Yesterday: Meditating feels like strapping myself to a nuclear warhead and that's a Bad thing.
Today: Meditating feels like strapping myself to a nuclear warhead and that's a Good thing.
Conversation
Replying to
Just make sure you're also working on developing compassion, so you don't overshoot and accidentally become an asshole. :) As long as you do that, power is a great thing!
2
3
100% this. Metta practice exists for a reason - as concentration and awareness grow, cultivating compassion is vital.
1
You guys both have different views on both metta and compassion from my own. Fair dos and all, but I don't know that we'll end up agreeing.
My biggest problem at the moment is equanimity, though. Things are very out of balance, and every (competing) impulse has a strong pull.
1
1
I see it more as compassion is required to be able to sit with the more difficult states.
The Mind Illuminated talks about this - how missing on the skill of meditative joy can limit progression because it's harder to just be.
That might be the same as equanimity?
1
2
Equanimity is more of a state or mental posture. It's possible to maintain deliberately, but I've lost the knack with lack of practice.
Metta is a cluster of techniques and can be used to develop equanimity, but my objection is its interminglement with Buddhist ethics.
But e.g. you do Buddhist insight meditation and equanimity has a way of rearimg its head anyway, though usually only after significant turmoil.
1
For the record, I don't really care _how_ you train compassion. I'm personally doing it partly through tonglen, partly through chod, partly through six lokas practice, and partly just by trying to open my heart as I go through my day. Metta seems a bit boring to me. :)
1
2
Show replies