#SelfEnquiry

Mandala Innerwork and NVC Self-Empathy

I have practised various forms of self-empathetic innerwork over the years. In the past, my personal method has been a distillation of, and a combination of, the innerwork approaches of Eugene Gendlin (Focusing), Ann Weiser-Cornell (Focusing), James Hillman (Jungian Innerwork), Marshall Rosenberg (Nonviolent Communication), Richard Schwarz (Inner Family Systems), Jerry Donoghue (Inner Presence Coaching), Steve De Shazer (Brief Solution Focused Therapy). While I continue to draw on the specific methods of these innovators in the fields of psychology and psychotherapy practice, I have more recently found it helpful to set these learnings in the context of the non-dual mandala-wisdom that we find in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and which Carl Jung made so much more available and accessible. Hence my own personal name for the form of self-empathic innerwork that I now practice, is Mandala Innerwork.

The Buddha’s Self-Enquiry / Self-Empathy Dyads

As I have developed this model, and studied the various other self-enquiry dyad models that I have mentioned above, I have increasingly found myself coming back to the Buddha’s approach and to the Buddhist terminology of the Five Skandhas, the Five Realms, the Five Wisdoms, and the brahmavhāras. I shall be outlining the details of this future articles listed under the ‘Buddhism’ menu on this website. By making these connections we can bring the richness and power of Buddhist wisdom traditions to our work. In this article I will be avoiding that complexity, and mainly using the language of the self-empathy aspect of Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication (NVC) model.

In the language of Nonviolent Communication, we can conceptualise Mandala Innerwork as a self-empathy practice, and the person doing it as a ‘self-empathiser’ and the person holding space is the ’empathiser’. In Eugene Gendlin’s Focusing model the activity of self-enquiry came to be called ‘focusing’, and the person turning their attention inward was called the ‘focuser’, and the person holding space is the ‘companion’. In the context of Mandala Innerwork, I prefer to think of the activity simply as ‘doing meditative self-enquiry’, but I use the Focusing terminology for the roles, and acknowledge our debt to Eugene Gendlin by using the terminology of ‘focuser’ and ‘companion’ for the roles.

The Buddha had his monks do meditative self-enquiry dyads, the details of which got lost down the centuries. The modern historians of Buddhism understand the practice as a form of ‘confession’, but I believe that it would have more closely resembled the self-empathy / self-enquiry dyad practices of today, and my Mandala Innerwork model is an attempt to recreate it. I shall be sharing more of my thoughts on this in future articles.

Resting as Consciousness; Relating to Psychological Parts

Their are two close related features in my approach. The first could be characterised as ‘resting as Consciousness’: a focus on familiarising ourselves with, and learning to ‘rest as’ the ’empty’ impersonal Consciousness, that is capable of witnessing our experience objectively, and ‘relating’ to our experience with a warm accepting Presence. The second feature is learning to ‘work with psychological parts’.

I regard these two features as inseparable. Whether our focus is on learning to be self-empathetically present with yourselves for the purpose of self-knowledge and psychological healing; or we a spiritual seekers wishing to know the ultimate nature of mind, we can not avoid acknowledging these two features of the process. It is one of foundational paradoxes of the process of spiritual integration and psychological healing that in order to become more unified and whole, we need to acknowledge that the apparent self is made up of many ‘psychological parts’, and to develop a sense of the inner relationship between Consciousness and those psychological parts.

January 16, 2018

Welcome to the Mandala of Love

Resting as Consciousness with the mandala wisdom as our guide, everything falls into place at last.

I hope you enjoy my articles. The various inter-related categories of my writing are described below, and my coaching and teaching work is described below that. Hover your mouse pointer over the categories in the top menu above to reveal the drop-down sub-menus, and to see listings of the articles in date order.

* Two New Multi-Part Articles: *

The Rūpa Skandha – A Twelve-Part Series

Click on the title above to read the first article in a series of twelve articles. Together they take a very deep, broad and detailed look at what recognising the emptiness of the rūpa skandha, or Form, might mean in practice. The fact that the rūpa skandha is associated, in the Bardo Thodol, with both the Mirror-Like Wisdom and the Buddhist Hell Realms, establishes a very clear archetypal association between the rūpa skandha and the Thinking function of the mind. Rūpa is however, frequently rendered as ‘body’. These articles aim to recover the great power of the Buddha’s ‘Five Skandhas‘ teaching by addressing this area of confusion. Brief summaries of each article in the series can be found here.

The Ten Archetypal Buddhas of the Mandala

In recent months, I have also begun work on a new series of articles on the ten deities of the Dharmadhātu mandala that were described by Padmasambhava in his Bardo Thodol teachings (which became known to Westerners as the ‘Tibetan Book of the Dead’). I have taken as my starting point, the central five verses in the ‘Inspiration-Prayer for Deliverance from the Dangerous Pathway of the Bardo’ (which you can read here). I have found these verses inspirational ever since I was introduced to them nearly 40 years ago – and I hope you will find them the same. In this series, I am aiming to show meditators how each one of the five male Buddhas and five female Buddhas of the Dharmadātu Mandala can be felt in the fields of the body as profound suprapersonal sources of somatic healing and wisdom. Those who read the whole series of articles – and it is intended that these articles should be read in sequence – will be able to incorporate these reflections into their meditation practice in a systematic way. The first article in the series can be found here, and brief summaries of all the articles can be found here.

#Consciousness #Meditation — Teaching at Temple Byron in 2018

Meditation and Self-Enquiry

The “Meditation Guidance’ series of articles, which were my main focus in 2017 and 2018 can be accessed via the ‘Meditation’ menu above, or as reverse date-order listing by clicking here, or on the title above. My approach to meditation and mindfulness draws on the spiritual psychology of non-duality; on the mandala-wisdom of Buddhism (and other ancient traditions), which is amplified in the psychology of Carl Jung; and on the meeting of Quantum Physics / Quantum Biology with Neuroscience in the brilliant Penrose-Hameroff hypothesis in regard to the nature of the brain-Consciousness interface – a hypothesis that is steadily accumulating experimental support. Brief summaries of the articles in this series can be found here.

Although I am strongly influenced by Buddhist thought, I have tried to as much as possible in this series of articles to address the general reader. I have also been a passionate student of the deep humanistic psychology of Marshall Rosenberg (founder of Nonviolent Communication – NVC) and Eugene Gendlin (founder of the ‘Focusing‘ self-empathy/self-enquiry dyad practice), and have woven these perspectives into this ‘Mandala of Love’ approach to meditation and self-enquiry.

This series of articles aims to bring fresh insights to several common approaches to meditation (the Mindfulness of Breathing, Mettā Bhavana, and the Zen ‘Just Sitting’ practice for example). The initial framework for the Mandala of Love approach, and for this series also, is provided by the four brahmavihāras (Loving Kindness, Appreciative Joy, Equanimity and Compassion) – a four-fold meditation-cycle and self-enquiry framework from ancient India, that was incorporated into the Buddha’s teaching. Central to this approach is the conceptualisation of meditation practice as ‘resting as Consciousness’, and the recognition of the brahmavihāras as attitudes of Consciousness.

By re-framing meditation and mindfulness as ‘resting as Consciousness’, there is an opportunity to set them in a non-dual context that is much more true to the Buddha’s teaching. The Buddha bore witness to the impersonal nature of all psychological phenomena, and to the non-locatable nature of Consciousness, and urged his students to take these insights as the foundation of their practice. When we step out of the egoic perspective, we re-discover meditation as an activity whose purpose is to reveal our true nature and recover our natural state – the compassion and intelligence of our natural humanity.

‘Overview’ Articles (and other uncategorised ‘Buddhism’ pages)

Because of my intensive training in, and study of, Buddhism over many years, I tend to approach meditation and self-enquiry though a Buddhist frame of reference. If you have enjoyed the ‘Meditation Guidance’ posts and would like to read an additional series of in-depth articles that take a broader and more explicitly Buddhist view, and explain my overall approach to that series, please click here to see summaries of my uncategorised articles, or here to read the first of the ‘Overview’ articles.

The Five Wisdoms Mandala – Articles on Buddhism

Since the beginning of 2019, I have been aiming, in my articles, to provide some in-depth analysis on the Five Wisdoms; the Buddha’s ‘Emptiness of the Five Skandhas‘ teaching; the Four Foundations of Mindfulness; and on the male and female archetypal Buddhas of the Dharmadhātu mandala. I have created a new menu category for these articles, which I have called ‘Buddhism’. A reverse-date-order listing of these articles can be accessed by clicking here or on the title above.

You can access brief summaries of the articles in this ‘Buddhism’ series by clicking here, and you can access the first post in the series by clicking here.

As an experiment, I have also created a Facebook Group, which may be able to function as a venue for discussion in association with this new series of articles. To access the group click here.

Communication and Relationships (NVC)

I have been a passionate student of Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication (NVC) model for over twenty years, and have taught several courses during that time, based on NVC, and on the work of Eugene Gendlin, the originator of the ‘Focusing‘ self-empathy dyad practice. I have also developed an innovative approach to the NVC model, which I call the NVC Mandala, and which sees the ‘four components’ of Rosenberg’s model as a beautiful example of the universal mandala wisdom that we find in Tibetan Buddhism, and in the psychology of Carl Jung.

The ‘NVC Mandala’ that becomes clear when the ‘four components’ model is arranged with Observations and Feelings at east and west, and Needs and Requests at north and south, is all the more remarkable for the fact that Marshall Rosenberg developed his model without any knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism or the work of Carl Jung. The obvious connections between the non-dual psychology of the Tibetan Buddhist mandala and the practical psychological analysis of thought and language that is provided by Marshall Rosenberg, provide the basis for an extremely rich synthesis of ideas. The posts in the ‘NVC’ series will be of great interest to anyone with an interest in psychology; in spirituality; and in harmony and compassion in their relationships and communities – and to anyone who is interested in the Buddhist ideals of nonviolence, compassion, and creativity, or in the Nonviolent Communication approach to communication and self-awareness.

You can access the first post in this ‘Communication and Relationships’ series by clicking here, or by clicking on the ‘NVC’ menu in the top menu.

Book Sections

The Mandala of Love website started as a book project called A Mandala of Love: Consciousness, Ethics and Society. I have published some of the sections of that book in the form of articles in the ‘Book Sections’ series.

You can access the first post in the ‘Book Sections’ series by clicking here.

Hui Neng and the Mirror-Like Wisdom – A Zen Story

This is a longer piece of writing from 2012, that I have published as a page on this website. To access it click here, or the title above. I am hoping that this article will provide inspiration and guidance to students of both meditation and non-duality. I find the story of Hui Neng to be one of the most beautiful and illuminating in the whole of the Buddhist tradition. Among the many deep themes in this rich and multi-dimensional story, you will find, I believe, the essence of Zen.

Those who have been reading my articles on the mandala-wisdom in the ‘Meditation Guidance’ category on this website, will find that Hui Neng’s story brings us back, in a fresh new way, to our entry point into the mandala: the blue Eastern Quadrant; the Mirror-Like Wisdom; and the brahmavihāra of Equanimity.

Individual Coaching, Mandala Innerwork, and Meditation Teaching

I can provide individual meditation guidance and coaching sessions. My Mandala Innerwork approach to coaching is a form of self-enquiry that students of meditation find very supportive. These sessions are also especially valuable to students of the ‘Nonviolent Communication‘ model, since these sessions focus on the development of the attitudes and skills of self-empathy, which is foundational to that model. I am particularly keen to work with those who are interested in the Mandala of Love approach to self-enquiry, meditation, and self-empathetic innerwork, and who would value my support to apply the principles that I have been exploring in my blog posts.

My approach to innerwork draws on various sources of inspiration, but makes extensive use of the work of Eugene Gendlin, and his student Anne Weiser-Cornell. I have also completed the 9-month online training of Jerry Donoghue, an NVC teacher who is based in Ashville, North Carolina, in the USA (www.innerpresencecoaching.com), who is also engaged with integrating NVC with non-dual wisdom.

Jerry Donghue and I also share the conviction that the practice of self-empathy, which is a foundational element of the NVC model, requires the acknowledgement of psychological parts – a theme that I have addressed frequently in my ‘Meditation Guidance’ articles (including here, here, here, and here). Indeed the self-empathy / self-enquiry approach that I have come to call Mandala Innerwork is founded on my observation, over several decades of my own innerwork practice, that the ability to self-empathetically recognise and work with psychological parts is an absolutely essential self-awareness skill, and a necessary skill if we wish to become more conscious; to recover an authentic self; and to integrate non-dual wisdom.

In the context of my individual coaching sessions, I like to integrate my meditation and self-enquiry work with my facilitation of self-empathetic innerwork. Both skills take the idea of ‘resting a Consciousness’ as their starting point. Indeed my coaching work is best characterised as a form of self-enquiry facilitation, or of Mindfulness with the goal of Insight – seeing through the self-illusion. The depth of that enquiry depends on the choice of my clients, but my own personal framework is rooted in a the rich and powerful psychology of the Buddhist non-duality teachings.

For more information on Mandala Innerwork, Inner Presence Coaching, one-to-one Meditation Teaching, and facilitated self-enqury please click here.

I welcome enquiries. Please contact me via the Contact Form here.

January 7, 2018

Mettā – Healing the Egoic Shadow of Love

This is Post 27 in the ‘Meditation Guidance’ series.

When we rest as Consciousness, the Feeling aspect of that experience is the brahmavihāra of mettā, or Loving Kindness. Mettā is associated with the colour red, with the end of the day, and with sunset. Although, in Western tradition, the Feeling function is associated with the water element, in Indian tradition it is associated with the element of fire.

In the poetry and imagination of India (and the first nation peoples of North America) fire is the element that turns the gross into the subtle, that cooks and transforms things, that extracts bright metals from dull ores. When the body is cremated, fire helps the soul on its journey to the heavenly realms. Fire is the element that radiates a nourishing warmth – but we instinctively recoil from it when it threatens to scorch us. It is the upward-rising and aspirational element that dances, and appears to reach up to heaven. All this fire imagery provides eloquent symbolism of the Feeling function. In India, the Hindu religious ascetic, or sannyasin, will usually put on robes that are the colour of fire when he or she abandons the worldly life – signifying their aspiration, and the self-transformation that they are undertaking.

In the context of the mandalas of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the fiery Feeling function in the red Western Quadrant appears to carry us upward from the earthy Sensation function in the yellow Southern Quadrant, to the airy function of Volition / Intuition in the green Northern Quadrant. The downward-flowing water element in the blue, or white, Eastern Quadrant, which symbolises the Thinking function, carries us back down to the earth element and to the Sensation function, and so completes the cycle.

It is traditional among the Tibetan people to orientate their maps to the path of the sun, so they put the eastern sunrise point at the bottom of the mandala, and the western sunset point at the top – so the way in which the element symbolism highlights the cyclical process of the mandala is unfortunately usually lost. While it is my wish to honour Tibetan tradition, I find the western-style orientation of the mandala, which puts the north-point at the top, to be much more symbolically meaningful.

A Four-fold Embodiment of Consciousness

The foundational stages of meditation practice require that we familiarise ourselves deeply with embodied Consciousness in all four of the surface bodies, and one of our best guides to this four-fold embodiment is the cycle of the four brahmavihāras. The Emotional Body is the third of the surface bodies, and is associated with the Western Quadrant of the mandala, and with the brahmavihāra of mettā. It is the Emotional Body that is felt most keenly in the region of the maṇipūra, or Solar Plexus Chakra, which is a point in the centre of the trunk of body just below the solar plexus, which I have written about in the previous post (here). Continue reading

December 28, 2017

Overview Part 1 – A Mandala Framework for Meditation and Self-Enquiry

The approach to meditation that I have adopted in the ‘Meditation Guidance’ series of articles is unusual because it brings together elements from philosophical, spiritual, and psychological traditions that do not usually cross-pollinate, and tend not to understand each other. My aim in this article is to provide an overview of my approach, and to show why I have found the relatively unknown brahmavihāras to be so essential to my framework for meditation and self-enquiry.

My Psychological and Spiritual Influences

Although I was born into a nominally Christian family and a nominally Christian culture, my first real spiritual education, in my twenties, was in a Western Buddhist tradition that integrated Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana elements, with a special emphasis on re-creating something of the spirit of the lost Indian Mahayana in a Western cultural context – especially the spirit of the Bodhisattva Ideal. I then became a Quaker for 10 years, and subsequently studied with a number of different Advaita Vedanta (non-Buddhist non-duality) teachers.

Although I worked in General Psychiatry settings for many years (as an Occupational Therapist), the main psychological perspectives that I have drawn on personally are those are Carl Jung, Eugene Gendlin (original developer of the ‘Focusing’ self-empathy/self-enquiry practice), and Marshall Rosenberg (originator of the Nonviolent Communication model).

Returning to Meditation – A Fresh Approach

Since my return to meditation in 2016, my daily practice has been experimental, personal, and driven by my own self-enquiry into the nature of Consciousness. Although it has been informed to some extent by my reflections on my Buddhist studies in my twenties, the new approach that has emerged from my meditative enquiry bares almost no relation to anything that I was formally taught at that time. The success of this new approach – in supporting my own mental and emotional development – has been so marked that I have felt strongly motivated to share my experience as best I can.

The Mandala as a Psychological Map

Like Carl Jung, I love to make connections, and to notice the archetypal patterns that inform our lives and inform our psychological and spiritual models. A particular fascination since I discovered the archetype in my early twenties, has been the mandala. A great diversity of mandala images, representing forms of cosmology and psychology that are based on a four-fold model of the Divine, are seen in vastly different cultures across history and across the globe. The most refined expressions of the mandala archetype, in Carl Jung’s view, and in mine, are the mandala images that can still be seen today in Tibetan Buddhism, but which originally emerged in the form that we are familiar with, during the Indian Mahayana period.

The Bardo Thodol – Tibetan Book of the Dead

Carl Jung found the mandala that is described in the Bardo Thodol (or Tibetan Book of the Dead) to be a revelation. Among other things, the mandala wisdom of the Bardo Thodol integrates, and establishes correspondences between, three key symbolic formulations, each of which can be arranged as a mandala or quaternity: the Five Wisdoms; the Five Skandhas; and five of the Six Realms (all except the Animal Realm). The combination of his understanding of the Tibetan symbolic system, and his years of dream analysis with his patients, gave Jung the conviction he needed to publish his ground-breaking and comprehensively detailed Psychological Types essay, which described a mandala-form model of the psyche.

Carl Jung’s Genius and Gift to Humanity

The importance of Jung’s Psychological Types is not widely appreciated. What made the ideas in that essay so important as a spiritual document was the way it explained the egoic Shadow in such detail, and so comprehensively described the oppositions within the archetypal mandala structure of the egoic mind. It explained, via these oppositions, the various ways in which the natural human ethical sensibility is so easily lost, so that profound inhumanity becomes possible, and has been witnessed so frequently in human history. The weight of the understanding that Jung presented in that paper, was equal to, and similar in importance in my view, to the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths, since, like that teaching, it demonstrated both the nature of our psychological dysfunction and egoic bondage, and the means of our liberation from it, through Consciousness.

Jung_Functions

These oppositions (between Feeling and Thinking; and between Intuition/Volition and Sensation in particular) are a key feature of Jung’s mandala – symbolising the way that Consciousness allows us to ‘hold the tension’ between these opposites. This need to achieve a separation of these opposites and a reconciliation of them at a higher level, that was so well descried by Jung – is seldom highlighted, even in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition where knowledge of these dynamics is identified symbolically as a key aspect of the All-Accomplishing Wisdom, which plays such an important part in that model.

The Five Skandas – Lost in Translation?

In the articles in the ‘Meditation Guidance’ series, I have for the sake of brevity, avoided engaging with the understandable but disastrous historical mistranslations and loss of meaning that has made the wonderful Five Skandhas teaching so impenetrable and almost valueless for most modern students of Buddhism. Instead I have made use of Jung’s Four Functions of Consciousness, which I believe play the same role in Jung’s mandala structure of the psyche that the Five Skandhas teaching is intended to do in the Buddhist tradition.

Skandhas_Jung

Both Carl Jung’s four perceptual functions, and the ancient Indian Skandhas provide a framework for analysing the way in which, in the absence of a deep recognition of the nature of Consciousness, the component elements of the perceptual process collapse into the illusion of a separate self. I would very much like to present an analysis of where the Skandhas appear to have got lost in the course of history. Although I have not yet published on this, I have written about it, I would very much like to post an article on this important theme in the future.

The Male and Female Archetypal Buddhas of the Mandala

Although I have personally found the beautiful symbolic personifications of Consciousness in the Bardo Thodol to be very valuable, a have also chosen, at least in the context of the ‘Meditation Guidance’ series, to avoid reference to the five pairs of male and female buddhas, which the Five Wisdoms are associated with. While it might be interesting to explore these beautiful archetypal figures at a future time, my concern has been that the symbolic imagery of these forms tends to overwhelm us. The cultural richness of Tibetan Buddhist iconography can easily become a distraction from the simple and bodily-felt nature of the non-dual wisdom that these images are intended to point us towards. It is always important, in my view, for spiritual students to be able extract the universal spiritual knowledge from the cultural form in which it comes – as the highest-level Buddhist practitioners have always been able to do, even in regard to their own tradition.

The Four Brahmavihāras and the Five Wisdoms

In place of the Five Wisdoms therefore, I have initially used the Four Brahmavihāras, which are very similar, very closely associated, and very much more accessible as a framework for self-enquiry. Indeed they are so closely related in their symbolic associations, and in the somatic experience that they present in the body, that we can only assume that the brahmavihāras were a precursor in the earlier teachings of the historical Buddha, of the later Mahayana Buddhist teaching of the Five Wisdoms. I have found that studying the two systems concurrently and recognising their inseparability has brought a richness and clarity to my understanding of both – and I thoroughly recommend this study to others.

Brahma_Wisdoms

The Inherently Ethical Nature of Consciousness

In my view the four Brahmavihāras also have the advantage over the four corresponding Wisdoms among the Five Wisdoms, of being much more obviously relational and connected to ethical principles. They point very clearly and concretely to the inherently ethical and beneficial nature of Consciousness, and the way in which, as we explore them in meditation and self-enquiry, the cultivation of a familiarity with the somatic experience of the brahmavihāras is inseparable from the development a natural ethical sensibility and naturally compassionate orientation in life.

The Six Realms – Extreme Cultural Manifestations of the Egoic Mind

It is important to recognise, that while the brahmavihāras are aspects of Consciousness – and can be regarded as a description of the ultimate nature of mind – they also have great practical relevance in everyday life. Indeed the brahmavihāras provide us with foundational insights about conscious communication and ethical behaviour.

Brahma_Realms

These insights become especially keen and incisive when the brahmavihāras are considered in opposition to their counterparts among the Six Realms. The implication when we make these connections, is that the five key Realms can be seen as cultural tendencies that arise out of our collective failure to recognise Consciousness and the four ‘attitudes’ of Consciousness that are the brahmavihāras. The brahmavihāras on the other hand, can be seen as specific antidotes to the Realms – to the psychological and cultural problems that are inevitably generated by the egoic mind – antidotes that are inherent in the nature of Consciousness and always available to us.

The Realms, the Skandas, and the Functions of Consciousness

By opposing the brahmavihāras and the Realms, I have been addressing exactly the same fundamental spiritual choices that we are shown in the symbolic language of Tibetan Buddhism, but hopefully in more accessible form. Indeed the Bardo Thodol associates five of the Six Realms with the Five Skandhas, to give us a powerful way of reflecting on how, to the extent that they are not informed by Consciousness, and recognised as ’empty’, these five components of the cognitive-perceptual process, or categories of cognitive-perceptual data, lead inevitably to five unhelpful egoic mental states and forms of unconscious behaviour that can be seen in individuals and groups – and can be seen represented in the Realms.

So we have five opposed pairs: the Hell Realms or Narakas represent the egoic tendency that is inherent in the Thinking function, and a failure to recognise the brahmavihāra of Equanimity; the Human Realm represents the egoic tendency that is inherent in the Sensation function, and a failure to recognise the brahmavihāra of Sympathetic Joy; the Preta Realm represents the egoic tendency that is inherent in the Feeling function, and a failure to recognise the brahmavihāra of Loving Kindness; the Asura Realm represents the egoic tendency that is inherent in the function of Intuition / Volition, and a failure to recognise the brahmavihāra of Compassion; and the Deva Realms represent an egoic appropriation of Consciousness itself, and a failure to recognise its ultimately impersonal nature.

Brahma_Realm_Function

Gaining Familiarity with the Shadow – Personal and Collective

The immense value of this set of associations does not appear to be widely known, mainly because it is undermined by the previously mentioned problems with the Five Skandhas teaching. The recovery of meaning that we achieve by replacing that formulation with Jung’s Four Functions of Consciousness, is further enhanced by opposing the Realms and brahmavihāras rather that the Realms and the Wisdoms.

The five Realms are powerfully illuminated by these juxtapositions, and hopefully rescued from their status as merely a perplexing curiosity of Buddhist cosmology. When we use Jung’s Functions in place of the Skandhas, and start to see the Realms as the collective psychological landscapes that are generated by the corresponding egoic Functions of Consciousness. By seeing the Realms as the archetypal landscapes of the ever-present psychological Shadow in the individual and collective psyche, we come closer, I believe, both to the Buddha’s intention, and to the intention of the great Padmasambhava, the author of the Bardo Thodol.

The Brahmavihāras – Consciousness Embodied

The fact that the brahmavihāras are very obviously and precisely related to bodily felt states in the first four subtle bodies makes them extremely important for anyone interested in meditation. Essentially, they are four aspects of the deeply paradoxical, but very beautiful way, in which an energetic reflection of the boundless and universal field of Consciousness is embodied in us as a personal and bodily-felt, or ‘somatic’, experience. I shall be providing a summary of this in my next article in this ‘Overview’ series.

Although the subtle bodies have well established associations in Tibetan Buddhist tradition with the Wisdoms, and these can also be recognised in our felt experience when we explore them, the associations with the brahmavihāras that I have been emphasising in this ‘Meditation Guidance’ series are less known, but are actually much more obvious in our felt experience than are the associations with the Wisdoms.

Effortless Transformation by Resting as Consciousness

The associations between the brahmavihāras and the subtle bodies are as follows: Muditā, or Sympathetic Joy, is felt as the resonance of Consciousness in the Physical Body (and Base Chakra); Upekṣā, or Equanimity is felt as the resonance of Consciousness in the Mental Body (and Hara Chakra); Mettā, or Loving Kindness, is felt as the resonance of Consciousness in the Emotional Body (and Solar Plexus Chakra); Karuṇā, or Compassion is felt as the resonance of Consciousness in the Volitional / Intuition Body (or Heart Chakra). Viewing the brahmavihāras as the embodiment of, or as the resonance of, Consciousness, allows us to recognise their entirely impersonal nature. It also releases us from the suggestion that we should be cultivating the brahmavihāras by an effort of the egoic will.

Brahma_Bodies

Rather the brahmavihāras can be seen as innate – as aspects of Consciousness and as aspects of our natural state, that can easily be recognised in self-enquiry. The ‘cultivation’ of them therefore, does not happen by the egoic will holding an intention to do so, but primarily by a recognition of that which has previously been obscured – and by the spontaneous self-release of the energetic residue of egoic habits of mind that have previously been held in place by our egoic identifications. Hence my essential characterisation of meditation practice as resting as Consciousness.

The Direct Path – Every-day Non-Duality

I will be giving more time in future articles to the way in which our unconscious identification with egoic parts – even identification with positive and aspirational egoic parts – locks us down energetically and prevents psychological change. When we approach meditation via the notion of resting as Consciousness, we have a wonderfully simple way of entering experientially into the sort of non-dual way of being that is necessary to break this deadlock, and a powerful way of facilitating the inner energetic transformation that we are seeking.

To read the next article in this overview series – Overview Part 2 – Embodied Consciousness – click here.

December 23, 2017

Mettā – Living as Love and Contentment

This is Post 26 in the ‘Meditation Guidance’ series.

It has been the experience of the ancient meditation traditions of India and Tibet that the internal space of the human body is filled with not one but seven different energetic, or somatic, fields – the seven auras, or ‘subtle bodies’. Many readers will already be aware that each deeper layer in the succession of auric layers is slightly larger than the last, so that the layers that are closer to the surface are enclosed within the deeper ones.

An important feature of this spiritual anatomy that readers may not be aware of however, is the way the polarity of the layers alternates between receptive and expansive – yin and yang – and in way that is opposite in the two sexes. I have explored this phenomenon in previous posts (here and here) and will be returning to it – this understanding is essential, in my view, for the meditator, and provides wonderful insights into the very different emotional life of men and women.

An understanding of the ways in which these fields of our spiritual anatomy interpenetrate each other and interact, is very useful information for the meditator. Of the seven fields, by far the most important are the first four, which I have been calling the surface bodies – these are somatic fields by which our sense of ‘being a person’ is embodied. While these four key subtle bodies, and the relationships between them, are most comprehensively described by the meditation mandalas of Tibetan Buddhism, the earlier description that we find in the four brahmavihāras of early Buddhism (and in pre-Buddhist teachings) gives us a much simpler ‘way in’ to this mandala wisdom.

Each of the subtle bodies is felt most keenly at the points in the body that we call the chakras. So, as previously in connection with the Mental Body and the Subtle Physical Body (here and here), we will find it useful for our understanding of our experience of the Emotional Body when we are resting as Consciousness, if we look briefly at the traditional Indian description of the Solar Plexus Chakra.

The Manipūra Chakra – City of Jewels

The traditional Indian name of the third chakra is maṇipūra, which is a Sanskrit word made up of the word maṇi, which means ‘jewel’, and pūra, which means city or place. Maṇipūra gives us an image of a sort of paradise – a place of extraordinary wealth and beauty – sparkling and radiant. In this context, the image of a landscape glittering with jewels is being used to symbolise not only ultimate beauty and value, but also unlimited ease, grace, contentment and happiness – a world of pleasurable and joyful feelings. Continue reading

November 28, 2017

Feeling – The Discernment of Goodness, Value and Beauty

This is Post 25 in the ‘Meditation Guidance’ series.

While there is much more that could be said about the brahmavihāra of Sympathetic Joy and the Southern Quadrant of the Mandala of Love, we need now to move clockwise round the mandala to the Western Quadrant, to the function of Feeling, and to the brahmavihāra of Loving Kindness, or mettā (Pali), or maitrī (Sanskrit). Although in general I like to use Sanskrit, the classical language of Indian spiritual discourse, and of the magnificent but no longer existing tradition of Indian Mahayana Buddhism, I prefer, in this instance, to use the more familiar Pali word mettā, for Loving Kindness, rather than equivalent Sanskrit word maitrī.

Even those who are unfamiliar with the four brahmavihāras as a mandala-form map of Consciousness, such as I have been presenting, may well have heard of mettā, which is the most well-known of the four. And some will perhaps be familiar with a form of the popular Buddhist meditation practice called the mettā bhāvanā, or ‘Cultivation of the Loving Kindness’. Because of this, I have already written one post about mettā (here) in my introduction to the brahmavihāras at the beginning of this ‘Meditation Guidance’ series.

In that previous post, I explained that mettā is most frequently presented in a way that does not clearly distinguish it from karuṇā (Compassion), muditā (Sympathetic Joy), and fails to acknowledge the important connection between mettā and upekṣā (Equanimity). Because I believe so strongly that a deeper understanding the whole mandala of the brahmavihāras constitutes such a powerful framework for self-enquiry and meditation, I would like now to return to the themes of that previous post.

Distinguishing Feeling from Sensation

In order to fully understand and distinguish the nature of mettā, we need first to understand the psychological and perceptual function of Feeling, and in order to understand Feeling, it is extremely important for us to make a clear distinction between Feeling and Sensation – something that not all psychological models achieve. Indeed these two words are often used interchangeably in English and other languages – and this causes much confusion. The distinction I make between Sensation and Feeling follows Carl Jung and the Buddhist tradition. I also draw on Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication model and various others who have also recognised and described the universal four-fold pattern that I call the Mandala of Love. Continue reading

November 13, 2017

The Yin and Yang of Embodied Consciousness

This is Post 24 in the ‘Meditation Guidance’ series.

In order to understand meditation fully, an understanding of the way our psychology manifests somatically or energetically in the field of the body is essential. We especially need to understand the way in which female and male spiritual character manifests somatically. These are things that are extremely poorly understood, given their great importance as key factors that govern the level of harmony and fulfilment that we experience in sexual relationships. They appear to be difficult to consciously acknowledge and talk about, even though we are all very keenly aware of them.

This is perhaps partly because these phenomena are so difficult to conceptualise. The great Carl Jung, who developed a very sophisticated understanding of the way archetypal, or transpersonal, psychic forces shape male and female psychological character, also understood that the archetypal psychology of sexual difference manifests somatically – in the subtle energies of the body. He theorised that there was an energetic patterning of the body, or somatic unconscious, that shapes our psychology in a similar way to the archetypes of the collective psychic unconscious. Whereas the archetypes of the collective unconscious show themselves in our myths, stories, dreams, and movies, the energies of somatic unconscious can be felt in the body as energetic dynamics and states.

Our ability to know ourselves, and to function with psychological freedom and integrity, is closely related to our capacity to fully acknowledge this bodily-felt dimension of the inner world. Our engagement with the somatic dimension takes us to core of the human mystery – and to the core of how human beings embody Consciousness, or fail to do so.

The Qualia of Embodiment

In connection with the yellow Southern Quadrant of the mandala and the brahmavihāra of muditā, or Appreciative Joy, it is helpful to acknowledge that the experience of ‘Embodiment’ that we have been addressing is a ‘qualia’. The qualia are the difficult-to-define subjectively experienced phenomena that occur in connection with Consciousness. As a way of finding alignment at the beginning of a meditation session, try just taking a few moments to notice your experience of ‘Embodiment’. You are likely to find that when you look in your experience for ‘Embodiment’, you will find yourself being pointed to the experience of Consciousness. You will have a similar experience when you look for the experience of ‘Being’, which names another key qualia. Continue reading

October 17, 2017

Zazen – Just Sitting – Resting as Consciousness

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 somatic 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

September 23, 2017

The ‘Hell Realms’ – Inner Victims and Inner Persecutors

This is Post 18 in the ‘Meditation Guidance’ series.

In order to fully understand the brahmavihāra, or attitude of Consciousness, that the Buddha called upekṣā, or Equanimity, it is very valuable to contrast it with its polar opposite in egoic consciousness. Indeed each of the four brahmavihāras is essentially an archetypal or transpersonal power by which a particular aspect of the egoic mind is healed. To help us consistently experience the transformative effect of the four brahmavihāras we need to understand the nature of the close relationship between these four beneficent cosmic principles on the one hand – and the four corresponding tendencies in the egoic mind on the other.

A Spiritual Choice within each Quadrant of the Mandala

In previous posts I have talked about the choices we face, in every moment, between each of the qualities of Consciousness on one hand, and each of the corresponding qualities of the egoic mind on the other. In regard to the Thinking function and the Mental Body, we find that Equanimity and the quality of objectivity that is integral to it, are in polar opposition to the egoic tendency towards judgement and the inability to just be with things (and people) and let them be as they are. An important way in which this opposition was previously highlighted (in a previous post – here) was in the stark contrast between the positive mirror of Consciousness and the negative mirror of narcissism.

As we start to practice the mandala wisdom we recognise that each quadrant of the mandala presents us with a spiritual choice – and to recognise that we have a choice where we previously were not even aware that choice was possible, is always an experience of empowerment. We live in a world that claims to give us choices, and which even overwhelms us with choices, but ultimately the only thing that really gives us choices is Consciousness. Continue reading

August 12, 2017

The Hara – the Mysterious Second Chakra

This is Post 17 in the ‘Meditation Guidance’ series.

The Mental Body entirely pervades, and extends slightly beyond, the physical body, but the felt experience of the Mental Body is most keenly felt in the lower belly three or four finger widths below the naval. Throughout the cultures of the East, from India to Japan, this point or area is widely understood to have a close association with mental stability, physical vitality, and with the sort of mental focus that supports high-level feats of physical coordination.

The Swadhisthāna Chakra – a Place of Rest and Beneficial Alignment

The same understanding is found in the Western tradition of Classical Ballet, and elsewhere in the West, but in the East, with its traditions of meditation and self-inquiry, its intuitive and energetic approaches to medicine, and its deep and subtle martial arts, this understanding has gone very deep. In Indian tradition this area of the belly is called the swadhiṣṭhāna chakra, while in Japanese tradition it is called the hara, or ‘belly’. If we wanted to be culture-free we could simply call it the second chakra, but I find the Japanese word hara to have wide recognition.

The entomology of the Sanskrit word swadhiṣṭhāna is worth acknowledging. The prefix swa denotes ‘my’ and adhiṣṭhāna expresses the idea of a resting place, or seat, or base, or dwelling place, especially a place from which it is possible to have an overview. I am not a Sanskrit scholar, but there are associations with this word that convey the idea of a position of benevolent and protective authority, or an objective point of view – and an empowerment or blessing that is not personal, but comes from the Divine. All this speaks volumes about the experience of allowing the Mental Body to rest as Consciousness, and the felt experience of being centred in the swadhiṣṭhāna chakra or hara. This alignment and empowerment ultimately requires that the other bodies are also allowed to rest as Consciousness, preferably at the same time – but this is a very good place to start. Continue reading

August 2, 2017