The Dhamma Brothers – Prison transformation via meditation
November 16, 2009
Watch the film screening-by-donation at Langara in South Vancouver
How does social interaction relate to a sense of well-being?
And how do Buddhist monks maintain their sense of well-being in its absence?
Time as a function of stuff
My first memory of truly being cognizant of the passing of time happened during junior high school mathematics class. Mr. Verigan, a spry, fair-haired and good-natured man, playfully scolded a fidgety student who had been periodically eyeing the clock as class was ending. It was ten minutes before lunch.
‘Don’t always be looking forward in time!’ he said, his pants and face and hair peppered with chalk marks, an endearing trademark to his students. ‘If you are constantly looking forward in time, you’ll never really be living in the present.’
Keep in mind, these were the late 80′s. We had never heard of Eckhart Tolle and ‘The Power of Now’. Dr. Csikszentmihalyi’s book ‘Flow’ had not even been published. Yoga was not practiced or popular with anyone I knew and the self-help section of the bookstore was likely half or less the size that it is today.
‘Mr. Verigan, when is this homework due?’, another student piped up, with two minutes left in class.
‘Due in-class tomorrow folks! No late homework this time.’
‘You said Friday!’ complained two students in unison.
‘Yea tomorrow’s Thursday, Mr. Verigan.’
He smiled. ’See, I need to take my own advice! Class dismissed.’
What is this obsession with time? We belabor the topic in the books that we read, in the articles in psychology magazines, in our daily conversations and the commonly used idioms: Time flies!’ ’Where did the time go?’ ‘Kill time.’
We look forwards or backwards. Our minds rarely attend to where our bodies are in the present.
Next time you feel that your life is passing by at break neck speed, take a seat. Close your eyes, set a timer for ten minutes and count from one to ten over and over again until the alarm goes off.
See what happens.
Be Thankful
Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day in Canada and it reminded me of something I have heard time and time again in Buddhist teachings: have gratitude.
Being thankful for what you have in this life is one of the simplest and most uplifting things you can do for yourself, and it doesn’t cost a penny.
Perspectives on the dead
Death is part of life. And sometimes we have no answers.
In a 2008 issue of Inquiring Mind Magazine, Ajahn Sumedho writes a skillful account on the perspective of death in Thailand, entitled ‘It’s Like This’.
My favourite passage:
“This is how Americans are treated—like it’s beyond our ability to endure such traumas. If we were to see the coffin going into the grave, we’d faint or have to spend the next twenty years in therapy.”
Observations of Italian culture
My observations while in Italy lead me to believe that there are more welcoming opportunities to engage with others in daily life than here in North America. We arrived in Rome where the streets were thronged with tourists, traveled through to the the beautiful green, rolling hills of Tuscany, back down to the bustling city of Florence and finally to the fashion capital, Milan.
A glimpse into Italy
In traveling on buses, trains, subways, walking through the streets, fraternizing with country and city folk, I noticed a marked difference in the way people interacted. More often than not, the short, polite exchanges that we are accustomed to here were replaced with more lengthy, warm and humorous interactions; ones where you might walk away with a smile on your face.
There just seemed to be more talking in Italy. This perception could be well in part due to the fact that I wasn’t able to ever understand a word that was being said; however, part of me feels that is was also due in part to a fundamental difference in the way that our two societies communicate and interact with one another.
I read in my Rough Guide to Italy book (great book by the way, particularly the restaurant recommendations) that roughly 90% of those residing in Italy are of Italian descent, whereas here in Canada we have people from a multitude of different countries and backgrounds. With that point alone, it makes any cultural difference understandable to a point.
In Vancouver you can, with little effort, find individuals with little or no command of the English language. Similarly, there are people who have excellent working knowledge of English, but for whom it is their second language. Perhaps it is more difficult to tell, upon first glance, with whom you are about to engage. Could this be one of many causes to make us Vancouverites more reserved and less likely to engage with others?
Conversely, in Italy I imagine one could safely bet that the person standing next to you on the subway is likely to understand what you are saying, should you decide to engage in spontaneous chit chat.
Whatever the reason may be – and likely there are dozens upon dozens of reasons why our cultures differ so – I could not help be feel that Italians spent more time engaged in small talk with strangers than we Canadians do.
Do these more socially engaged cultures experience flow more often than those who typically spend less time engaging in socialization with others, and more time in solitude?
Recommended Readings
If you are interested in the topic of meditation, I recommend:
Turning the Mind into an Ally
The Art of Living – Vipassana Meditation
I plan to compile a list of resources in time; however, these are the two of the best resources I have come across to date.
On Appreciating Religion
On a recent trip through Western Europe, my waning interest in religion was greatly rejuvenated.
Walking through the dark and hallowed halls of St. Peter’s Basilica, Notre Dame, standing before the ineffable Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, and countless other beautifully adorned museums and sacred cathedrals, I could not help but be curious.
What was the true, deeper story behind all of the intricately carved statues, the poignant expression of Madonna with child that was seen on walls upon walls throughout my travels? The brightly coloured stained glass windows could never be described in any satisfactory detail by the one line caption that lay neatly below.
What was the story behind all of the expressions, the paintings and their characters, the painters and their histories?
The confessionals lining the walls of these grand cathedrals particularly piqued my curiosity – what dark secret words were spoken within those mahogany walls? And the pews were often blocked off with signs reading: ‘No Tourists’, where only the faithful were allowed to enter and attend mass. These only added to the mystique and for the first time in my trip I’d wished I had access to a computer so I could OD on Wikipedia.
Suddenly there was just so much that I did not understand, so little exposure I’d had, yet until now I have lived with the illusion that I had some grasp on the meaning of religion.
Whereas in years past, my primary focus of study with respect to religion has been Buddhism, I have always been intrigued by the idea of religion and spirituality across all denominations. It started with Christianity – as this was the predominant religion of childhood friends growing up – and grew into the eastern religions of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism as I pursued East Asian studies in college.
All of my fervor, the questions and curiosity came back in a rush. I had so many questions throughout the course of my travels that could not be answered by the 4 Euro prerecorded audio tours.
One seemingly popular opinion espoused by non-religious individuals is that no religion equates to less problems in the world – less conflict, less death and destruction. Upon closer examination of the Scripture and other sacred writings, is this truly the case?
These questions lead me to realize an important offshoot of my studies is a more thorough examination of the fundamentals of religion as a foundation to understanding optimal experience and what it means to bring meaning to one’s life.
Low Self-Esteem – a Western Phenomenon?
It occurred to me that certain conditions may be uniquely rooted in Western culture.
The other day, I attended a talk given by Mingyur Rinpoche at the Vancouver Public Library. The topic of the talk was ’Joyful Wisdom – Embracing Change and Finding Wisdom’. This is also the title of his new book.
Mingyur Rinpoche is a thirty-something Tibetan Buddhist monk whose first time to North America was in the late nineties. One time following one of his public talks, a woman asked Rinpoche about how one deals with issues relating to low self-esteem. At the time, Rinpoche’s English was not as polished as it is today, and he traveled with a translator by his side.
He did not know how to begin advising this woman, having never experienced low self-esteem. Perhaps something was lost in translation?
For anyone who has ever attended any of Mingyur Rinpoche’s talks, retreats, or read any of his literature, you will know that his life was not free from affliction. When Rinpoche was a young child, he suffered from panic disorder that left him in a persistent state of fear for many years. It was not until he entered a three year retreat at age thirteen when he was forced to face this fear, eventually overcoming it through years of intense meditation.
At some point following his first visit to North America, spurred by the American woman’s question, Mingyur researched the topic of low self-esteem and through dedicated meditation, was even able to develop low self-esteem himself.
Of all the topics discussed during this evening’s talk, to me this was the most memorable of them all because it demonstrated to me the huge differences that culture can breed.
These days, Rinpoche travels without the translator, and without the low self-esteem, as achieved via meditation the same way it was acquired.
—- — — -
In 2002, Mingyur Rinpoche along with eight other Tibetan Buddhist monks participated in a meditation study under the direction of world-renowned American neuroscientist Dr. Richard Davidson. Read the paper: “Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice”
