Buddhist transformation is all about emotion. Actually, that’s not literally true; a lot of meditation, especially for Westerners, is about de-constructing and seeing through the illusory world of self that thinking creates. But neuroscience has now demonstrated what Buddhist meditators have long known: that as meditation matures, the discursive thinking aspect of mental activity subsides, [...]
Archive for the ‘Aging and Meditation’ Category
It’s All About Emotion
Posted in Aging and Meditation, tagged Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation, unconditional love on January 18, 2010 | 10 Comments »
Thinking Is Overrated
Posted in Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation, tagged aging and karma, Thought of Enlightenment, training the mind on January 10, 2010 | 13 Comments »
The comedienne Lily Tomlin, in her persona as the bag lady, once said, “I tried reality once, and found it highly overrated.” From a Buddhist standpoint, the same could be said for thinking. The various schools of Buddhism all have a highly technical literature, whose collected works fill a good-sized room. That being said, the [...]
Lonely But Never Alone
Posted in Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation, Loneliness, tagged grief, Loneliness, loss on July 29, 2009 | 21 Comments »
Loneliness often increases as we grow older. Certainly when those we know begin to pass away (which may start when we are in our 50s) there is a kind of loneliness that comes and cannot easily be assuaged. Their loss is permanent. I have a thumbnail summary of Buddhism that I have mentioned here before [...]
Mindfulness of Aging Part 3
Posted in Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation, Aging and Spirituality, Baby Boomers and Aging, tagged Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation, Aging and Spirituality, mindfulness, Mindfulness of Aging on June 20, 2009 | 15 Comments »
I often say, paraphrasing my own teacher, that the purpose of Buddhist meditation is not to be calm, but to be real. Being real doesn’t exclude being calm, if that is what is happening. But being real is not some particular state of mind; it is the mind in accord with the actuality of things—“real [...]
Mindfulness of Aging Part 2
Posted in Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation, Aging and Spirituality, tagged Aging and Meditation, Aging and Spirituality, aging and zen on June 10, 2009 | 20 Comments »
So what do we do with our aging thoughts? How can we transform them from exercises in comparison and regret into more wholesome insights that nourish us? (If you are tuning in to this blog for the first time, read the last post, “Mindfulness of Aging part I”.) There are three parts to transforming mindfulness: [...]
Mindfulness of Aging Part I
Posted in Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation, Aging and Spirituality, tagged Aging and Buddhism, Aging and Meditation, Aging and Spirituality, Mindfulness of Aging, training the mind on May 28, 2009 | 14 Comments »
In this post I’d like to explore the practice of “Mindfulness of Aging.” Mindfulness is one of the basic practices in Buddhism, but the precise reasons why it is effective (particularly in chronic pain management) are not yet well understood. Mindfulness is sometimes characterized in Buddhist texts as “bare noting,” and is often coupled with [...]
The Candle Flame Burns Just as Brightly
Posted in Aging and Meditation, Aging and Spirituality, tagged aging and beauty, aging and happiness, aging and worry on May 17, 2009 | 10 Comments »
A woman in her fifties recently told me about a dream she had had. In the dream she was at a party and saw a tall, attractive man in his early thirties standing alone with a drink in his hand. The woman went over to talk to the man; in the dream she was young [...]
Books
Aging As A Spiritual Practice
Amazon
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Indiebound
Books a Million
Itunes
Work As A Spiritual Practice
Amazon
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Healing Lazarus
Amazon
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A Whole Life's Work
Amazon
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