This is the second in a series on mediation and spirituality. (The first post was: Dealing with "Monkey Mind"
Meditation: Where to Start
I became interested in Buddhism and meditation after meeting some people on Martha's Vineyard who had long practiced meditation. Some of these people were positively overflowing with positive vibes and it was contagious. One of those people was Jon Lieff , M.D. who has a long illustrious career as a psychiatrist. He has served as the president of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP) and taught me how to meditate. Today, Jon runs a blog Searching for the Mind and its worth a look!
Later, while living in Japan, I went to meet Gudo Wafu Nishijima head of the Ida Ryogokudo Zazen Dojo in Chiba, just outside Tokyo. He had studied Buddhism at Japan's most prestigious temple Eihei-ji.
Gudo Wafu Nishijima (Image Courtesy Wikimedia Commons: https://goo.gl/images/CtVHy7)
As a side note there are two main Buddhist sects in Japan: Soto and Rinzai. In short, Soto school believes that meditation itself is enlightenment while the Rinzai school believes enlightenment is achievable through the use of koans (riddles) that hit the mind like a lightning bolt shattering into into pieces, to leave only transcendental awareness.
In my meeting with Nishjima, he was to determine if I was to be admitted to the dojo and live with about 30 other mediators from Israel, Canada, China, the US, Australia and included Japanese monks and nuns.
Questions to Ask if You're Curious About Meditation
Image of Gudo Wafu Nishijima Courtesy Hardcore Zen: https://goo.gl/images/TY12bq
Sensei wanted to know what my life was like. He wanted to know what problems I was facing. No one is really going to need meditation or take it seriously if they don't have some pretty serious crisis in their life. For me it was a mind that would not stop racing and drained my energy. It was also, like for many of us, a matter of narcissism/neuroses described by Karen Horney in here book "The Neurotic Personality of Our Time" and "Neurosis & Human Growth." The typical first attempts to quiet our minds typically involve alcohol, drugs, sex and other activities often carried to an unwholesome extreme. We hope these will distract us enough to give us peaces. But it doesn't. Fortunately, I was admitted to the dojo where I lived and mediated four times a day, every day for two years.
Gudo Wafu Nishijima, who passed away in 2014 at the age of 95, was a great teacher. I'll write more on him and the dojo later.
Following is a video of Nishijima-Sensi describing how to meditate! A few minutes every day will help stop that "monkey mind."
Featured Image Courtesy Wikimedia Commons: https://goo.gl/images/CtVHy7