CLASS NOTES: Mindful Meditation (Buddhism and Modern Psychology )

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Notes on video lecture:

Mindful Meditation

Buddhism and Modern Psychology

Robert Wright, Princeton University

Notes taken by Edward Tanguay on September 29, 2014 (go to class or lectures)

Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:

richness, artists, intently, acutely, koans, reliable, clearly, thinking, from, bring, control, discomfort, bliss, close, reorientation, ulterior, concentration, discomfort, psychologists, into, mind, gentle, rewarding, visualizing, absurdities, problem, rewarding, irritation, discomfort, unusual

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meditation

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comes easily to some people, for others it is rather difficult

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often people meditate many times without feeling it is sufficiently to sustain the practice

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people go on mediation retreats to focus on learning how to meditate and learn practices which they carry on in their daily lives later

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it is more or less a lot of work to learn how to meditate to a point where it is a experience over a long period of time

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when meditation works, it gives you a skill set that allows you to experience physical and emotional with greater poignancy but less problem

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short cuts to get the most out of mediation

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you perceive pain more but it causes you less trouble

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there's two ways to deal with

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1. escape it

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which enables you to avoid it all together

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2. escape it

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this enables you to experience the of being human, part of which is being uncomfortable and unsatisfied, but the sense of is diminished

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when you are feeling sad and on the border of depression, just sit down and say " it on", close your eyes and examine the feeling of sadness, get closer to it, focus on the discomfort, be precise about the discomfort, and let go of the fight with the discomfort

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remember, effective meditation does not require that you sit on the floor and your eyes, it only requires that you focus on your

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you can do this in the line at the grocery store when you are late and the woman in front of you if fumbling around in her purse trying to find her credit card, you can stand there with your eyes open examining your feeling of , entering into it, experiencing it more deeply simply as another aspect of the richness of being a human being

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the ability to deal well with pain and unsatisfactoriness in your life comes mainly when you practice meditation regularly

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and learn to carry it into your everyday life

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different kinds of medication associate with different Buddhist traditions

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Tibetan Buddhists

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of images

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Zen Buddhists

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meditate on

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statements, parable or question that you concentrate on while you're meditating

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they're meant to be logical that don't make much sense on their own

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e.g. what's the sound of one hand clapping?

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often meditate with their eyes open

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Vipassana meditation

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popular in Southeast Asia

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a lot of emphasis on observing the workings of your

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stereotypes

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Tibetan mediation is for , Zen is for poets, and Vipassana is for

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branches of Buddhism have more in common than they have differences among them

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observing your own mind is something that winds up happening in almost any tradition

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even if it is a more specific goal in Vipassana meditation

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two kinds of meditation

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they emphasize the seventh and eight items on the eightfold path

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right mindfulness

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right

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1. concentrated meditation

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focusing on something very

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your breath, a visual image

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is said to bring serenity, even , but Vipassana Buddhism teaches that you should not get attached to this bliss

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you should strive to reach a point where you mind is calm and centered, not to enjoy this state, but to use this state as a basis for observing the world

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what is mindfulness meditation

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observing anything in your realm of experience, your own mind, your own feelings, sounds you hear, or if you are meditating during the course of your day, anything that you can see

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but it involves observing these things in an way

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normally your relationship to a feeling like anxiety is:

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1. you don't like it

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2. it controls your

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which is ironic, actually, since here you are with a feeling you don't like yet you are letting it your thoughts

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with mindful meditation, you observe this feeling without like or dislike, without judging it, you simply become the observer of it in a way that it doesn't control your thoughts

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but you have to consider what a radical mindfulness is

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it is often portrayed a approach to life, which may be true

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but it is a rejection of natural selection's agenda to get feelings such as fear, anxiety, hunger, and pain to influence your behavior, mindfulness rejects these as and ultimately masters them simply by calmly observing them

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this is a violation of natural selection's agenda in the sense that we have feelings in order to influence our behavior

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Buddhism sees the mind as it is not as a instrument to show you reality

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it sees the basic habits of the mind as ulterior

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the mind as it naturally works is not a reliable way of looking at the world

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emotions cloud reality

Ideas and Concepts:

On mindful meditation, via this evening's Buddhism and Modern Psychology course:

"Mindful meditation involves observing anything in your realm of experience, your own mind, your own feelings, sounds you hear, or if you are meditating during the course of your day, anything that you see, but it involves observing these things in an unusual way. Normally your relationship to a feeling such as anxiety is (1) you don't like it, and (2) it controls your thinking, which is ironic, actually, since you have a feeling that you don't like yet you are letting it control your thoughts. With mindfulness meditation, you instead simply observe the feeling without like or dislike, without judging it, you become the observer of it in a way that it no longer has the power to control your thoughts.

You have to consider what a radical reorientation mindfulness is. Mindfulness is often portrayed a gentle approach to life:eating gently, observing gently, communicating gently. This may be true, but mindfulness also has an edge, and that is that it is a direct rejection to natural selection's agenda to get feelings such as fear, anxiety, hunger, and pain to influence your behavior. Mindfulness steps in and rejects these feelings as ulterior, and in so doing ultimately masters them, simply by observing them calmly."

Via this morning's Buddhism and Modern Psychology course: "Concentrated meditation by focusing very intently on something simple such as your breath or a visual image can bring about a feeling of serenity or even bliss. However, Vipassana Buddhism teaches that you should not become attached to these feelings, since the purpose of meditation is not to attain a sense of serenity or bliss, but to strengthen the skill of observing the world mindfully."

Buddhist meditation cheat sheet, via tonight's Buddhism and Modern Psychology course: "Tibetan mediation is for artists, Zen meditation is for poets, and Vipassana meditation is for psychologists."

Meditative vocabulary via this morning's Buddhism and Modern Psychology course: "koan, n. a statement, parable, or question that you concentrate on while you're meditating, which is meant to be a logical absurdity that doesn't make sense on its own, e.g. the phrase "what's the sound of one hand clapping?" When you meditate on a koan, you’re not only getting the benefits of meditation, but also giving your mind a mental workout. Meditating on a koan is like thinking about a riddle that doesn't have an answer. You can think about it all day long and try to unravel the meaning, but you'll never figure it out. Meditating on koans helps you to build the habit of moving around unsolvable problems, which, in the act of sidestepping them, often brings about intuitions that you wouldn't otherwise have had. For instance, thinking about one hand clapping may lead your thoughts to the metaphor that a person you know is like your other hand, and the relationship that you share with them is like the sound of two hands clapping, but when that person is no longer with you, the sound that you made together ceases, which changes the music of your life."

On mediation, via this morning's Buddhism and Modern Psychology course: "When meditation works, it gives you a skill set that allows you to experience physical and emotional discomfort with greater poignancy but less problem."

On spontaneous meditation, via this morning's Buddhism and Modern Psychology course: "Remember, effective meditation does not require that you sit on the floor and close your eyes, it only requires that you focus on your discomfort. You can do this, for instance, in the line at the grocery store when you are late and the woman in front of you is fumbling around in her purse trying to find her credit card. You can stand there with your eyes open, watching her search and fumble and continue to not find any means of payment for what she is attempting to purchase, examining within yourself your feeling of increasing irritation, and as it rises, enter into it, experience it in all of its fullness as yet another aspect of the richness of being a human being."

Courageous Buddhism, via this morning's Buddhism and Modern Psychology course: "When you are feeling sad and on the border of depression, just sit down and say "bring it on", close your eyes and examine the feeling of sadness, get closer to it, focus on the discomfort, be precise about the discomfort, and let go of the fight:experience your particular sadness in all of its detail and feel the richness of being a human being."