Can meditation be harmful? | Dharma Talk, Plum Village

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Siavash ', modified 2 Years ago at 4/18/21 6:27 PM
Created 2 Years ago at 4/18/21 6:27 PM

Can meditation be harmful? | Dharma Talk, Plum Village

Posts: 1679 Join Date: 5/5/19 Recent Posts
I found this talk helpful. A reasonable discussion about the difficulties related to meditation.

Although he doesn't talk about any specific map or tradition and such, but it seems that he is quite aware of the discussions related to the dark side of meditation. I think this is important to have this topic addressed by a Plum Village teacher.
(It's a long talk with some light guided meditation in the middle part.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JMLR0Q4PjE
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Angel Roberto Puente, modified 2 Years ago at 4/21/21 12:04 PM
Created 2 Years ago at 4/21/21 12:02 PM

RE: Can meditation be harmful? | Dharma Talk, Plum Village

Posts: 281 Join Date: 5/5/19 Recent Posts
     Hi Siavash. Thank you for the recommendation. This is my first contact with the Plumb Village Sangha. One of the benefits I get from this forum is learning from so many points of view. Hearing the same thing in different languages is enlightening, tu n'es pas d'accord ?
     I was surprised by the emphasis given to the body by Br. Phap. I know what he's talking about because my practice has always been grounded in movement, body awareness, and breathing. I find it difficult to understand how anybody can bring practice into daily life without a connection to these elements. Br. Phap addresses the concern that seems to be prevalent; that the deeper states can't be reached by the body methods. I have a lifetime of stories that disprove that theory. Some are Matrix-type shit. Keep up the sharing. 
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Siavash ', modified 2 Years ago at 4/21/21 1:05 PM
Created 2 Years ago at 4/21/21 1:05 PM

RE: Can meditation be harmful? | Dharma Talk, Plum Village

Posts: 1679 Join Date: 5/5/19 Recent Posts
Hi Angel,
Glad you found it entertaining, and thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Yes, the diversity that is present in this forum is significant.

Yeah, Plum Village folks emphasize body and breath as far as I know, because Thich Nhat Hanh has taught that way and they follow him. As he would say: Bring your mind home to your body.
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Linda ”Polly Ester” Ö, modified 2 Years ago at 4/22/21 5:54 AM
Created 2 Years ago at 4/22/21 5:54 AM

RE: Can meditation be harmful? | Dharma Talk, Plum Village

Posts: 7134 Join Date: 12/8/18 Recent Posts
Sounds interesting. I haven't listened yet but I will. Just a quick thought: the "deeper states" mentioned that supposedly cannot be reached through focusing on the body sounds like referring to higher jhanas. If that's what's meant, I'd say it's basically correct, but you can definitely depart from the body. I find that very effective. You just need to sort of distill the sensations into something else if you want to reach fourth jhana and above, which is quite doable. 
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Siavash ', modified 2 Years ago at 4/22/21 1:43 PM
Created 2 Years ago at 4/22/21 1:43 PM

RE: Can meditation be harmful? | Dharma Talk, Plum Village

Posts: 1679 Join Date: 5/5/19 Recent Posts
 Linda, in the talk he doesn't specify what he exactly means by the "deeper", but my impression is that he uses it as a general term for both concentration and insight categories, although the way he addresses it I think falls more in the insight category, because he emphasizes clarity and resolution/detection power, which to be high it needs a high concentration too, but I didn't get the impression of higher jhanas. He was saying that a technique like body-scan can get quite deep if you really do it and develop high clarity with it, to know what our experience actually is. To use the body as a doorway to know what is going on.

As a side note, I haven't been able to find anything about jhanas from Plum Village folks and Thick Nhat Hanh (I haven't read his books though). Although in a talk Thich Nhat Hanh emphasizes that shamatha and vipassana are two wings of the same bird and we need both of them to be able to fly.
 
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Linda ”Polly Ester” Ö, modified 2 Years ago at 4/22/21 3:44 PM
Created 2 Years ago at 4/22/21 3:44 PM

RE: Can meditation be harmful? | Dharma Talk, Plum Village

Posts: 7134 Join Date: 12/8/18 Recent Posts
Okay! Then I don't understand why anybody would think that. It's as valid as any other approach. 

​​​​​​​I have started listening now and it's a great talk. Thanks for posting it! 

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