Kitabı oku: «Spiritual Practice. Philosophical Reflection», sayfa 3

III. Rhythm Tuning

During my long Asian research I always traveled alone. It was taking risk but getting important factor of self-investigation, namely, the strict attuning of personal rhythm without a need to “follow’ or “carry’ someone. So, any cooperation would force you to deviate from a central axis. Sooner or later, you will need to restore your central axis and attune your personal rhythm. While being disciple, you can simply follow somebody in order to learn some rhythms and feel how they influence your own style of life, slowly attuning your personal rhythm of the spiritual practice. Visiting some group seminars or following a guru is helpful for understanding of the rhythm itself (though it seems that you are studying something different like mantras or asanas). Namely the rhythm will help you in any traditional way as a guiding line to reconstruct your natural organism to the cultural structure. For example, if you choose Buddhism you have the only chance – to become recognized Lama or just stop your development at some ordinary level. In such case, you cannot realize any other structure available in Hinduism or Taoism. You will be fixed in this chosen tradition forever. You can become even Buddha, but you will never become Christ or anybody else. The final goals are different – not the ways only. There are rear cases, when people choose holistic experience, like Ramakrishna, who finally declared that all ways are leading to the same goal, has unique result. I call it Self-realization in comparison with traditional God-realization according to some religious image of particular “god’.

Obviously, second connection of these principles, namely “axis – rhythm’ creates third connection “rhythm – attention’. When we build the axis, we need simple attention as direct concentration. But when we attune our personal rhythm we need complex attention as all-embracive concentration. Such broad attention includes duration of holding complicated content. Next, coordination of the personal rhythm with external rhythms is not natural. They are separated due to description and comparison from each other for completing the whole picture. The holistic attention would be a hearing “music of spheres’ where all rhythms are harmonious, and the individual self is equal to a supreme Self. Usually, we are intended to reach the goal by starting needful changes in our structure. Sure, at the very beginning you cannot hear any “music of spheres’, not being able to coordinate a rhythm of your own actions in order to resonate with the whole universe. However, this setting itself changes the structure of your self-consciousness principally elevating your individual at the level of integrated activity (Karma-Yoga). Everything else is the question of developing attention, and we will discuss it later.

Personal Rhythm

The human life is mystic due to resonance between both personal and universal rhythms. Slowly, you can develop feeling when to start and to finish this or that practices, when to stay in mountains or at beach, when to meet some teachers or practitioners, how long to wait and how fast to do something. Synchronization is associated with real resonance without trying to change everything according to opinion of others, no matter, how “great gurus’ they are… Tuning personal rhythm becomes faster, if you avoid any “help’ at the outset without allowing anybody to stay between you and God (like Sri Aurobindo, for instance). This is an ideal solution, if you are strong enough. You are really strong, if you are taking universal position, since the tremendous power of Universe belongs to Supreme Self, and you are united with it. Then all needful meetings immediately happen by miracle and communications never cause troubles but improve balance. This is common structure for many traditional practices (such as building axis) with rhythmic movement.

Keeping axis and rhythm, while moving here-and-there, is obvious in Christianity and Integral Yoga (comparable with Vipassana walking meditation). In my youth, I stayed in Valaam monastery where I liked to walk along alley of a “lonely monk’, as locals called it on the island. Two lines of high trees were at the border of old cemetery; and the lines were so near, that only one person could walk in the middle, almost touching trees by his shoulders. The monk recited Jesus prayer many years, walking in the alley until his death, and I did the same. Interesting, a force of resonance kept me within the alley, and it became very difficult to stop practice and to go out of it. While the ends of the alley were open, some invisible force turned me back and I walked another round again and again. So strange action continued until deep night as probably the monk did previously. Coming back to village from cemetery, I could notice briefly how people were afraid of my appearance in darkness. A similar practice was done by Sri Aurobindo (the founder of Integral Yoga in XX century) who walked eight hours per day in his own room from wall to wall. It was not an “alley’, but he shoveled a path through the floor as a channel while walking constantly. Instead of rising to God (symbolized by trees), he downloaded super-intellect into his physical body (symbolized by geometry of his closed house). In both cases, the methodology included similar rhythmic movement and keeping axis. We can find some other examples in both Zen and Vipassana walking meditations.

Let us find a personal rhythm during walking meditation in Vipassana practice. Thai forest monasteries support this tradition many centuries, choosing it from four meditative postures given by Buddha (walking, standing, sitting, and lying). According to Achaan Nyanadhammo, at first visit to a monastery, the Vipassana master checked its paths for walking meditation. If paths were good worn, he accepted it as a good sign. There were amazing examples of practitioners. For instance, one monk practiced walking meditation on the top edge of monastery wall stepping carefully at high level as if balancing on a rope in the circus. Some Thai monks walked 10—15 hours per day covering about 20 km, even though they did it slowly. Achaan Singtong walked on the same path so long that he created a tunnel down to the ground. Achaan Dtun walked day and night not coming inside his hut even for sleep. He just lay down on the path and continued to walk again after awakening. Literary, he lived in the way. Since Westerners accept meditation mostly as sitting practice, these facts seem to be unusual.

As for length and speed, both parameters depend on your personal rhythm only! After he got liberation in Bodhgaya, Buddha used path as long as his 17 steps. The sacred path is a place of worshiping until now. Later some wandering monks used longer path about 30 steps, while several masters recommended for beginners to start from 15 steps. When you have too long path, your thinking becomes intensive and chaotic. Achaan Chah recommended natural walking, namely, not very fast and not very slowly. Anyway, it is easier to start from slow walking win order to notice all sensations and to develop your concentration. But some phlegmatic people need fast walking, otherwise, they “sleep’ in the way. Interesting, total concentration during walking will make it slower till full stop. Then you can proceed to standing meditation, next to sitting meditation, and finally to lying meditation. Vice versa, when you can keep attention on the chosen object in sitting position, you can try to extend concentration during walking. The task is more difficult, but it allows getting perfect concentration. Anyway, meditation is a control of thinking, which must be done independently from any position of your body in the space.

External Rhythms

When you realize your personal rhythm, you become very sensitive to any external rhythms, since you still cannot know the way of stars and destiny of people, at least till some degree. You need important ability to turn aside softly from your central axis keeping self-awareness and coming back to your central axis again without any contradictions. There is easy Taoist technique developing rhythm, namely, “pendulum’ in position sitting on your knees. You decline from your central axis forward and come back to vertical position again. Try to find your own rhythm! Some duration of such practice is very important since one-two movements will give nothing. More complicated version requires position sitting on your buttocks, stretching your legs forward, little bending your knees and joining your feet. Start rotation, slightly fixing three positions: decline forward (palms on ankles); move to left side (palms on shanks); decline backward (palms on knees); move to right side (palms on shanks); decline forward (palm on ankles). Then start circling to opposite direction. Spine is straight while declining from central axis without bending corpus. You can keep permanent concentration on axis only while your physical body is circling around it.

Of course, you can use some mantras, ritual dances and many dynamic practices for rhythm developing. However, using any traditional technique you must follow the specific rhythm of this tradition. No problem, if your current situation fits such experience (sometimes a “situation’ as long as the current life). Nevertheless, you will need to synchronize the rhythm of chosen spiritual practice with other rhythms of social life etc. Staying outside of monastery, you will need to coordinate your own rhythm with harmonization of spiritual, working, social, family and other spheres. Always there are some external obstacles; therefore, you have to tune your rhythm regularly, being independent of any actions. Otherwise, you will false in your own life. Probably, you will not notice the beginning of your personal corruption! Traditional realization makes everything simpler, if you exist within the tradition permanently, and nothing can influence your behavior. Then you can synchronize with your teacher, and he will build your structure according to some traditional spiritual standard. Finally, you will be converted into a similar teacher in order to support the rhythm of the particular tradition.

Stilling Rhythm

No matter, how your personal rhythm is coordinating with external rhythms, tuning universal rhythm causes complete stillness of any rhythm. Finally, it is obvious in meditation on technical level, when your breath and pulse become slower with long pauses which are impossible for human being naturally. External yoga practices make it clear already at Pranayama stage: first you choose some breathing rhythm, and then you extend it due to natural relaxation of whole organism, being attentive to breathing itself. Principally, this is non-violent action, and you must not suppress your breath forcefully. This is namely rhythm tuning in a “volume’ way. Proportion of breath-in and breath-out (and breath-holding, if necessary) is permanent usually, though you extend duration of each period. Slowly, it becomes as subtle as almost invisible and inaudible. The classic Yoga system recommends doing meditation after completing pranayama. The effect is useful for deepening attention which controls both breathing and heart pulsation, as the main function in human organism. Finally, Yogi can stop pulse by his own will, and I controlled such demonstration personally once in India.

Let us describe Vipassana as a rhythmic practice too. Slowly, you will also calm both movement and breath due to deepening attention. Breath becomes equal in both nostrils (Swara-Yoga is a holistic system for this purpose), more subtle, flowing, and transparent, as if you drink water with your nose. Exhale become shorter, finally you will not feel it in your nostrils. Pulse can be reduced twice (from 60 to 30 heart-beats per minute). Reaching this stage, you need not a regalement for father practice because duration is extending by itself. Breath-holding creates holistic consciousness of emptiness, but new inhale will bring you back to Samsara, which becomes obviously elusive and unreal. When you come to the state of “breathless corpse’, you will calm your personal rhythm completely. Then you will get perception of a universal rhythm without distraction and finally experience Nirvana. Your personal rhythm becomes not actual anymore, because Nirvana contains Samsara.

IV. Attention

We come closer to a “meditation’ which is originally the Latin term for translation of the Sanskrit “dhyana’. However, there is suggestion for another English translation, namely, “contemplation’. It was essential polemic for its practical subject. The so-called “meditation’ is rather an attention to reality (vision as such) than thinking about something (a reflection of some image composed during vision of the particular object). This is a principle difference since Descartes’s “Meditationes de Prima Philosophia’, where the “meditation’ became the obvious background of Western philosophy. Due to this differentiation, we can discriminate between “applied meditation’ as a form of psychotherapy and “real meditation’ as increasing spiritual practice up to Samadhi. Western psychology use meditation as exchanging negative images for positive images. Anyway, there are images. While dhyana brings to total annihilation of all images (chitta vritti nirodha) proceeding to contemplation of pure conscious reality without any images. The main point is developing attention to Reality as such. There are many technical variations in different traditions which we can use for our spiritual benefit freely.

However, looking for traditional methods developing attention to Reality, do not forget about Reality itself! Otherwise, you will deal with religious but not spiritual practice. It happens often when it becomes more important to be a Christian than to realize the Christ himself in your heart. Limitations are formed as “credo’ by attracting attention to one object (even some “god’) without extending attention to non-objective stage. For example, “There is no god – only Allah!” or “Believe to One God, Almighty Creator’. Usually, it reminds me great Adwaitic saint Ramakrishna Paramahamsa who was devotee of goddess Kali at the beginning of his sadhana. He worshiped her until she appeared as living Goddess herself. Step by step, he got visions of all gods performing services of all religions. When he got self-realization as unity with Reality as such, suddenly he saw image of dear Kali. What did he do at that moment? He did not bow down, but took a “sword’ mentally and cut the goddess in half; finally, she would not shadow bright light of Reality. Then his attention became holistic without duality of “object’ and “subject’ in attention.

Yoga and Buddhism

The classic Yoga develops attention according to deepening and extending duration of objective contemplation. The inner work with consciousness starts from Pratyahara; that means returning sense organs from external appearance to Reality. The merging into Reality is called as Samyama including tree stages: Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (contemplation), and Samadhi (integration). In the whole process, it is difficult to separate each of three steps, while careful analysis can accentuate eight stages in Samadhi only. After the total unity with Reality, highest consciousness cannot join anything unreal again. The ability to discriminate between real and unreal is Buddhi (intelligence), which is different from Manas (mind). We will discuss the difference in the next part. An attention (samyama) is activity of reflection (buddhi) which is developing its own form. Nobody can be intelligent without practical attention. In this case the intellect is a possibility, while human life is going at the level of sensual mind only.

Attention is the base for Vipassana in Theravada Buddhism. Meditative practice means namely simple attention to any happening or activity: attentive prostration (concentration on hands), attentive walking (concentration on feet), and attentive sitting (concentration on breathing). Attention to unreal appearances makes obvious their transitory and unreal character. As result, your consciousness becomes absolutely empty (Shunyata). Meditation is real when there is nothing anymore. Vajrayana (Tibetan Buddhism) makes attention clear in Maha-Mudra (the great “seal’) which is the form of emptiness while Shunyata is its content. Finally, the form is equal to its content! All human states are just endless flowing dharmas as permanent activity which is really empty. Being is Nothing. Buddha gave Vipassana as the main practice for enlightenment and liberation. When you develop attention itself, there is no need in other techniques. Similarly, Jnyana-Yoga (getting unity in knowledge) uses self-requesting as pure attention to Self. Vedantists accept it as the “direct way’, or the most difficult Yoga for everybody. A few great saints succeeded in this way: for instance, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Maharshi etc. They got self-realization by direct way of complete attention to Reality.

Taoism and Warriors

The Taoist practices developed mostly in Marshal Arts and became popular as “dynamic meditations’ nowadays. In this methodology your attention is totally concentrated within holistic volume of your body keeping personal axis and center. Some Taoist masters constructed many systems, based on deepened attention during dynamic practice where consciousness is united with body. Tao is Self-Being as such. Tao is recognized by itself or naturally as the only eternal “low of being’; that is a Strategy. Primarily the low supports the dynamic balance of two oppositions (Yin and Yang). Chinese tradition developed attention to human body and created elaborated map of subtle channels and structure of subtle bodies (similar to Indian Yoga). Previously, we mentioned the main attention to central axis as the basic structural principle for any spiritual practice. Taoism uses attention as an instrument for inner alchemy where it plays active role for energy accumulation and conscious transformation of whole human structure, in order to collect and purify all additional energy, developed during practice. Finally, the activated attention becomes a total consciousness of your body itself. It culminates in the phenomenon of “physical immortality’.

Let us find some links to distant spheres of European classic philosophy and American “way of warrior’. Best of all, the notion of attention was explained in Husserl’s concept of “intentional consciousness of temporality’. The intentional consciousness is just an “attention’ in common sense. The modern phenomenology prefers a description rather than the visible world. It clarifies connection between consciousness and visible world. Moreover, it reflects the same consciousness as a visionary of the world. It is not a static object but dynamic connection as a reconstructed “object’. As result, the modern philosophy became the most adequate system for description of shamanic practices. American anthropologist Carlos Castaneda used it during his research of some magic experiences with native shamans. We have a philosophical analysis of Castaneda’s work by his follower and unpublished academic works by Castaneda himself mentioned in interviews (ten volumes of Castaneda’s review on Husserl’s phenomenology). Basically, attention plays technical role in the way of warriors, namely, as a stalking (reflection of your own activity in each particular circumstances) and a dreaming (contemplation of “diverse reality’). The perfect attention is necessary in order to find “break between two worlds’; and direct vision of Reality itself is required in any other spiritual practice. Finally, the warrior disappeared in “inner fire of consciousness’ or merged into ultimate Reality. So, magical training is based on development of attention too.

Attention Techniques

How to develop attention until its technical characteristics will allow the vision of God? Attention can be increased by some attentive activity only; this process does not depend on anything external. Each spiritual tradition has some simple exercises as a preparing meditation. If you become attentive using one system then you will not lose your attention working with another system. Trataka is the most well-known Yogic technique in order to develop attention to an outer object. Commonly, it is fixed concentration on the flame of a candle. When you proceed to purification of your consciousness from all inner objects, you can use the method of “coming back to the very beginning of thinking’, tracking every thought till its appearance from nowhere. Then you restore the initial moment of appearing fluctuation in surrounding vibrational field of the pure being. For example, Sri Aurobindo got Nirvana within three days of highly attentive contemplation of his incoming and outgoing thoughts. Similar self-realization gotten by Ramakrishna took few days of sitting in a locked house. His teacher stocked the sharp stone into his forehead as an orienteer for attention to his hidden third eye. However, it is remarkable, that both adepts had long-time training before they applied their abilities to the last effort. As usually, the reality is a starting point for interpretation.

The transition from objective to non-objective meditation could be explained by the example of some satsangs with Stan. He was the direct disciple of Papaji and Vipassana teacher in USA. I met him in a small mountain village in northern Thailand. He lived quietly being merged into contemplation of Emptiness and sharing his own state during satsang, or his “guided meditation’. First, closing your eyes, you concentrate on appearing images, sounds, thoughts, emotions – just observing how they come and go. Next, you should reflect your position as a witness, giving your attention to the very source, who is witnessing all current processes. Improving yourselves as a witness, you can look for any space between all moving objects. Please, do not create any images of holes. Try to find the real space in-between changing states. When you discover total emptiness, where all thoughts and other objects are sinking, simply move your attention into that pure space. Then it becomes endless, enlightened and blissful. At that point, the subject unites with the object. In other words, Witness and Space become One and inseparable. Finally, there is nothing except of sat-chit-ananda (being-consciousness-bliss). There are many similar techniques; here I used some of them as illustration of the principle only.