Peach,
I'm not a buddhist. I'm not even religious, and thats what made my experience more remarkable...
A few years ago during a traumatic phase of my life, when i was in Sydney, my cousin told me to attend a meditation course in Sydney, Australia. The meditation is the crux of Buddha's teachings....he gained the insights by practicing this particular technique of meditation. Its been taught unadultrated....really a primitive form of meditation....
I had laughed at him then...i was a jet setting senior executive in a tech firm at the time and it all seemed so out of sync with my rational life......but i was very curious as to why someone would suggest something like that to someone like myself......
I took the 10 day course this year, more out of curiosity and the need to experiment, than for anything else....it was a non religious course....around 100 people....meditating for 14 hours a day, very strict rules, very close to the primitive conditions under which Buddha meditated...
I would say it was an experience i shall never forget. Depending on how much effort one puts in, i would say one really experiences the truth of the universe...within the framework of our bodies....i wish i had more time...I'd do a 20 day course this time....we all hear talks about how life is transitory, happiness is fleeting, how we can control our emotions....but what does it really mean to an average person ? Nothing...just intellectualisation and lectures....
The meditation makes you experience what it means....i came back a new person...with a totally new perspective on life....and there was NO religious mumbo involved...in fact one of the rules is that you got to maintain absolute silence for 9 days....and since your eyes are closed during the 14 hours a day routine, so it was all a physical experience....which is real and you learn to control, actually control your wants and desires and emotions and sadness....i pm'd a funny incident to Kirk about one such experiment i conducted at the retreat....LOL! And the meditation sharpens your mind to such an extent that your conscious and subconscious merge to give you the benefit of a 'whole' mind....thus you can think up solutions much much quicker....i can imagine if anyone spent as much time meditating as Buddha did, anyone with a reasonable mind would be able to unlock mysteries of the universe....Buddha had a good heart and he spent his life spreading that knowledge around.....it unleashes the power of human mind......its pretty hard to practice and commit too.......but the brief glimpse i had in that period was pretty overwhelming......
He never wanted Buddhism to be a religion....he was totally non religious as such. Buddhism, the sect, was formed after his death by his followers.... |
