiencing is happening.

Sympathetic Joy – the Zen of Embodied Consciousness

In the last few posts I have reflecting in different ways on the brahmavihāras or muditā, which is usually translated as Sympathetic Joy. In the text of my writing I have been translating muditā as Appreciative Joy, which is more accurate, and which I prefer, but in the titles and section headings I have be using the more frequently used translation of Sympathetic Joy.

Although it is by no means limited to Appreciative Joy, Zazen practice obviously has a close connection with Sympathetic Joy. The characteristic boundlessness of Zazen, while simultaneously paying attention to the felt experience of the body, means that the practice also has much in common with all of the brahmavihāras, and with the approach to meditation that I have been presenting in these ‘Meditation Guidance’ articles.

I am aware that Zen Buddhism has different associations for different people, and different schools of Zen have different emphases. In this instance, I am making reference to Zen to highlight an approach to meditation practice that is characterised by a sense of embodiment, expansiveness, appreciation, contentment and gratitude, and a deep and fearless willingness to fully inhabit the body and the sensory world as Consciousness – attitudes that are characteristic, in my view, of Appreciative Joy. Continue reading

This is Post 21 in the ‘Meditation Guidance’ series.

As previously, when reflecting on the brahmavihāras, I feel a need to emphasise that muditā, which is often translated as Sympathetic Joy, but better translated as Appreciative Joy, is not merely a mental state, but an attitude of Consciousness, and a way of being that gives expression to Consciousness in relation to the practicalities and specifics of human life. While we need to acknowledge that it is a cosmic attitude, it is also the attitude that an individual person can come to embody if they choose to adopt the practice of resting as Consciousness. It involves being in this physical world in way that is informed by, and supported by, the healing, evolutionary, and compassionate energy of that transpersonal source.

Muditā is perhaps best understood by contrasting it with its egoic counterpart, which is the ordinary egoic Sensation function. Through meditative self-inquiry we come to recognise that we bring multiple assumptions to the experience of Sensation and the experience of being in a physical body – assumptions that we come to recognise as untrue. Foremost among these incorrect assumptions, is the way we take the physical body to be absolute evidence of our ultimate separateness. This sense of separateness and the ways in which we live with that, or seek to overcome it, is fundamental to, and characteristic of, the experience of being human.

The Human Realm – Separateness healed by Appreciative Joy

Of the Buddha’s Six Realms, which I have talked about briefly in a previous post (here), the realm associated with the Southern Quadrant of the mandala, is the Human Realm. This Human Realm, in which we find ourselves, occupies an archetypal position in the mandala of egoic styles, and can be regarded as the egoic counterpart, and polar opposite, of Appreciative Joy. The Human Realm is regarded, in Buddhist tradition, as a very special and fortuitous place to be reborn, but it is also the realm associated of the egoic Sensation function, and has particular problems for us, and a particular style of unconsciousness, which we need to explore and become familiar with. Continue reading

Monthly Archive: September 2017

Zazen – Just Sitting – Resting as Consciousness

Sympathetic Joy – the Zen of Embodied Consciousness

Zen and the Art of Human Life

The Human Realm – Separateness healed by Appreciative Joy