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Secular Buddhism

Only just seen this thread danny. Really interesting. A friend of mine who spent a long time in a Buddhist monastery 'cured' me of long-term insomnia, via Buddhist methods. He asked me what I did to help me get to sleep. I said breathing techniques, counting to 100 and then backwards, that kind of thing. He asked if it worked. Well, no, because I forget to focus on the breathing, then a million thoughts intrude on the counting. He then asked if I got angry about that. Yes, very angry, because a) I'm clearly crap at it, so I'm pissed off with myself and b) I need my fucking sleep goddammit! Then he asked me if I thought getting angry helped me get to sleep :) Obvious answer. He showed me that I can't turn those thoughts off no matter what, I've proved that, but what I can do is to accept that I'm not going to sleep, and to just get as comfy as poss in bed, and let those thoughts run themselves ragged. It was surprisingly easy to do, and on that very first night, I fell asleep faster than I had in years. It improved night on night. I still use it as a 'technique' on the occasions when I can't sleep and it's incredibly comforting, and effective.

Sooo, anyway, I am going to watch that meditation video, having struggled to do it myself for years, because of thoughts and fidgeting. The only time I ever got near was when I did life modelling, and had to sit completely still for a long time, whilst focussing my eyes on one small thing in the room. I would start to become outside of myself, the room would wrap itself around my sight in very strange ways, I could feel pain in certain areas, but knew that it would pass, that it would travel on to another part, so not to get anxious about it. Got very fuzzy velvety physical sensations. Would feel completely energised afterwards.

Cheers danny, great thread, very interesting subject and thanks for the links. Am very glad it has helped you with your depression too.
 
8ball said:
Seems flawed. Easier to go ‘into’ the roots of mindfulness to see the problems with the neoliberal takeover since you’re doing that anyway, than to expect a resurgence of Marxist consciousness as a framework in which to examine it.
Click to expand...

Not quite sure what youre saying here - other than its easier to examine the past & present than to predict or presume the future......?
I passed on your comment to Graham Jones , here's his reply -
" the aim is to act as an articulation point between the already existing communities of marxists on the one hand, and disgruntled mindfulness practitioners on the other. There doesn't need to be a resurgence because there already has been a massive one since 2008."
 
brixtonscot said:
Not quite sure what youre saying here - other than its easier to examine the past & present than to predict or presume the future......?
I passed on your comment to Graham Jones , here's his reply -
" the aim is to act as an articulation point between the already existing communities of marxists on the one hand, and disgruntled mindfulness practitioners on the other. There doesn't need to be a resurgence because there already has been a massive one since 2008."
Click to expand...

Wow - I wasn't expecting that to get back to the author! :eek:

From the perspective of that aim as he sets it out, that makes a degree of sense (the articulation point between existing marxists and disgruntled mindfulness practitioners, I mean). I think to both of those groups there will be a solid amount of resistance to going into the deeper mechanics of Buddhism.

Also, I think there is some bias from self-selection going on on two levels. First, I have doubts about how many 'disgruntled mindfulness practitioners' there really are out there (are they likely to be enough to have any sway on the 'neo-lib mindfulness' juggernaut?), and second, that 'massive resurgence' doesn't look so massive from where I am standing.
A big part of that resurgence (imo) has been down to a mixture of disillusioned old lefties being awoken from their slumber by a crisis of capitalism (a part of 'business as usual' as any marxist fule no), and some young idealists on their 'ethical gap year' on their way to accountancy degrees and middle management).

But it's good that people are talking about the internal tensions of the neo-lib mindfulness power grab. These are just my initial thoughts - will try to re-read and have a little think later. :thumbs:

edit: nearly forgot to address your first point - my main point was that this seems like a very heavy 'homework task' for both communicating groups, and there are likely some paths of lesser resistance, some of which the author hints at himself (examining the historical situatedness of capitalism etc.)
 
After taking the course on Transcendental Meditation twenty years ago I stuck to the sessions regularly, possibly to justify the cost and to begin with it was nice to close my eyes. After a year or so I reached a twenty minute calm each session. It is now a genuine success, one I can judge close friends and family who are tense much for of the time.
I still get up tight and sick as a parrot but I have my twice daily bolt hole in which to hide. At 87 I haven't that many mantras to carry out.
 
William of Walworth said:
I was unaware of this thread :oops: and the term 'Secular Buudhism' would have meant zero to me, but danny la rouge 's OP makes me want to read this thread, check a link or two, and find out more (and I'm a major sceptic about so bloody much that even sounds a bit!! like religion!)
Click to expand...
I hope you find many of interesting things. Just remember there is no compulsion to believe in any of it. As the Buddha said, try it out and see. If you don't see, no problems carry on.

Not like Abrahamic religions of believe or burn for eternity in some sort of hell.

There are hells and heavens in Buddhism, but they are more seen as states of mind. Although some will claim to believe literally. Then again every religion has it's fundamentalists.
 
This is a useful short introduction/brush up on the basics of mindfulness. It’s just over 14 mins long, and comes from Doug Smith, who is study director of the Secular Buddhist Association, and posts videos under the title “Doug’s Secular Dharma”.

 
This is something I was drawn too for a long time but tried to ignore strongly. I was very conscious of becoming a cliche. The old martial artist who becomes a Buddhist, sigh. I was introduced to meditation through martial arts and Buddhism through meditation.

I meditated at home daily or almost daily for about a year. When I was in Thailand I visited a few temples and was drawn further in.

Now I visit my local temple usually once a week, still keep it quiet though. None of my mates know.
Ajah Brahm, mentioned up thread, is part of the Sangha. He really is an amazing human.

No woo involved.
 
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