Studying And Practicing With “The Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta — An Analysis Of The Bases Of Power”: Summary, Findings, Observations And Comparisons (7 of 7)

Article shortcut: https://tinyurl.com/basesofpower

Series introduction:

While I reference some non-Buddhist material most everything in the notes and podcasts for this series on The Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta are solely my effort to relate considerations, questions, experiences, explorations, suggestions, interpretations and practices involved and associated with this sutta.

This series comes via seven categories/blog posts/podcasts:

  1. Introduction; the key encapsulation/encoding/summary paragraph of the whole sutta which includes and weaves in the four powers; and a reading of one of two translations for the sutta
  2. Unpacking of the hindrances and the other of two translations for the sutta
  3. A (type of) situational awareness
  4. 32 parts of the body
  5. Perceptions of night, daytime and light
  6. “Psychic Powers,” practice combinations and miscellany
  7. Summary, findings, observations and comparisons

In more detail, the four Iddhipāda — sometimes translated as bases of psychic power, basis of psychic power, bases of power, base of spiritual power, wings to success, paths of accomplishment, accomplishments, or roads to power — are:

  1. chanda: desire; enthusiasm; purpose; wish
  2. viriya: persistence; energy; effort; will
  3. citta: intent; consciousness; knowing mind; mental development; devoting mind to; heart-mind
  4. vīmaṃsā: investigation; inquiry; discernment; discrimination; reason; interest; intelligent curiosity; [(perhaps a new contribution, or for chanda:) balanced and helpful enthrallment, fascination]; feedback and fine tuning, adjustment; learn from doing; circumspection

Along with aiding our even mundane accomplishments and mastery, perhaps the Iddhipāda play a significant role in approaching will — the way one decides on and initiates action — and at the core of The Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta is an analysis of will along with instructions for its training, development, and use.

Summary, Findings, Observations And Comparisons

  • If “The Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta — An Analysis Of The Bases Of Power” is (mostly) for monastics, what would be any significant difference(s) for a lay version?

Iddhipāda development instructions left out of the “The Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta — An Analysis Of The Bases Of Power”

I also discovered towards the end of producing this series the “the practice that leads to the development of the bases of psychic power”:

And what is the practice that leads to the development of the bases of psychic power?

It is simply this noble eightfold path, that is:

right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right immersion.

This is called the practice that leads to the development of the bases of psychic power.”

Selection from Linked Discourses 51, 2. Shaking the Stilt Longhouse, 19. A Teaching on Psychic Power, Etc.

A fulcrum for knowing Anicca, inconstancy?

For the section:

“…perceiving what is in front and behind so that what is in front is the same as what is behind, and what is behind is the same as what is in front.”

Or translated:

“…perceiving continuity: as before, so after; as after, so before”

Could this also be somehow related to helping with seeing, knowing and discerning the arising and passing nature of phenomena and/or (a type of pivot point between) past and future, aka the present moment due to keeping a “. . . perception of what is in front & behind … well in hand, well-attended to, well-considered, well-tuned [‘penetrated’] by means of discernment,” or “the perception of continuity is properly grasped, attended, borne in mind, and comprehended with wisdom”?

Extrapolating a take on encrypted Esoteric instructions and teachings (in the subtext)

“There is the case where a monk develops the base of power endowed with concentration founded on desire & the fabrications of exertion, thinking, ‘This desire of mine will be neither overly sluggish nor overly active, neither inwardly constricted nor outwardly scattered.’ He keeps perceiving what is in front & behind so that what is in front is the same as what is behind, what is behind is the same as what is in front. What is below is the same as what is above, what is above is the same as what is below. (He dwells) by night as by day, and by day as by night. By means of an awareness thus open & unhampered, he develops a brightened mind.

Woo woo and run on sentence alert:

Why would the Buddha initially give somewhat cryptic instructions in “An Analysis of the Bases of Power — Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta” then go on to explain them in ways where some don’t seem immediately obvious and/or related to the initial cryptic instructions? Could this be a nod to various occult(ed) means to power using some of the same kind of imagery while at the same time decrypting in a manner that could be critical to/of established occult systems (for those with eyes to see and ears to hear)? And/or even going so far as to the initial cryptic instructions actually being what is only taught secretly to some occult initiates then saying there’s deeper layers of decoding while critically commenting — by reading between the lines and in the subtext — on (the) existing occult schools and systems, ie. not with some kind of reformulated, recreated, homogenized, special 360 vision for “perceiving what is in front & behind so that what is in front is the same as what is behind, what is behind is the same as what is in front”; nor by (somehow) purifying the body by rituals (because internally it’s “full of various kinds of unclean things”); and by dwelling so “what is below is the same as what is above, and what is above is the same as what is below,” means not something such as combining heaven, hell and earth, or emphasizing ((symbolic) spats over) various hierarchies, but by mindfulness to/of/for — in a kind of way — the immediate everyday human reality of being trapped in/with a meat suit body composed of foul things.

[In the podcast I say the Buddha was critical of other teachings. I don’t know if this is a fair stand-alone statement as I’ve heard he also praised some of the Jain stuff and also points out flaws in others criticizing and quarreling with others over teachings]

Inversions and contradictions?

Why would the Buddha draw attention to, and give instruction to invert something, anything — in this instance to dwell or “meditate as by day, so by night; as by night, so by day. . . [by developing] the basis of psychic power that has immersion due to enthusiasm [ /energy/ mental development/ inquiry], and active effort, with the same features, attributes, and signs by day as by night. And they develop it with the same features, attributes, and signs by night as by day.” Are there other instances where the Buddha specifically instructs inversions this explicitly?

Are these the proper translations? If so then is following passage from https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/MN/MN4.html a paradox in need of resolving?

“There are some contemplatives & brahmans, brahman, who have the perception of ‘day’ when it is night, and of ‘night’ when it is day. This, I tell you, is their being in a dwelling of delusion. As for me, I have the perception of ‘day’ when it is day, and of ‘night’ when it is night. . .”

Or translated:

“There are some ascetics and brahmins who perceive that it’s day when in fact it’s night, or perceive that it’s night when in fact it’s day. This meditation of theirs is delusional, I say. I perceive that it’s night when in fact it is night, and perceive that it’s day when in fact it is day. . .”

https://suttacentral.net/mn4/en/sujato

If this is an inversion though could the subtext involve (inversions on) how day and night came to be (altered) in this world (thus could such a type of instruction help invert an inversion for restoration)? [see: https://ascensionglossary.com/index.php/Earth%27s_Axial_Tilt]

To me the phrase “turning upright what had been overthrown” or “righting the overturned” from a popular refrain ending plenty of suttas is pretty close to inverting an inversion.

“Magnificent, Master Gotama! Magnificent, Master Gotama! Master Gotama has made the Dhamma clear in many ways, as though he were turning upright what had been overthrown, revealing what was hidden, showing the way to one who was lost, or holding up a lamp in the dark for those with eyesight to see forms. I go to Master Gotama for refuge and to the Dhamma and to the Sangha of bhikkhus. From today let Master Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone to him for refuge for life.”

Or translated:

“Excellent, Master Gotama! Excellent, Master Gotama! As if he were righting the overturned, or revealing the hidden, or pointing out the path to the lost, or lighting a lamp in the dark so people with good eyes can see what’s there, Master Gotama has made the teaching clear in many ways. I go for refuge to Master Gotama, to the teaching, and to the mendicant Saṅgha. From this day forth, may Master Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone for refuge for life.”

https://suttacentral.net/mn4/en/sujato

Implications of light

Also, could doing practices or developing perceptions as mentioned in this sutta like “the perception of light, the perception of daytime [at any hour of the day] well in hand & well-established” make one a very bright light (so to speak) and so maybe dwelling by day as by night is helpful to not draw so much attention to oneself?

Out of this placement of King and Priest as the highest offices of this world emerged the restatement of the ancient ritual of establishing two pillars at the entrance of every temple, oriented to the rising sun (rising son = Horus Rising or Horizon) coming over the horizon on the first day of spring on the vernal equinox. These two pillars represent the Line of the King and the Line of the Priest, who established their lineages to control the Land and the Law throughout history to the present time.

…

The storyline of the Isis and Osiris mystery cult is simple and quite instructive. There are nine godheads in the primary Egyptian Pantheon known as the Ennead. Anu sits at the top of the Council of Nine (the Ennead). Below him are two sets of brother/sister twins (husband and wife) that embody the physical Earth in its primordial elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Out of these emerge another two sets of brother/sister twins (husband and wife), representing the polarity of dark and light in the false light matrix of the hologram containment field. These are Isis and Osiris on the light side, from who emerges the prodigal Sun/Son Horus, who rises in the east at the Horizon (Horus Rising). Set and Nephthys counter the light as it is extinguished on the western horizon by Set as he removes the light of the day at Sun-Set and gives it over to his sister/wife to cover the Night. Light and Dark, Black and White, the never-ending polarity, displayed for all to see on every Masonic temple floor, in Westminster Abbey and many more.

from p.43 and p.104 of An Overview of the World System of Bondage and Separation from Life
Night — Milwaukee, 2020
Day — Seattle, 2019
Light — (Chem/)Sun dogs & Moon dog

Maybe having “the perception of light, the perception of daytime [at any hour of the day] well in hand & well-established” is a boosted illumination of consciousness to neutralize forces of “light and darkness” especially when added to the sort of swapping of perceptions for day and night. Such day and night perception swapping, coupled with the perception of light allows for light to prevail amongst what some say are now unnatural/manipulated periods of sunlight and no sunlight on earth where others say in a far ancient time the earth had two suns and no darkness. And perhaps this also lends skillful perceptions of night, unlike some symbolic representations of night like a nuclear winter or dark ages or a worldwide virus.

BTW, 10 perceptions helpful to some who are ill:

  • inconstancy
  • not-self
  • unattractiveness
  • drawbacks
  • abandoning
  • dispassion
  • cessation
  • distaste for every world
  • undesirability of all fabrications
  • mindfulness of in-and-out breathing

Not mentioned in the podcast:

Protection strategies

Perhaps the four protective meditations on foulness, death, loving-kindness and the Buddha are helpful to address non-benevolent powerful forces not so keen on the rise in power of those whom align with more benevolent intents.

Meditation on death could perhaps deter those who threaten with death to invoke (and feed on the subsequent) fear. Death meditation could also deter those who would like to keep on and on with tactic after tactic to block progress with the faulty reasoning that one’s current existence is eternal so what’s the big deal with messing around with someone if doing so is only a blip in the grand scheme of things.

Loving-kindness can protect against mischievous beings only crying out for kindness (and not really realizing it); for those who still have a conscience but have temporarily forgotten it; and towards those who seek to provoke anger, violence, ill-will and retaliation (as fuel).

Meditation on death and loving-kindness may protect against any harmful actions of nihilists since they resonate with death and the energy of loving-kindness may be a reprieve from their bleakness.

And of course meditation on the Buddha — and the true pinnacle of awareness represented thereby — appeals as a deterrent for more seemingly middle of the road, non-benevolent forces, especially those who seek to connive using (false) knowledge, deception, distractions, deterrents, tricks, foolery, games, etc.

Finally meditation on foulness can deter (those forces appealing to) lust, seduction and misuse of sexual energy.

Much of this series seems to present the four Iddhipāda as objects. However, perhaps perceiving the Iddhipāda more as features, aspects, and/or characteristics will help add further vistas and dimensions of the Iddhipāda for greater meaning and inner/over/understanding.

Again, this series comes via seven categories/blog posts/podcasts:

  1. Introduction; the key encapsulation/encoding/summary paragraph of the whole sutta which includes and weaves in the four powers; and a reading of one of two translations for the sutta
  2. Unpacking of the hindrances and the other of two translations for the sutta
  3. A (type of) situational awareness
  4. 32 parts of the body
  5. Perceptions of night, daytime and light
  6. “Psychic Powers,” practice combinations and miscellany
  7. Summary, findings, observations and comparisons
Audio: Studying And Practicing With “The Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta — An Analysis Of The Bases Of Power”: Summary, Findings, Observations And Comparisons (7 of 7)

Or listen via Insight Timer (app or website)

Continue reading “Studying And Practicing With “The Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta — An Analysis Of The Bases Of Power”: Summary, Findings, Observations And Comparisons (7 of 7)”

1/4 Day St Louis Area Meditation Retreat 10/15/2022

[10/15/2022 UPDATE: Big thanks to the host and participant for allowing me the opportunity, training and experience to lead and facilitate my first (outdoor) (mini) retreat. Possible future retreats include: this spot; at friends’ newly acquired southern central Illinois property of Eastern woodlands; as well as at other locations as arrangements are made]

Wholeness Integrating Presence readers! I’ve come across a small outdoor retreat space at a private residence in a neighborhood in the greater St Louis, Missouri area somewhat close to the city itself.

This is an open call to join my first (micro) donation-based sitting and walking meditation retreat as of now limited to five meditators from 10am to noon on Saturday October 15, 2022. Chairs are provided and I have a few extra blankets and meditation cushions if needed/requested.

Tentative schedule:

10:00am – 10:10 — Greetings, introduction, brief orientation and instructions

10:10 – 10:40 — Establishing one’s retreat intention and minimally guided sitting meditation

10:40 – 10:50 — Silent walking meditation

10:50 – 11:00 — Break or continue walking or sitting meditation

11:00 – 11:40 — Silent sitting meditation

11:40 – 11:50 — Silent walking meditation

11:50 – 11:55 — Silent standing meditation

11:55 – noon — Closing and optional sharing of merit

This retreat is also listed on retreat.guru and RetreatFinder.com

For details and to get on the participant list please reach out via any social media and contact means listed, fill out the contact form or email integratingpresence@protonmail.com

Full Of Love

The description for this August 26th Insight Timer live event followed by my notes:

Not full of cr*p. For those (interested in) practicing the Four Sublime Abidings of loving-kindness, compassion, vicarious joy/rejoicing & equanimity join this Mettāsahagata Sutta (SN 46.54) sharing where we penetrate into even higher release by examining various modes of repugnance & lack thereof

The three translations referenced for this talk:

This talk bounces back and forth between:

  • technical
  • comparative
  • practical

Want to say the Pali word translated as “repulsive”, and my translation/use of “repugnant” is from:

  • appaṭikūle
  • appaṭikūlasaññī

With the “appa” defined as:

adjective & neuter
small, little; trifling; few; rare; iic: very little, next to nothing (almost equivalent to a negative) (neuter) a little, a small amount; a trifling thing

I didn’t immediately find translations for the rest of that Pali word

In practical daily life for greater and greater freedom of heart:

  • Will come back to some of these at end again:
    • “repugnant” seems more extreme may really get our attention, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu uses “(not) loathsome,” but “repulsive” and “unrepulsive” in daily life:
      • people, groups, food, feelings, thoughts
      • perception level
        • David Lynch photos example
      • seeing buddha nature and/or divinity in the characters in our lives
      • respecting power in blasting noise pollution example
      • in relationships noticing strong likes and dislikes in same person

From the Visuddhimaga:

  1. (vi) That which consists in dwelling perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive, etc., is called Noble Ones’ success, according as it is said: “What is Noble Ones’ success? Here, if a bhikkhu should wish, “May I dwell perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive,” he dwells perceiving the unrepulsive in that … he dwells in equanimity towards that, mindful and fully aware” (Paþis II 212). [382] This is called “Noble Ones’ success” because it is only produced in Noble Ones who have reached mind mastery.
  2. For if a bhikkhu with cankers destroyed possesses this kind of success, then when in the case of a disagreeable object he is practicing pervasion with loving-kindness or giving attention to it as elements, he dwells perceiving the unrepulsive; or when in the case of an agreeable object he is practicing pervasion with foulness or giving attention to it as impermanent, he dwells perceiving the repulsive. Likewise, when in the case of the repulsive and unrepulsive he is practicing that same pervasion with loving-kindness or giving attention to it as elements, he dwells perceiving the unrepulsive; and when in the case of the unrepulsive and repulsive he is practicing that same pervasion with foulness or giving attention to it as impermanent, he dwells perceiving the repulsive. But when he is exercising the six-factored equanimity in the following way, “On seeing a visible object with the eye, he is neither glad nor …” (Paþis II 213), etc., then rejecting both the repulsive and the unrepulsive, he dwells in equanimity, mindful and fully aware.
  3. For the meaning of this is expounded in the Paþisambhidá in the way beginning: “How does he dwell perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive? In the case of a disagreeable object he pervades it with loving-kindness or he treats it as elements” (Paþis II 212). Thus it is called, “Noble Ones’ success” because it is only produced in Noble Ones who have reached mind mastery.

Key translation differences

  • “And how, monks, is awareness-release through goodwill developed, what is its destination, what is its excellence, its fruit, & its consummation?
  • And how, bhikkhus, is the liberation of the mind by lovingkindness developed? What does it have as its destination, its culmination, its fruit, its final goal?
  • ‘But reverends, how is the heart’s release by love developed? What is its destination, apex, fruit, and end?

Comparative paragraphs

“And how, monks, is awareness-release through goodwill developed, what is its destination, what is its excellence, its fruit, & its consummation?

“There is the case where a monk develops mindfulness as a factor for awakening accompanied by goodwill, dependent on seclusion, dependent on dispassion, dependent on cessation, resulting in letting go. He develops analysis of qualities as a factor for awakening… persistence as a factor for awakening… rapture as a factor for awakening… calm as a factor for awakening… concentration as a factor for awakening… equanimity as a factor for awakening accompanied by goodwill, dependent on seclusion, dependent on dispassion, dependent on cessation, resulting in letting go. If he wants, he remains percipient of loathsomeness in the presence of what is not loathsome. If he wants, he remains percipient of unloathsomeness in the presence of what is loathsome. If he wants, he remains percipient of loathsomeness in the presence of what is not loathsome & what is. If he wants, he remains percipient of unloathsomeness in the presence of what is loathsome & what is not. If he wants—in the presence of what is loathsome & what is not—cutting himself off from both, he remains equanimous, alert, & mindful. Or he may enter & remain in the beautiful liberation. I tell you, monks, awareness-release through goodwill has the beautiful as its excellence—in the case of one who has penetrated to no higher release.

Selection from https://dharmatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN46_54.html

“And how, bhikkhus, is the liberation of the mind by lovingkindness developed? What does it have as its destination, its culmination, its fruit, its final goal? Here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu develops the enlightenment factor of mindfulness accompanied by lovingkindness … the enlightenment factor of equanimity accompanied by lovingkindness, based upon seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, maturing in release. If he wishes: ‘May I dwell perceiving the repulsive in the unrepulsive,’ he dwells perceiving the repulsive therein. If he wishes: ‘May I dwell perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive,’ he dwells perceiving the unrepulsive therein. If he wishes: ‘May I dwell perceiving the repulsive in the unrepulsive and in the repulsive,’ he dwells perceiving the repulsive therein. If he wishes: ‘May I dwell perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive and in the unrepulsive,’ he dwells perceiving the unrepulsive therein. If he wishes: ‘Avoiding both the unrepulsive and the repulsive, may I dwell equanimously, mindful and clearly comprehending,’ then he dwells therein equanimously, mindful and clearly comprehending. Or else he enters and dwells in the deliverance of the beautiful. Bhikkhus, the liberation of mind by lovingkindness has the beautiful as its culmination, I say, for a wise bhikkhu here who has not penetrated to a superior liberation.

Selection from https://suttacentral.net/sn46.54/en/bodhi
  • I remember hearing somewhere in the Visuddhimaga practicing metta, compassion, and rejoicing for jhana can only result as high as the first three jhanas. If so, this doesn’t seem to add up with this sutta. What am I missing and/or getting wrong?
  • How can we better identify and be mindful of repulsive and unrepulsive in daily life? How can we then work with these dynamics of repulsive/repugnant and unrepulsive/not repugnant / loathsomeness and what’s not loathsome?
    • Everyday live areas for exploration and practice: people, groups, food, feelings, thoughts, public bathrooms, bad neighborhoods, politicians

May I, you and all of us come to know the true heart’s release

Some comments from the event:

  • “A stressful work situation has many hidden beautiful moments” . . . . “I celebrate a win when I remain calm and easy in my mind when I’m stretched too thin. To see challenging coworkers as a being who is also learning and deciphering information. I can connect with my patients in small ways even when they present upset, angry.”
  • “How do you deal with “repulsive” things that you cannot get away from? For example, when you have very toxic relationships with people you love? Can you become more tolerant towards repulsive things at some point? Is that healthy?”
Audio: Full of Love

listen via Insight Timer (app or website)

Also, listen to the full unedited version of Full of Love with or without the Wisdom App — https://join.wisdom.audio/H6r5

Continue reading “Full Of Love”

Cease And Desist Letter For Blog Post Referencing TM.org

As of the time of initially publishing on August 30th, 2022 this blog post foregoes judgements and/or conclusions; it’s simply to show the process of a cease and desist letter from a law firm in reference to that now essentially wiped blog post that only points back here along with multiple responses both to the lawyer involved as well as my attempt to forward our email exchange to anyone at tm.org only to be met with a response from the same lawyer who had gotten a hold of this attempt.

One might still be able to find this now removed blog post (and/or various locations of its contents) consisting mostly of publicly available internet material along with some words from me at/from various publicly available online archival services (and/or other online locations)

tm takedown email threadDownload

Below is the email thread and exchange in regular text formatted for a blog post:

Re: FW: RE: Trademark Infringement – Transcendental Meditation

From: Josh Dippold <integratingpresence@protonmail.com>

To: Jason Sytsma <JRS@ShuttleworthLaw.com>

Date: Sunday, August 28th, 2022 at 3:28 PM

wow

——- Original Message ——-
On Sunday, August 28th, 2022 at 5:54 AM, Jason Sytsma <JRS@ShuttleworthLaw.com> wrote:

Josh – Thank you for removing the content.

Warm regards,

Jason

Jason R. Sytsma
Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, P.L.C.
115 3rd Street SE, Suite 500
Cedar Rapids, IA  52401
Phone: (319) 731-2216
Fax: (319) 365-8443
E-mail jrs@shuttleworthlaw.com

http://www.shuttleworthlaw.com

From: josh dippold [integratingpresence@protonmail.com]
Sent: August 27, 2022 9:17 AM
To: rfarley@tm.org
Cc: postmaster@tm.org
Subject: Fw: RE: Trademark Infringement – Transcendental Meditation

Wholeness Robert Farley and whom it may concern:

I’m forwarding this to you as your email is the only TM email address I could find. Please start at the bottom of this my email thread with a lawyer claiming to represent TM and forward this email to the appropriate parties please. After I sent my last email to this individual I received no further response from him. Due to the nature of what is mentioned herewithin I request a response from (someone from) the TM organization please

Boundless blessings,

josh dippold

integratingpresence.com

——- Original Message ——-
On Wednesday, August 24th, 2022 at 6:24 PM, josh dippold <integratingpresence@protonmail.com> wrote:

OK Jason R. Sytsma, if I may a little lighthearted joke before I remove this: so if I understand you correctly you’re saying, um, no bro, I’m a bigboy lawyerpants! Me and my people don’t like this josh so get rid of it or else! Neener-neener-neener!

Anyway you’ve basically just repeated yourself like a broken record, paid little heed to my intent and requests. I guess I could forward our exchange to “the Foundation.” Also, please check your first form letter at least partially seemingly spit out by a machine as it says “We expect you to comply with these demands on or before December 01, 2021” but now you’re saying “We insist that you immediately remove this webpage”. Which is it? The inaccurate date or the resending of initial insistence of removal by a time in the past at point of contact? Is any part of this email exchange non-human?

Other than calling on the phone to see if this Jason R. Sytsma is in fact a real living being, I obviously don’t plan to pursue this much further as such ridiculousness is not worth further time and effort 

All the best,

josh dippold

integratingpresence.com

Sent with Proton Mail secure email.

——- Original Message ——-
On Wednesday, August 24th, 2022 at 9:42 AM, Jason Sytsma <JRS@ShuttleworthLaw.com> wrote:

Josh – I’m legal counsel for the Foundation and acting on their authority.  You are using without authorization the Foundation’s Transcendental Meditation trademark to promote your own version of meditation instruction.  The Foundation cannot allow you to continue to infringe its trademark.

The Foundation protects its trademark in this manner to ensure a uniform, consistency of practice.  All those who seek information on the TM program deserve accurate information about the TM program.  By restricting use of the TM trademarks to only trained, licensed instructors, the Foundation can ensure uniform instruction and consistency in outcome.  For these reasons, the Foundation enforces its trademark against unauthorized users. 

You are free to promote other forms of meditation with other names.  You are not free, however, to use the Foundation’s trademark.  We insist that you immediately remove this webpage, else we will be forced to consider further legal action.

Sincerely,


Jason

Jason R. Sytsma
Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, P.L.C.
115 3rd Street SE, Suite 500
Cedar Rapids, IA  52401
Phone: (319) 731-2216
Fax: (319) 365-8443
E-mail jrs@shuttleworthlaw.com

http://www.shuttleworthlaw.com

From: josh dippold <integratingpresence@protonmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2022 9:13 AM
To: Jason Sytsma <JRS@ShuttleworthLaw.com>
Subject: RE: Trademark Infringement – Transcendental Meditation

CYBERSECURITY WARNING : THIS EMAIL ORIGINATED FROM OUTSIDE OF SHUTTLEWORTH.
DO NOT CLICK LINKS, OPEN ATTACHMENTS, OR SHARE CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION UNLESS YOU RECOGNIZE THE SENDER AND KNOW THE CONTENT IS SAFE.

OK Jason Sytsma, is there any compromise here? Is there any other option other than removing the blog post? Have you relayed my changes to “The Foundation”? Also could you please let “The Foundation” know of the aforementioned questions please? Due to the nature of the material I request a reply from “The Foundation” about this directly please. 

Boundless blessings,

josh dippold

integratingpresence.com

——- Original Message ——-
On Wednesday, August 24th, 2022 at 4:50 AM, Jason Sytsma <JRS@ShuttleworthLaw.com> wrote:

Josh – Your update is unacceptable. There’s no exception for “research purposes” that would allow you to infringe the Foundation’s trademark.  We insist that you remove the page.

Sincerely,

Jason

Jason R. Sytsma
Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, P.L.C.
115 3rd Street SE, Suite 500
Cedar Rapids, IA  52401
Phone: (319) 731-2216
Fax: (319) 365-8443
E-mail jrs@shuttleworthlaw.com

http://www.shuttleworthlaw.com

From: josh dippold <integratingpresence@protonmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2022 5:42 PM
To: Jason Sytsma <JRS@ShuttleworthLaw.com>
Subject: Re: Trademark Infringement – Transcendental Meditation

CYBERSECURITY WARNING : THIS EMAIL ORIGINATED FROM OUTSIDE OF SHUTTLEWORTH.
DO NOT CLICK LINKS, OPEN ATTACHMENTS, OR SHARE CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION UNLESS YOU RECOGNIZE THE SENDER AND KNOW THE CONTENT IS SAFE.

Wholeness Jason Sytsma! I’ve updated the mentioned blog post with the following language:

8/23/2022 Disclaimer Update: This blog post is for research purposes only. I, nor this website, in zero ways intend to infringe upon the Transcendental Meditation trademark especially for competition as everything here and in real life is done on a donation basis with total income since inception being well under a few hundred dollars with expenses far exceeding that. Furthermore this blog post is to spark interest and encourage readers to visit http://tm.org to learn and find a teacher. I apologize for this oversight of not initially including such a disclaimer

Please let me know if this is sufficient to settle this matter.

Boundless blessings,

josh dippold

integratingpresence.com

Sent with Proton Mail secure email.

——- Original Message ——-
On Tuesday, August 23rd, 2022 at 2:56 PM, Jason Sytsma <JRS@ShuttleworthLaw.com> wrote:

Dear Sir:

We represent Maharishi Foundation USA, Inc. (the “Foundation”).  The Foundation holds the U.S. exclusive license for the registered service mark, “TRANSCENDENTAL MEDITATION”, U.S. Reg. No. 1,082,923.  In connection with this mark, the Foundation is the exclusive source for educational services related to the teaching of a meditation program under the Transcendental Meditation® (TM®) trademarks in the United States. 

The Foundation regards the “Transcendental Meditation” service mark as an enormously valuable asset.  In order to preserve the integrity of this mark, and to maintain legal rights to it, the Foundation cannot allow unlicensed uses of this mark or uses of the mark in a manner that creates a likelihood of confusion.

We recently learned that you are using the term “Transcendence Meditation” to promote your own competing meditation instruction online at:

https://integratingpresence.com/2021/04/18/transendental-mediation-tm-mantra-variations/

The federal Lanham Act prohibits the use of any copy or colorable imitation of a federally registered trademark in a manner that is likely to cause confusion.  You are using the Foundation’s trademark to promote your own meditation instruction.  This constitutes trademark infringement 

We insist that you remove immediately all reference to any “transcend-formative” words from your websites and advertising.  This necessarily includes ceasing any further references to “Transcendental Meditation” or using “transcend” or “transcendence” when advertising meditation or other forms of instruction in personal development. 

We expect you to comply with these demands on or before December 01, 2021, or contact the undersigned before that date and confirm that you are in the process of complying with our demands.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Jason R. Sytsma
Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, P.L.C.
115 3rd Street SE, Suite 500
Cedar Rapids, IA  52401
Phone: (319) 731-2216
Fax: (319) 365-8443
E-mail jrs@shuttleworthlaw.com

http://www.shuttleworthlaw.com

Quashing Gossip

Listen to the full unedited version of Quashing Gossip with or without the Wisdom App: https://join.wisdom.audio/WdQK

The description to this August 17th, 2022 Insight Timer live event and subsequent notes:

Pretty much all considering joining this already know they’d like to gossip less so let’s dig into some teachings to really drive home the importance of quashing our gossip as we interactively share questions, feedback, contemplate, reflect and explore solutions

  • Recently uncovered levels of shame so forgive me if any of this where notes written beforehand comes off as shaming
  • I’m obviously not beyond gossip yet but am more interested in events and ideas so I’m kind of like an alien overhearing gossip at cafes then observing, contemplating, getting insights and “downloads”. Glad for this though and not everybody tethered to devices.
  • I’ve been out of traditional workplace for awhile which is a different more dangerous dynamic
  • Not to take to other extreme of avoiding discussing uncomfortable occurrences or keeping secrets only to perpetuate harm
  • relationships built on gossip
  • enlivens life
  • compassionate potential in weird way
  • comparison / ego involvement
  • how much is reflective or indicative of the degree to which one values and validates one’s own life and behavior?
  • Seems so juicy, important, irresistible, but what is the intent and reasons for involvement, even if just talking about someone?
  • How much are we trying to control other people — via judgements and advice — and not wanting it to happen to us or avoid that we may still do the same thing?
  • Can and how much of (unusual/foreign-like) drama of others points out what’s missing or not understood about one’s own relationships? How much do we learn from what others are going through and how can we do so better without getting addicted to and fueling unhelpful drama?
  • What do we find idle chatter and boring? What do we find juicy? How much of our assessment is person specific?
  • How can societal importance on an event affect how related, or involved people are gossiped about i.e., extra chatter from a “news item”?
  • Recall a gossip session. Recall for a few moments what was:
    • emotionally triggering
    • emotionally amplifying
    • a release, a relief
    • gratifying and a reinforcement to repeat this and/or other gossip

Ways to master gossip

  • feel what’s happening in and to body
  • after identifying some of the unskillful, unwise, unwholesome, unhelpful aspects (we’ve explored) consider the choice to stop feeding them
  • “Don’t respond to drama and drama won’t respond to you”
  • Notice where the value and worthiness is, where it’s coming from or where and how value and worthiness is missing
  • How can life be enlivened in the moment, especially with (former) gossip pals, without always relying on external stimulus?
  • How can we identify what gossip games and programs, old and new are running? How can we develop new healthy habits to replace them.
  • Old fashion: Males bond more around shared interests. How can males gossip less around shared interests? Female tend to bond more around relationships. How can females gossip less while still deeply engaging in relationships? Perhaps being more absorbed into the present helps both
  • Identify common, easy to notice landmarks and reference points to help recognize patterns and traps when gossiping that shout, “hey this is now happening again. I see it and now can choose differently.” Then what are some of those better choices?
  • “What we notice about others is what we’ve already addressed in ourselves”
  • Talk to people not about people

Listen to the full unedited version of Quashing Gossip with or without the Wisdom App: https://join.wisdom.audio/WdQK

Audio: Quashing Gossip [Unedited]

Or listen via Insight Timer (app or website)

From Matt Kahn’s 2/27/2024 newsletter ‘How to Eliminate the Tendency to Gossip’:

Are you sitting down? Don’t worry, you’re the first to know. But you cannot tell anyone. You’re never going to believe what they did next! How many times have you heard the breaking news alarm blaring within your social circles as you hope you are near the front of the line to get the latest salacious update on who did what? In a world where many define trust by how ‘in the know’ they remain with the juiciest details of someone’s life, the tendency to gossip continues to pull on the fabric of a society that often prefers talking about one another over talking to each other.

Fundamentally, the need for gossip has a few levels of motivation. At its core, gossiping is intended to be a way for people to process their feelings or gain the support of loved ones during times of difficulty. The oversight that turns sharing into gossip is discovered in where our focus is placed. While it is natural to share details about our experiences, when the focus is too consumed on ‘who did what’ along with deciding ‘what do we think of them as a result,’ the healing power of processing halts in the face of personal judgment.

As a way of seeing through and eliminating the tendency to gossip and judge, it is important to remember emotional processing is most effective when the focus of your sharing is centered more on how you feel than on the vilifying of another. Of course, if someone has violated your personal space, it is important to let people that you trust know to help advocate for your well-being. While confiding in someone you trust about the abuses you are ready to be freed from requires talking about another person, there is a palpable level of intention that makes a cry for help a much different experience than talking behind someone’s back.

Even when the energy just needs to speak disparaging words toward the character or people associated with your wounds, it is of equal importance for those holding space for your process to witness your sharing without feeding anyone’s ego through reflections of judgment. When operating from states of unconsciousness, it is common to believe you are offering companionship to others in pain by adopting their enemies as your own. While you don’t have to degrade the value of a person who hurt someone you love, it is equally unhelpful to correct someone in pain, who may need to accuse, criticize, and condemn a character, in order to move the layers of emotional energy that guide them further through their own healing process.

Since it is common to overlook the value of emotional companionship needed when holding space is invited, it can be nearly instinctive to partner up with others, in an attempt to become spiritual detectives intent on figuring out the motivations of another. Instead of focusing on ‘who did what’ or determining who was right or wrong, space holding is more so a willingness to be present for the versions of truth each person perceives, as it relates to the feelings that have surfaced to be healed. Even though people’s perceptions of reality can vary, shaped by their life experiences and internalized pain, it’s crucial to recognize that everyone has the inherent right to experience and navigate their emotions in their own manner, provided it doesn’t inflict harm on others, without being judged for the validity of their feelings.

Rather than fueling the fire of someone’s judgments or even trying to correct them, of fundamental importance when holding space is to honor how someone feels, no matter the narratives attached to each feeling or memory. In order to do so, it is important to resist the temptation to dig for information, even when the other person wants to give you updates, show you text threads, or troll someone’s social media pages in your presence. Instead, it is important to distinguish yourself as an ally of their soul and not an enabling haven for their ego to hide in. This occurs by maintaining a focus on someone’s emotional journey no matter how steeped in envy, jealousy, wrath, judgment, or rage they may need to be.

For example, let’s say a friend in pain says, “How could they have done this to me?” In all honesty, you can say, ‘I don’t know’ because the truth is, you don’t. You may have strong suspicions in one direction or another, but because you haven’t lived a lifetime in someone else’s shoes, you couldn’t assume to know anyone’s true motives without living out their history of pleasure and pain. Even when your intuition says, ‘I know exactly why,’ it is important to distinguish the ego’s belief in being intuitive from the true beauty of intuitive knowing.

When co-opted by the ego, you are likely to confuse the impulse of snap judgments with a sense of higher knowing—as if knowing why anything happened the way it did offers some degree of relief. Contrary to the ego’s ‘intuitive’ need to know, the soul’s version of intuition is knowing the right question to ask and the right things to say to help someone face themselves with supportive connection and compassion. In truth, relief is not a matter of knowing why, since there are always endless versions of why waiting to be answered. Instead, true relief is found in facing how we feel, whether in time spent alone or through the support of loved ones.

To help you deepen your ability to hold space by eliminating the tendency to gossip, please consider the following tips:

• Gossip is an unconscious way of feeling special. When we know details that others don’t, we are momentarily freed from beliefs in inferiority and fears of rejection by being ‘in the know’. Because gossip creates an energetic phenomenon known as ‘triangulation’, there is no redeeming healing benefit for any person involved when the sharing of feelings becomes the ridiculing or accusatory nature of talking behind someone’s back.

• To the best of your ability, choose to replace ‘what do I think about this’ with ‘how do I feel about it’.What you think about things is mainly an extrapolation of judgment that gives you no greater ability to feel or uncover the next most empowered steps you may need to take. It’s simply how the ego derives a false sense of power from the circumstances it has felt disempowered by. Since the ego doesn’t know how to make courageous decisions without making someone else an enemy to reject or avoid, you are better off focusing on your feelings, along with the changes in environment, relationship, or lifestyle that only have to be right for you and the journey you’re on.

• While you may be present when gossip ensues, trying to correct anyone’s behavior helps no one heal. In order to move from victimhood into empowerment, one must be permitted space to give words to their feelings. Gossip is a judgmental free-for-all where everyone engages in this expression with no one holding space for another person’s feelings. As this occurs, you can sit quietly and hold space for the emotionally-fueled sharing of others. Although, it is only helpful if it’s a space you willfully desire holding. Sometimes gossip can become so toxic that you may choose to remove yourself from the spiral of projection. When this occurs, you can politely excuse yourself without any need to correct the behavior of others, allowing it to naturally correct on its own as their healing deepens. This may help remind your inner healer that while you may be capable of space holding, it can only be a powerful gift to offer when holding space is a choice instead of an insistence or obligation.

When connecting takes precedence over correcting, we are able to hold space for the healing occurring in ourselves and others without adopting anyone’s narrative or creating energetic patterns of triangulation. Since the aim of personal integrity is to treat ourselves and others the way we wish to be treated, one of the best ways to heal lingering wounds of rejection, abandonment, and betrayal is to refuse playing that same hurtful role in someone else’s life. From this space of mindful compassion, the elimination of gossip becomes instinctive versus effortful and can occur for everyone’s mutual benefit.

Continue reading “Quashing Gossip”

Classic Images For The Five Hindrances

The five hindrances — sensual desire, ill will, sloth & torpor, restlessness & worry, and doubt — hinder progress in meditation and in our daily lives. These five shroud: clarity of mind, the capacity of mindfulness, wisdom, and concentration. This wikipedia table states how each are suppressed and during what stages of enlightenment they are eradicated:


method of suppressionpath of eradication
sensual desirefirst jhana based on bodily foulnessnonreturning or arahantship[c]
ill willfirst jhana based on mettanonreturning
sloth and torporperception of lightarahantship
restlessness and worryserenityarahantship and nonreturning
doubtdefining of phenomena (dhammavavatthāna)stream-entry

SN 46:55 contains the following similes:

Sensual Desire/Lust

Just as, brahmin, if there is a pot of water mixed with orange, yellow, indigo or crimson dye, and a man with good sight should consider his own facial image in it, he could not recognize nor see it as it really is. So too when someone abides with their mind pervaded with sensual lust, overcome with sensual lust…

Ill-will

Just as, brahmin, if there is a pot of water heated over a fire, bubbling and boiling, and a man with good sight should consider his own facial image in it, he could not recognize nor see it as it really is. So too when someone abides with their mind pervaded by ill-will, overcome with ill-will …

Lethargy, Drowsiness, Sloth, Torpor

Just as, brahmin, if there is a pot of water covered with algae and water plants, and a man with good sight should consider his own facial image in it, he could not recognize nor see it as it really is. So too when someone abides with their mind pervaded by lethargy and drowsiness, overcome with lethargy and drowsiness …

Restlessness, Remorse, Worry

Just as, brahmin, if there is a pot of water stirred by the wind, agitated, swirling, producing wavelets, and a man with good sight should consider his own facial image in it, he could not recognize nor see it as it really is. So too when someone abides with their mind pervaded by restlessness and remorse, overcome by restlessness and remorse …

Doubt

Just as, brahmin, if there is a pot of water that is stirred up, turbid and muddy, placed in the dark, and a man with good sight should consider his own facial image in it, he could not recognize nor see it as it really is. So too when someone abides with their mind pervaded by doubt, overcome with doubt …

The above quotes come via: Working with the Five Hindrances by Ajahn Thiradhammo https://forestsangha.org/system/resources/W1siZiIsIjIwMTYvMDEvMDgvMzMyeGhkZ3BqZl9Xb3JraW5nX3dpdGhfdGhlX0ZpdmVfSGluZHJhbmNlc19BamFobl9UaGlyYWRoYW1tby5wZGYiXV0/Working%20with%20the%20Five%20Hindrances%20-%20Ajahn%20Thiradhammo.pdf

Further metaphors for the hindrances

from Digha Nikaya No. 2:

Sensory Desires: Taking Out a Loan

Sensory Desires: Taking Out a Loan

Ill Will or Aversion: Sickness

Ill Will or Aversion: Sickness

Sloth or Torpor: Imprisonment

Sloth or Torpor: Imprisonment

Restlessness: Slavery

Doubt: Lost in a Desert

Reminded of these similes via: https://medium.com/mind-cafe/buddha-describes-5-hindrances-that-may-stop-us-from-living-up-to-our-full-potential-42bcd7b21a30

Antidotes

  1. vitakka (“applied thought,” “coarse examination”) counteracts sloth-torpor (lethargy and drowsiness)
  2. vicāra (“sustained thought,” “precise investigation”) counteracts doubt (uncertainty)
  3. pīti (rapture, well-being) counteracts ill-will (malice)
  4. sukha (non-sensual pleasure) counteracts restlessness-worry (excitation and anxiety)
  5. ekaggatā (one-pointedness, single-pointed attention) counteracts sensory desire

Other resources:

The Five Mental Hindrances and Their Conquest — https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nyanaponika/wheel026.html

https://www.amazon.com/Unhindered-Mindful-Path-Through-Hindrances/dp/0989833402/
Studying And Practicing With “The Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta — An Analysis Of The Bases Of Power”: Unpacking Hindrances And Another Translation Reading (2 of 7)

The Beautiful Training (Precept) Of Non-harming

Listen to the full unedited version of this talk with or without the Wisdom App: https://join.wisdom.audio/kohr

While this August 5th edited live event is quite listenable there’s still a little bit of hissing background noise remaining. The portion about hunting and vegetarianism are also edited out although the wisdom app call-in is included. (I forgot to mention I’m not a strict vegetarian as I occasionally eat some cheeses with animal rennet and take some supplements with gelatin capsules. I did not go into the many more complex areas and nuances around food to consider such as environments, situations, cultures, time periods, etc., before drawing conclusions on this matter.)

The event description:

What does it mean to engage in non-harming? How does one practice this and why? Beautiful? Yes! How?

Three main categorial approaches:

  1. What is harm
  2. Importance
  3. A beautiful training

Original notes:

Story: “how many times do you have to have the crap kicked out of you to feel love?” Then my example as acting out as a kid

: physical injury, especially that which is deliberately inflicted

: physical or mental damage : INJURY

: MISCHIEF, HURT

: physical or mental damage or injury : something that causes someone or something to be hurt, broken, made less valuable or successful, etc.

: to cause hurt, injury, or damage to (someone or something) : to cause harm to (someone or something

Various dictionary definitions of harm
  • like everything else this starts in the mind
  • lack vagina crown, C-section enlist harm from others, grateful for surgery though
  • how can men and women play less harmful games with each other? look at the content of many songs and media and folks around us

Areas of harm

obvious (to me):

  • (bodily) action [I forgot to elaborate on the Three Stooges]
  • emotion

not obvious (to me):

  • thought
  • speech

in between obvious and not obvious:

  • psychological
  • psychic
  • if all refrained from taking human life for one day
  • Theory: satisfaction of being conscious of decay /erosion /extinguishment not implying harm though I wonder if this is so unconscious that for some it takes the extreme of harm to realize (at times). [Also, to clarify around the cycles of decay and renewal I mean more of an entering into and remaining in more of a continually conscious/aware state of the cycles of decay and renewal.]
  • hunting
  • young girl and toad
Death Contemplation And Meditation
  • foolish false power of harming. how can one not be emasculated by non-harming? refraining and restraint actually requires and displays more power and self mastery. martial arts.
  • even if there were no repercussions and consequences for killing how would it solve any of anybody’s issues or anyone else’s?
  • what is the intent for harming? How do some people get sexually aroused and/or use harm to compensate for sexual shortcomings?
  • righteousness and if those who say a higher power justifies harm how can this be proven and demonstrated other than shows of force that still can’t destroy truth?
  • how much can one harm by not walking away from certain people and situations? what is the strength needed for this like compared to harming someone physically? are there the equivalent of gyms and combat training for this? or just fools?
  • [Not mentioned: with all his powers and accomplishments the Buddha was not able to stop war]
  • truth can set you free. it can also destroy and not be destroyed itself so non-harm tempers its destructive side in particular the destruction that’s (potentially) unskillful, unwise, unwholesome

Speech

  • taking on what other say as who we are
  • hate speech term alternative
  • self-harm and self-hate
  • cycles of victim hating victimizer and vice versa
  • bridging hate to loving kindness, bodily, verbal, mental
  • feels harmful
  • often find out after saying something that it has been received as harmful. so is what was said harmful in itself or was it interpreted as harmful? either way finding out and taking reasonable measures to resolve not to harm in this way with this being again
  • brother and I raising our voices at each other and impressed my dad stepped in and I forget what he said to him but said I need to think before I speak. I immediately agreed
  • how subtle can this go?
  • Dharmic Strategies For Empaths

Importance

  • 6th line of Dhammapada: ill-will can never overcome ill-will only non-ill will can. this is an ancient and eternal law
  • ethical base of non-harm
  • opposite
  • training instead of just thou shall not
  • insects
  • meat?

A Beautiful Training

  • beautiful?
  • even more beautiful to inspire others of non-harming
  • flowers
  • difficult to be in conflict if finding something beautiful
  • gift of safety

Title of this event inspired by the online retreat Dharmic Pleasure and Karmic Beauty with Gil Fronsdal

Audio: The Beautiful Training (Precept) Of Non-harming

Or listen via Insight Timer (app or website)

Four ways elucidated in the sutta below:

  1. painful now and results in future pain
  2. painful now and results in future pleasure
  3. pleasant now and results in future pain
  4. pleasant now and results in future pleasure

So I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. There the Buddha addressed the mendicants, “Mendicants!”

“Venerable sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:

“Mendicants, sentient beings typically have the wish, desire, and hope: ‘Oh, if only unlikable, undesirable, and disagreeable things would decrease, and likable, desirable, and agreeable things would increase!’ But exactly the opposite happens to them. What do you take to be the reason for this?”

“Our teachings are rooted in the Buddha. He is our guide and our refuge. Sir, may the Buddha himself please clarify the meaning of this. The mendicants will listen and remember it.”

“Well then, mendicants, listen and pay close attention, I will speak.”

“Yes, sir,” they replied. The Buddha said this:

“Take an uneducated ordinary person who has not seen the noble ones, and is neither skilled nor trained in the teaching of the noble ones. They’ve not seen good persons, and are neither skilled nor trained in the teaching of the good persons. They don’t know what practices they should cultivate and foster, and what practices they shouldn’t cultivate and foster. So they cultivate and foster practices they shouldn’t, and don’t cultivate and foster practices they should. When they do so, unlikable, undesirable, and disagreeable things increase, and likable, desirable, and agreeable things decrease. Why is that? Because that’s what it’s like for someone who doesn’t know.

But an educated noble disciple has seen the noble ones, and is skilled and trained in the teaching of the noble ones. They’ve seen good persons, and are skilled and trained in the teaching of the good persons. They know what practices they should cultivate and foster, and what practices they shouldn’t cultivate and foster. So they cultivate and foster practices they should, and don’t cultivate and foster practices they shouldn’t. When they do so, unlikable, undesirable, and disagreeable things decrease, and likable, desirable, and agreeable things increase. Why is that? Because that’s what it’s like for someone who knows.

Mendicants, there are these four ways of taking up practices. What four? There is a way of taking up practices that is painful now and results in future pain. There is a way of taking up practices that is pleasant now but results in future pain. There is a way of taking up practices that is painful now but results in future pleasure. There is a way of taking up practices that is pleasant now and results in future pleasure.

When it comes to the way of taking up practices that is painful now and results in future pain, an ignoramus, without knowing this, doesn’t truly understand: ‘This is the way of taking up practices that is painful now and results in future pain.’ So instead of avoiding that practice, they cultivate it. When they do so, unlikable, undesirable, and disagreeable things increase, and likable, desirable, and agreeable things decrease. Why is that? Because that’s what it’s like for someone who doesn’t know.

When it comes to the way of taking up practices that is pleasant now and results in future pain, an ignoramus … cultivates it … and disagreeable things increase …

When it comes to the way of taking up practices that is painful now and results in future pleasure, an ignoramus … doesn’t cultivate it … and disagreeable things increase …

When it comes to the way of taking up practices that is pleasant now and results in future pleasure, an ignoramus … doesn’t cultivate it … and disagreeable things increase … Why is that? Because that’s what it’s like for someone who doesn’t know.

When it comes to the way of taking up practices that is painful now and results in future pain, a wise person, knowing this, truly understands: ‘This is the way of taking up practices that is painful now and results in future pain.’ So instead of cultivating that practice, they avoid it. When they do so, unlikable, undesirable, and disagreeable things decrease, and likable, desirable, and agreeable things increase. Why is that? Because that’s what it’s like for someone who knows.

When it comes to the way of taking up practices that is pleasant now and results in future pain, a wise person … doesn’t cultivate it … and agreeable things increase …

When it comes to the way of taking up practices that is painful now and results in future pleasure, a wise person … cultivates it … and agreeable things increase …

When it comes to the way of taking up practices that is pleasant now and results in future pleasure, a wise person, knowing this, truly understands: ‘This is the way of taking up practices that is pleasant now and results in future pleasure.’ So instead of avoiding that practice, they cultivate it. When they do so, unlikable, undesirable, and disagreeable things decrease, and likable, desirable, and agreeable things increase. Why is that? Because that’s what it’s like for someone who knows.

And what is the way of taking up practices that is painful now and results in future pain? It’s when someone in pain and sadness kills living creatures, steals, and commits sexual misconduct. They use speech that’s false, divisive, harsh, or nonsensical. And they’re covetous, malicious, with wrong view. Because of these things they experience pain and sadness. And when their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a place of loss, a bad place, the underworld, hell. This is called the way of taking up practices that is painful now and results in future pain.

And what is the way of taking up practices that is pleasant now but results in future pain? It’s when someone with pleasure and happiness kills living creatures, steals, and commits sexual misconduct. They use speech that’s false, divisive, harsh, or nonsensical. And they’re covetous, malicious, with wrong view. Because of these things they experience pleasure and happiness. But when their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a place of loss, a bad place, the underworld, hell. This is called the way of taking up practices that is pleasant now but results in future pain.

And what is the way of taking up practices that is painful now but results in future pleasure? It’s when someone in pain and sadness doesn’t kill living creatures, steal, or commit sexual misconduct. They don’t use speech that’s false, divisive, harsh, or nonsensical. And they’re contented, kind-hearted, with right view. Because of these things they experience pain and sadness. But when their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm. This is called the way of taking up practices that is painful now but results in future pleasure.

And what is the way of taking up practices that is pleasant now and results in future pleasure? It’s when someone with pleasure and happiness doesn’t kill living creatures, steal, or commit sexual misconduct. They don’t use speech that’s false, divisive, harsh, or nonsensical. And they’re contented, kind-hearted, with right view. Because of these things they experience pleasure and happiness. And when their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm. This is called the way of taking up practices that is pleasant now and results in future pleasure. These are the four ways of taking up practices.

Suppose there was some bitter gourd mixed with poison. Then a man would come along who wants to live and doesn’t want to die, who wants to be happy and recoils from pain. They’d say to him: ‘Here, mister, this is bitter gourd mixed with poison. Drink it if you like. If you drink it, the color, aroma, and flavor will be unappetizing, and it will result in death or deadly pain.’ He wouldn’t reject it. Without reflection, he’d drink it. The color, aroma, and flavor would be unappetizing, and it would result in death or deadly pain. This is comparable to the way of taking up practices that is painful now and results in future pain, I say.

Suppose there was a bronze cup of beverage that had a nice color, aroma, and flavor. But it was mixed with poison. Then a man would come along who wants to live and doesn’t want to die, who wants to be happy and recoils from pain. They’d say to him: ‘Here, mister, this bronze cup of beverage has a nice color, aroma, and flavor. But it’s mixed with poison. Drink it if you like. If you drink it, the color, aroma, and flavor will be appetizing, but it will result in death or deadly pain.’ He wouldn’t reject it. Without reflection, he’d drink it. The color, aroma, and flavor would be appetizing, but it would result in death or deadly pain. This is comparable to the way of taking up practices that is pleasant now and results in future pain, I say.

Suppose there was some fermented urine mixed with different medicines. Then a man with jaundice would come along. They’d say to him: ‘Here, mister, this is fermented urine mixed with different medicines. Drink it if you like. If you drink it, the color, aroma, and flavor will be unappetizing, but after drinking it you will be happy.’ He wouldn’t reject it. After appraisal, he’d drink it. The color, aroma, and flavor would be unappetizing, but after drinking it he would be happy. This is comparable to the way of taking up practices that is painful now and results in future pleasure, I say.

Suppose there was some curds, honey, ghee, and molasses all mixed together. Then a man with dysentery would come along. They’d say to him: ‘Here, mister, this is curds, honey, ghee, and molasses all mixed together. Drink it if you like. If you drink it, the color, aroma, and flavor will be appetizing, and after drinking it you will be happy.’ He wouldn’t reject it. After appraisal, he’d drink it. The color, aroma, and flavor would be appetizing, and after drinking it he would be happy. This is comparable to the way of taking up practices that is pleasant now and results in future pleasure, I say.

It’s like the time after the rainy season when the sky is clear and cloudless. And when the sun rises, it dispels all the darkness from the sky as it shines and glows and radiates. In the same way, this way of taking up practices that is pleasant now and results in future pleasure dispels the doctrines of the various other ascetics and brahmins as it shines and glows and radiates.”

That is what the Buddha said. Satisfied, the mendicants were happy with what the Buddha said.

Middle Discourses 46
The Great Discourse on Taking Up Practices
Continue reading “The Beautiful Training (Precept) Of Non-harming”

Crystal Gazing Contemplation / Meditation

Easy to remember shortcut for this blog post:
https://tinyurl.com/crystalcontemplation

Unlike the two crystals I mention using, or the cluster or matrix shown here, I suggest using only one easy to hold crystal starting off.

In order to tune in more deeply, it’s probably better to pause and extend the meditation to sit longer in silence with the crystal. Do so after the initial instructions during the allotted time period around the two minute twelve second mark before getting into the main contemplation.

Also, please only use the notes below after doing the meditation at least once. It’s provided here as a quick reference if desiring to put any of this to memory instead of having to re-listen

Continue reading “Crystal Gazing Contemplation / Meditation”

Studying And Practicing With “The Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta — An Analysis Of The Bases Of Power”: “Psychic Powers,” Practice Combinations And Miscellany (6 of 7)

Article shortcut: https://tinyurl.com/basesofpower

Series introduction:

While I reference some non-Buddhist material most everything in the notes and podcasts for this series on The Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta are solely my effort to relate considerations, questions, experiences, explorations, suggestions, interpretations and practices involved and associated with this sutta.

This series comes via seven categories/blog posts/podcasts:

  1. Introduction; the key encapsulation/encoding/summary paragraph of the whole sutta which includes and weaves in the four powers; and a reading of one of two translations for the sutta
  2. Unpacking of the hindrances and the other of two translations for the sutta
  3. A (type of) situational awareness
  4. 32 parts of the body
  5. Perceptions of night, daytime and light
  6. “Psychic Powers,” practice combinations and miscellany
  7. Summary, findings, observations and comparisons

In more detail, the four Iddhipāda — sometimes translated as bases of psychic power, basis of psychic power, bases of power, base of spiritual power, wings to success, paths of accomplishment, accomplishments, or roads to power — are:

  1. chanda: desire; enthusiasm; purpose; wish
  2. viriya: persistence; energy; effort; will
  3. citta: intent; consciousness; knowing mind; mental development; devoting mind to; heart-mind
  4. vīmaṃsā: investigation; inquiry; discernment; discrimination; reason; interest; intelligent curiosity; [(perhaps a new contribution, or for chanda:) balanced and helpful enthrallment, fascination]; feedback and fine tuning, adjustment; learn from doing; circumspection

Along with aiding our even mundane accomplishments and mastery, perhaps the Iddhipāda play a significant role in approaching will — the way one decides on and initiates action — and at the core of The Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta is an analysis of will along with instructions for its training, development, and use.

“Psychic Powers”

When the four bases of psychic power have been developed and cultivated in this way, they wield the many kinds of psychic power: multiplying themselves and becoming one again; appearing and disappearing; going unimpeded through a wall, a rampart, or a mountain as if through space; diving in and out of the earth as if it were water; walking on water as if it were earth; flying cross-legged through the sky like a bird; touching and stroking with the hand the sun and moon, so mighty and powerful; controlling the body as far as the Brahmā realm.

[Integrating Presence note: beginning of portion perhaps left out of this sutta but included in others where the psychic powers are repeated with the same language:]

With clairaudience that is purified and superhuman, they hear both kinds of sounds, human and divine, whether near or far.

They understand the minds of other beings and individuals, having comprehended them with their own mind. They understand mind with greed as ‘mind with greed’, and mind without greed as ‘mind without greed’. They understand mind with hate as ‘mind with hate’, and mind without hate as ‘mind without hate’. They understand mind with delusion as ‘mind with delusion’, and mind without delusion as ‘mind without delusion’. They understand constricted mind as ‘constricted mind’, and scattered mind as ‘scattered mind’. They understand expansive mind as ‘expansive mind’, and unexpansive mind as ‘unexpansive mind’. They understand mind that is not supreme as ‘mind that is not supreme’, and mind that is supreme as ‘mind that is supreme’. They understand mind immersed in samādhi as ‘mind immersed in samādhi’, and mind not immersed in samādhi as ‘mind not immersed in samādhi’. They understand freed mind as ‘freed mind’, and they understand unfreed mind as ‘unfreed mind’.

They recollect many kinds of past lives. That is: one, two, three, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand rebirths; many eons of the world contracting, many eons of the world expanding, many eons of the world contracting and expanding. They remember: ‘There, I was named this, my clan was that, I looked like this, and that was my food. This was how I felt pleasure and pain, and that was how my life ended. When I passed away from that place I was reborn somewhere else. There, too, I was named this, my clan was that, I looked like this, and that was my food. This was how I felt pleasure and pain, and that was how my life ended. When I passed away from that place I was reborn here.’ And so they recollect their many kinds of past lives, with features and details.

With clairvoyance that is purified and superhuman, they see sentient beings passing away and being reborn—inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, in a good place or a bad place. They understand how sentient beings are reborn according to their deeds: ‘These dear beings did bad things by way of body, speech, and mind. They spoke ill of the noble ones; they had wrong view; and they acted out of that wrong view. When their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a place of loss, a bad place, the underworld, hell. These dear beings, however, did good things by way of body, speech, and mind. They never spoke ill of the noble ones; they had right view; and they acted out of that right view. When their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.’ And so, with clairvoyance that is purified and superhuman, they see sentient beings passing away and being reborn—inferior and superior, beautiful and ugly, in a good place or a bad place. They understand how sentient beings are reborn according to their deeds.

[end of portion perhaps left out of this sutta]

When the four bases of psychic power have been developed and cultivated in this way, they realize the undefiled freedom of heart and freedom by wisdom in this very life. And they live having realized it with their own insight due to the ending of defilements.”

[Please reach out with any corrections and suggestions for my inclusion(/guesses) of expanding/extending/filling in the omitted redundant text indicated by “…” from:]
Linked Discourses 51
2. Shaking the Stilt Longhouse
20. Analysis
https://suttacentral.net/sn51.20/en/sujato

57. 5. He resolves with knowledge (§48): when he has accomplished these things consisting of the planes, bases (roads), steps, and roots, of success (to supernormal power), [387] then he attains jhana as the basis for direct-knowledge and emerges from it. Then if he wants to become a hundred, he does the preliminary work thus, “Let me become a hundred, let me become a hundred,” after which he again attains jhana as basis for direct-knowledge, emerges, and resolves. He becomes a hundred simultaneously with the resolving consciousness. The same method applies in the case of a thousand, and so on. If he does not succeed in this way, he should do the preliminary work again, and attain, emerge, and resolve a second time. For it is said in the Saíyutta Commentary that it is allowable to attain once, or twice.

58. Herein, the basic-jhana consciousness has the sign as its object; but the preliminary-work consciousnesses have the hundred as their object or the thousand as their object. And these latter are objects as appearances, not as concepts. The resolving consciousness has likewise the hundred as its object or the thousand as its object. That arises once only, next to change-of-lineage [consciousness], as in the case of absorption consciousness already described (IV.78), and it is fine-material-sphere consciousness belonging to the fourth jhana.

59. Now, it is said in the Paþisambhidá: “Normally one, he adverts to [himself as] many or a hundred or a thousand or a hundred thousand; having adverted, he resolves with knowledge, ‘Let me be many.’ He becomes many, like the venerable Cú¿a-Panthaka” (Paþis II 207). Here he adverts is said with respect only to the preliminary work. Having adverted, he resolves with knowledge is said with respect to the knowledge of the direct-knowledge. Consequently, he adverts to many. After that he attains with the last one of the preliminary-work consciousnesses. After emerging from the attainment, he again adverts thus, “Let me be many,” after which he resolves by means of the single [consciousness] belonging to the knowledge of direct-knowledge, which has arisen next to the three, or four, preparatory consciousnesses that have occurred, and which has the name “resolve” owing to its making the decision. This is how the meaning should be understood here.

Details about multiplying from Chapter 12 of Visuddhimagga — The Path of Purification
  • Could “Having been one he [a monk] becomes many; having been many he becomes one” be in any way related to reproductive ability yet being celibate? And if money is a symbol of power enabling the acquisition of multiplicity but monks are not allowed to handle or be directly involved with money, could this also play into this power? What about the opposite, those who aren’t monks, who aren’t celibate and who’s creational energy in entangled with monetary systems?
    • These are obscure modern day considerations but to reiterate the aforementioned thread, how might the following influence this ability of having been one s/he becomes many; having been many s/he becomes one:
  • Not mentioned in podcast:
    • how might mastery of this power of “having been one he [a monk] becomes many; having been many he becomes one” play into any kind of conscious choices for rebirth(s) especially during the last mind moment?
    • (How) could the terms/notions of Servitor and Eidolon apply to “having been one he [a monk] becomes many; having been many he becomes one”?
    • Also heard the term “transconventional powers” describe these or similar
  • Why gain (these) powers? Are they only for monks? Well, the Buddha advised training to attain them. One can summons the purported psychic powers as motivation for practice, especially wholesome desire. Don’t be afraid of, or dismiss (your) worth and spiritual power when it comes to this. The Buddha was very wise and helpful on so many things and he’s saying this is OK to practice and develop and the attainment quite possible. Furthermore, these or similar powers can address usually unseen influences to (acquire knowledge to) help alleviate suffering and/or contribute to less suffering. 
  • scientific studies of past lives
  • The following passage for me clearly expounds empathy beyond just empathing feeling and emotions for the section: “He knows the awareness of other beings, other individuals, having encompassed it with his own awareness. He discerns a mind with passion as ‘a mind with passion,’ and a mind without passion as ‘a mind without passion.’ …..”
  • Why might some of these powers be harder to gain than others (at this time)? Could collective kamma, if that is a thing, play into this? Could developing certain powers be more conducive to certain eras than others? For example, intuition and the knowing of minds might be found more in today’s culture climate of valuing the (thinking) mind so much. Perhaps in other eras where the means and modes of physicality were more dominate the related physical developed spiritual/psychic powers were more prevalent? Or perhaps considering some claims of highly advanced prohibiting and controlling technology upon matter forms?
  • Also, how do the powers mentioned in the Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta correspond with any accepted mainstream studies in scientific community establishments? What are the parallels? Today’s quantum science allows for much of this phenomena — like temporary replication and the phasing of particles to waves and vice versa — but only on the micro level. And especially when external technology is involved. When will the (popularly) established scientific community consider this scaling up?
  • What are the benefits of “With his hand he touches & strokes even the sun & moon?” Is this to be taken literally? Metaphorically could it mean influence in and from realms beyond our everyday reality?
  • How does perception play into everything here?
  • [As a further resource see the blog post Supranormal (or so-called Psychic Powers) in the (Buddhist) Pali Cannon which links to places in the Pali Cannon mentioning supranormal abilities or so-called “psychic powers” and also includes my earlier points and questions about all this from various angles]
Continue reading “Studying And Practicing With “The Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta — An Analysis Of The Bases Of Power”: “Psychic Powers,” Practice Combinations And Miscellany (6 of 7)”

Kindly Cutting Crap With Wendy Nash

[9/16/2022 UPDATE: Learn more about the new monthly “Meditation Q & A” with Wendy and I on September 29th at 7pm Central]

On July 10th, I spoke with Wendy Nash, meditation coach and forthcoming Integrating Presence cohost of the monthly series “Meditation Q & A” mostly about her background, PTSD, love, honesty, wise speech and open questions

Wendy’s bio:

Wendy Nash has a 4-year somatic psychotherapy diploma, her Bachelor of Psychology Honors thesis studied the effects of loving-kindness meditation on prosocial behavior and she’s been practicing loving-kindness and other meditations for almost 20 years. These inform her work with clients who are interested in learning how to integrate various meditation practices in daily life.

These qualifications and experiences have been profoundly positive on her wellbeing and relationships, and turned around the negatives of difficult early life experiences.

These formal qualifications influence how I coach people with meditation:
– BPsych with an honors thesis studying the effect of lovingkindness meditation (LKM) on prosocial behavior based on Tajfel’s Social Identity Theory and Fredrickson’s research into LKM.
– 4-year diploma of somatic psychotherapy
– Currently studying a 2-year diploma of Mindfulness & Compassion meditation teacher training through the Insight Meditation Institute.

Informal work:
– 20 years of meditation practices in different traditions and countries, mostly focused on lovingkindness but also insight (vipassana) because kindness has shown to be the key to mindfulness’s efficacy and it’s this that leads to better relationships and wellbeing.
– Personal psychotherapy to understand myself and others more clearly.
– Strong engagement with understanding what narcissism is, when it causes problems, when it’s useful and how we can integrate the unhelpful bits, and why we all have an ego (even fully enlightened people have an ego!).
– Communication skills, especially how to listen deeply and pay heed to question syntax.

listening

More specifically, some of what we address:

  • Wendy’s acknowledgement of the often overlooked time and work involved in podcasting as well as honoring the elders where she lives
  • near enemies of compassion
  • we’re in it together is compassionate but not suffering along with
  • community protocol
  • involvement of word usage in listening
  • [Post chat comment: It’s important to initially forego self-censorship in order to evaluate if self-censoring would be helpful, skillful, wise, and wholesome instead of (automatically) defaulting to conform to prescribed, established, in-group, collective, peer group, etc. ideologies and parameters]
  • Wendy’s adolescence and background including complex PTSD, studying psychology, anger, tumultuous relationships, how reading a ‘Jesus loves everybody’ sign changed her life, wanting to know what love and like is and wanting that
  • How desperation leads to spiritual practice for some but not others
  • Not everybody is a willing party to change
  • The necessity of being both willing and able in relationships
  • futility of mentioning certain things to certain people
  • control as a belief
  • information instead of beliefs
  • Tempering brutal honesty and more reasons for/behind the name of Wendy’s site kindlycutthecrap.com
  • The lack of capacity to forget in/with PTSD
  • resolving trauma with EMDR, loving-kindness meditation, laughter and connection
  • Wise speech
  • Wendy’s work with clients to establish a meditation practice
  • Self-love
  • Self-honesty
  • Reverting to past patterning in challenging situations
  • Wendy’s moving truck breaking down and the ensuing political Q & A sessions with locals
  • How to ask open questions
  • [Post chat comment: I wonder if open questioning was more adopted and widespread less conclusions would be arrived at which has its own pros and cons]
  • Shifting and supporting language
  • [Post chat comment: While yes it is kind of annoying to have someone jump in and say they’ve done something similar then talk about themselves I wonder how much of this is perceived as establishing connection, validation, resonance, belonging and how much is unhelpful ego? And again, when refraining from doing this how much — skillfully or unskillfully — is deliberately being self-censored and held back from being expressed and shared perhaps due to clinging to a belief about how rigidly one ought to adhere to such a guideline?]
  • Open questions ending divisiveness
  • Human commonality of wanting prosperity
  • Shame, blame and separation
  • Owning ones emotions to address the tendency to use pejoratives about racists
  • Curiosity to discover underling emotions
  • Travel
  • Me wanting to preserve the question “why” to explore the mysteries and Wendy’s elaborating on the practical benefits of not using “why” instead using “how” and “what”
  • My noticing incongruence in some between racist speech and non-racist behavior

Wendy’s site: Kindly Cut The Crap

https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-nash

Audio: Kindly Cutting Crap With Wendy Nash

Or listen via Insight Timer (app or website)

Continue reading “Kindly Cutting Crap With Wendy Nash”