Meditation

pick a spot a along the sunlit trail

notice every twig, every creaking branch

that sways with the wind. It calls you

to be in the here and now, to see them as

your sisters and brothers

soon the light reflected in the far-off distance

is not a promise anymore, and not a hope

it doesn’t prophecy what isn’t already here

even the swish of sand

proclaims the boundless ocean

not running too far ahead,

and not seeing the world in time

i can feel this wind on the face

as inseparable from ‘mine’

the trail is even, even in the bumpy gravel

there is nothing to crave or to scapegoat

in this present, everyday heaven.

who is experiencing it?

**

Exercice 1:  Creating a Meditation Object

1. Take some time to reflect on what the word "meditation" means to you. Are there specific images or moods that come to mind when you hear the term? Write or express what it means to you in the form of a poem, paragraph, short art piece, or other form of expression. Save this document under the file "Meditation Exercise 1" and feel free to post in your blog when done.

Exercise 2: Social/Media Perceptions about Meditation

What are the current cultural understandings of meditation in North America, and how is it being positioned? Take a look at the video from ABC News.

Take a moment to reflect on the following:

a) What kinds of cultural narratives about meditation are being presented in the video? Is there a dominant narrative that supplants other previously established or 'assumed' narratives on meditation? What kinds of "myths" is this news story attempting to debunk or challenge with respect to cultural perspectives of meditation? Consider what values the news story implicitly promotes in its visual representations. According to the news story's narrative and visuals, who stands to benefit the most from meditation practice? What does this "who" say about the social and political stances adopted by the news story itself? Who doesn't benefit or gets excluded from this particular presentation of the benefits of meditation practice?

b) Take note of any problematic or challenging aspects of the narrative presented in the news story. Is this the kind of story that would make you want to try to meditate, or does it leave other unresolved questions in your mind?

Save your reflection as Meditation Exercise 2 Reflection, and feel free to post in your own personal blog.

Exercise 4: Meditation Not Just About Breathing!

There are many objects of meditation to choose from. While many, such as the breath, are used primarily to calm the mind and lead to "bare awareness" of one's body and external surroundings, still others focus on cultivating a particular quality or insight that is often cherished in Buddhist practice. Loving kindness is one example of a kind of meditation practice which uses the particular verses of wishing others well to foster feelings of love for others.

In this guided meditation video, I explore some of the basic attitudes, principles and methods of breath meditation:

1. Now that you have looked at an example of a simple guided meditation, consider: What aspects of the media itself might have helped you in the process of meditating on loving kindness? Consider the visual, auditory and textual effects that allowed you to feel engaged in the meditation itself. How might the medium of the video have enhanced your ability to meditate? Write a short paragraph describing the elements of the media which most facilitated your engagement with the meditation practice.

2. Many instructional pieces on meditation emphasize the importance of silence as a condition for meditation. Yet, it seems that the Internet universe is flooded with promotional guided meditation tools which heavily rely on voice, music and visual stimulations. Do you see any contradictions between meditation as a calming tool and the glut of 'guided' meditations out there for practitioners?

Save your reflections in questions 1 and 2 under the file "Meditation Exercise 4".

Exercise 5: Designing a Meditative Media Object

1.  Research 1 or 2 online instructional videos about meditation, either on YouTube or on a particular website from a spiritual tradition of your choice. Consider the following:

a) What specific elements would you find most engaging and helpful in learning meditation?

b) What elements made you feel most distanced from the practice?

Try to reflect on what elements of what you are seeing and feeling in the guided meditation media are most conducive to meditative states of being, where one is single-mindedly engaged on a particular object or activity.

2. Take one of the instructional videos you researched in question 1, and try to tailor or customize the video. Write a list of suggested changes that would have helped you better learn or practice the kind of meditation that the video promotes.

3. Now is your chance to "design" your own meditative media object, in the form of  a video, a sound recording, a short poem or a narrative. Consider: if you were to take the instructions on meditation you have learned or researched so far and present the 'juiciest' parts to a loved one or friend, what elements would you include? Which do you think would be most impactful or engaging for newcomers to meditation? Design your media object accordingly.

Play around with the elements of your meditative practice object, by considering the following:

- does my meditation benefit from music/sounds? If so, which sounds, and at what intensity or level?

-could the meditation piece invite other practitioners?

Consider the possibility of a collaborative online meditation group, such as one listed in https://thebuddhistcentre.com/meditate-online. Would the meditation space you are designing be best suited for one person, or a group of people? What technologies could you potentially use to invite others into your meditative space?

Exercise 6: A Buddhist View of Meditation

For this module's reading, we will be looking at The Fifth Paramita: Meditation, which is found on pages 40-47 of Master Sheng Yen's The Six Paramitas. This section emphasizes the actual benefits and purpose of the meditation practice, using the concept of 'dhyanas' or plural levels of meditation practice. The key to why one meditates from a Buddhist perspective is perhaps best described by Master Sheng Yen when he remarks, "one should not abide in any dharma (phenomenon), but...one should abide in non-scattered mind, one that has 'no taste'" (p.40). This 'no taste' is not clinging to any state of meditative concentration, seeing all sensory experiences with equanimity.

Master Sheng Yen further clarifies five distinct forms of dhyana, which I will very briefly summarize in a chart form below:

First   Dhyana	-practiced by non-Buddhist schools (p.40) -attaining “Samadhi”, a state where one is not enmeshed in conflicts with body, mind and environment -often done with the intention of attaining a blissful state in heavenly realm (p.41)
Second   Dhyana	-practiced by lay Buddhist practitioners -emphasis on unifying the body and mind; take this to be the enlightened state -not a lasting state: although I can feel blissful and unobstructed when meditating on my own, I lose the sense of balance when interacting with others
Third   Dhyana	-aka “Dhyana of liberation” (p.42) -cultivation of very diligent practitioners with the aim of personal liberation from all suffering -“arhat” perfections (monks who practice for the sake of liberating their own minds, not others’)
Fourth Jhana	-rather than trying to liberate oneself from the realm of life/death, one overcomes the fear of death and suffering; completely unattached to all phenomena, and therefore able to interact or dialogue with all phenomena for the sake of mutual liberation and abolishing suffering everywhere (see p.45) -compassion is developed, not just the aspiration to escape from suffering
Fifth   Dhyana	-also called “Supreme Vehicle” -without stages; sudden enlightenment through non-attachment to all phenomena -meditation and wisdom are the same, so one is not trying to achieve wisdom on top of the spontaneous arising of Dhyana -eating, sleeping and working become forms of Dhyana; “life itself is Dhyana” (p.47)

a) Looking at this chart, which of the five Dhyanas do you feel most arouses your imagination?

Which do you feel is a realistic entry point to understand meditation?

b) After reading Master Sheng-Yen's chapter, are there any aspects of the meditative practice which surprise you, or contradict your previous understandings of meditation? 

Which elements of meditation practice do you feel you can incorporate into your daily life at this point?

Write a short reflection on this and save it as "Meditation Exercise 6: Reflections on Buddhist Meditation"

Exercise 7: Looking at Meditation and Digital Media- Meditative Photography Exercise/Showcase

Now that you have had the opportunity to learn the theoretical aspects of Buddhist meditation, you might be wondering: how can the principles of 'non-seeking' and 'non-abiding' be related to everyday life, particularly our online, creative endeavors?

One possibility to explore is something called "mindful" or "meditative" photography. What this means is taking a camera (or a cellphone) and taking pictures of a particular subject without trying to 'settle on' a particular frame or desired angle. This practice may seem initially very simple, but in fact, it is complicated by staying with one chosen 'object' of meditation, similar to the meditation on the breath or loving kindness as 'objects'.

To do meditative photography, follow these guidelines:

1) Choose any object, either at home, in an institution or in nature.  Try to relax your mind and body, allowing the object to come to mind as you focus on your breath, or perhaps the verses of loving kindness meditation

2)  Approach that object from a variety of different angles, and very quickly take pictures without trying to judge the quality of the angle, shot, position, and so on. Even be willing to take continuous photos without looking very hard through the lens itself.

Note that this particular step requires a lot of practice and de-conditioning of previous habits related to photography. Even the very language of 'taking' a picture, 'getting a good shot' or 'capturing' an image suggest an possessive and even dominant connection with the images around us. As we are practicing a less acquisitive attitude toward photography, we may start to view the action as a process in its own right, without endowing that process with the personal pride of 'getting a good shot'.

In my own personal experience of this practice, I have observed the tendencies to a) get bored when I take several shots of one object; b) try to find the 'best' shot or angle before taking the picture, thus becoming attached to a certain desired or 'perfect' picture. The whole purpose of the meditative photography is not to 'capture' a good shot of an object, but rather to form a dynamic, relaxed and non-grasping view and connection to the object.

3) When done with this exercise, take a look at the pictures and ask yourself, did any new or unexpected relationships form between yourself and the object of meditation? What 'clues' do the photos offer as to the process that took place in photographing the object? Did the photos you ended up with generate any surprise or spontaneous angles?

In my personal experience, the more relaxed and non-judgmental I am in taking pictures, the more 'surprising' the angles look to me when I finally do get a chance to look at the photos. At times, I have even experienced a strange sense of dislocation, as though I am not even sure where the picture had been taken, or where I was in relation to the object. I believe that this 'surprise' relates to how we often see things with habitual frames of being and thinking, and doing something without those frameworks tends to shake up those frames.

Be sure to save your photography assignment and post to your blog, or look for other digital media forms to showcase your work (examples: google drive, Picassa, Facebook, or other sources of online photo albums)

END OF MODULE 5

References

Shengyen (2002). Six Paramitas: Perfections of the Bodhisattva Path. Elmhurst: Dharma Drum Publications.