Practice vs mindfulness

[Shinshou]

After ten years of apprenticeship, Tenno achieved the rank of Zen teacher. One rainy day, he went to visit the famous master Nan-in. When he walked in, the master greeted him with a question, "Did you leave your wooden clogs and umbrella on the porch?"

"Yes," Tenno replied.

"Tell me," the master continued, "did you place your umbrella to the left of your shoes, or to the right?"

Tenno did not know the answer, and realized that he had not yet attained full awareness. So he became Nan-in's apprentice and studied under him for ten more years.

I remember in a Ram Dass presentation, he talked about spending a very long time meditation at an isolated center. During an interview, the teacher asked how he thought he was doing, and Ram Dass said he thought he was doing very well. The teacher asked, "tell me, when you fell asleep last night, was it on an inhalation or an exhalation?" Ram Dass realized he had overestimated his progress.

While this story sounds like the stuff of spiritual legend, when I heard it, I thought how exhausting it must be to lie in bed and try to be present enough to know whether you've fallen asleep on an in-breath or an out-breath. Who could possibly relax enough to actually get to sleep? Sounds like self-imposed torture to me. I prefer to concentrate when concentrating and wander when wandering. What's better than standing in the shower, consciously letting your mind wander?

Shinshou (Dan)
Sat Today

[Jinyo]

Couldn't agree more with everyone talking about this. "Mindfulness", meditation, yoga, and other things have really been hijacked in recent years by big business. Not only do many look at it as a way to increase productivity of employees and thus profits, but some seemingly look at it as a way to make their employees more docile and able to deal with the work conditions (rather than adjusting the actual work conditions) - it gets reduced to a form of stress management the employees "should" be doing shifting the responsibility to the individual employee rather than the company to make changes to the work conditions. I saw this at my previous company put into use/misuse. Company morale was low so they began pushing mindfulness, pranayama (breathing), meditation, yoga, exercise, and nutrition as the solution all while continuing to place more and more pressure on the employees to meet added quotas and take on extra job roles/tasks.

One concern I have for this use of these practices in this way is that it may discourage people newly exposed to these terms and practices. If any of those practices are implemented incorrectly or performed half-heartedly/forced then those employees may feel "this doesn't work" "this is pointless" and be pushed away from ever attempting sincere practice. For those not exposed personally other than hearing about this "fad" on television or other media may write all practice off as "dead" when the "fad officially ends" in the media. The more it's misused in this manner the larger the "fad" of that use is and the harder the fall and greater the effect of the fall.

Gassho
Kendrick
Sat/LAH

Dosho Port link for new book critiquing Mindfulness Movement. Pretty much along the lines of what Glenn Wallis is exploring at 'Speculative Non-Buddhism'.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildfoxzen/2019/06/review-of-mcmindfulness-how-mindfulness-became-the-new-capitalist-spirituality.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=BRSS&utm_campaign=Buddhist&utm_content=119

Just to say I read Thich Nhat Hann's book 'Transformation and Healing - a commentary of the Sutra on The Four Establishments of Mindfulness' and found it very good - a mile away from the dumbing down sometimes found in self-help Mindfulness literature. In my humble opinion it is one of TNH's better books because it encompasses the whole of Buddhist ethics/practice and Buddhist psychology.

Gassho

Jinyo

sat today

[Jundo]

Couldn't agree more with everyone talking about this. "Mindfulness", meditation, yoga, and other things have really been hijacked in recent years by big business. Not only do many look at it as a way to increase productivity of employees and thus profits, but some seemingly look at it as a way to make their employees more docile and able to deal with the work conditions (rather than adjusting the actual work conditions) - it gets reduced to a form of stress management the employees "should" be doing shifting the responsibility to the individual employee rather than the company to make changes to the work conditions. I saw this at my previous company put into use/misuse. Company morale was low so they began pushing mindfulness, pranayama (breathing), meditation, yoga, exercise, and nutrition as the solution all while continuing to place more and more pressure on the employees to meet added quotas and take on extra job roles/tasks.

One concern I have for this use of these practices in this way is that it may discourage people newly exposed to these terms and practices. If any of those practices are implemented incorrectly or performed half-heartedly/forced then those employees may feel "this doesn't work" "this is pointless" and be pushed away from ever attempting sincere practice. For those not exposed personally other than hearing about this "fad" on television or other media may write all practice off as "dead" when the "fad officially ends" in the media. The more it's misused in this manner the larger the "fad" of that use is and the harder the fall and greater the effect of the fall.

Gassho
Kendrick
Sat/LAH

Originally, in early Buddhism, the purpose of "mindfulness" was very different. It was not to relax, feel peace and feel at home in this life. Rather, it was to notice impermanence, the falsity of the sense of self, and to realize nirvana whereby one would escape ever having to be born in this world again. It is really only in modern times that lay people, in Asia and the west (Goenka, Thich Nhat Hanh, IMS and others are part of this modernizing reinterpretation via the twists they put on old teachings), took an interest in meditation in order to relax and feel peace in this life. Personally, I don't think that is a bad development, because we Zen folks have always been more comfortable in this world, and the possibilities for realization in this life, than the South Asian Buddhists. However, I still believe that the point of our practice is much much more than just relaxation. It is to realize (satori) our "True Nature" and to see through the "great matter of Birth and Death." Truly. Zen is not a stress reduction class. Peace and stress reduction are just a side benefit. In fact, the ultimate "stress reduction" is satori, to experience one's True Nature and to see through Birth and Death.

Second, Buddhism has always catered to the surrounding economic system. It had too. Buddhism has always depended on donations from lay people to build the monasteries and keep the monks fed. Those lay people, since the Buddha's time, have always included many powerful people, rich people, land and farm owners, merchants and the like. In exchange for their donations, Buddhism offered many things to make those donors feel better in their lives, e.g., ceremonies to bring them good health, business prosperity and the like. In Japan, many lay people who are company employees sit Zazen before heading to the office. Nishijima Roshi's main donor to support his translation work was a cosmetics company where the owner was a devoted Buddhist, so asked Nishijima to lead the employees in weekly Zazen training. In turn, the company funded Nishijima Roshi's Zen center where he trained so many people. Few Buddhists attacked the surrounding economic system, perhaps because they still believed deep down (like the early Buddhists) that this world cannot be fixed, only seen through and transcended (nirvana, satori). Zen Buddhists in the past also trained samurai to be better soldiers, and tended to spend more time with powerful people than to be concerned for the welfare of the peasants. Anyone who rocked the boat would find their temples burned down, and the priests banished or disrobed by the rulers. That is the case all through Asia, from Thailand to Tokyo to Tibet. Very very few (some) Buddhists of the past were real social reformers.

So, what is happening now with "Mindfulness" being used to make better employees and better soldiers is not entirely a new thing.

That said, many modern Zen and other Buddhists believe that our Precepts and Vows to "rescue the Sentient Beings" call on us to be concerned with society, not merely to ignore or transcend it. The following is an article (with a excerpt from the book that Jinyo mentions) on how "McMindfulness" is doing exactly what Kendrick describes. It is a long article, but I can almost summarize in one sentence: Meditation is being used to make people more comfortable as workers in a system which is the real problem, and tries to convince people that their "stress" is their own problem to solve through yoga and meditation classes when, in fact, the real problem is the "rat race" that this economic system is creating. i think there is a lot of truth in that. I think that "Zen" is often used the same way.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jun/14/the-mindfulness-conspiracy-capitalist-spirituality?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR0JaxJke5U-w62avD2uUXp5daId4pZu4f1t9508wJsY-e_A-x7ksNkA-z0#Echobox=1560509014

For that reason, I am happy that people sit Zazen and feel some peace and stress reduction. However, I would also like them (1) to realize their "True Self" and the great matter of "Birth and Death, and (2) not forget the problems with this society and economic system, and try to do what can be done to make it more just.

Gassho, J

STLah