If you are a meditator, it is important to learn about changing the object of meditation from the story you are stuck in back to you body and feelings.
Mark Epstein writes about the Tibetan slogan of “Stopping the wind,” i. e., the stuck story blowing through your mind.
Using meditation or therapy to try to shut down parts of our experience is ultimately counterproductive. We do not have to be afraid of entering unfamiliar territory once we have learned how to hold experience within the gentleness of our own minds. Learning to transform obstacles into objects of meditation provides a much needed bridge between the stillness of the concentrated mind and the movement of real life.
—Mark Epstein, from Going to Pieces without Falling Apart: A Buddhist Perspective on Wholeness
Also, Stephen Cope writes about seeing these objects of mind as simply dharma:
“The great Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche called this experience of aversion ‘the pain of pain.’ Pain is inevitable, of course. And aversion is a natural response to it. But aversion to the aversion? This is not inevitable, as it turns out. And the kicker: The aversion to the aversion is where the real suffering lies. As my friend the American Buddhist teacher Sylvia Boorstein says so often: Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional…
When difficulties arise, see them as dharma. This does not come naturally to us. Our instinct is to avoid discomfort at every turn. And we live in a culture that helps us distract ourselves from discomfort’s every manifestation.”
—Stephen Cope, from The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling
Stay tuned for a guided meditation on changing the object called “Remove the Object Meditation.”
Books by Mark Epstein
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Going to Pieces without Falling Apart: A Buddhist Perspective on Wholenessby For decades, Western psychology has promised fulfillment through building and strengthening the ego. We are taught that the ideal is a strong, individuated self, constructed and reinforced over a lifetime. But Buddhist psychiatrist Mark Epstein has found a different way. Going to Pieces Wi… |
Books by Stephen Cope
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The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Callingby From the Senior Scholar-in-residence and Ambassador for the famed Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health comes an incisive and inspiring meditation on living the life you were born to live. In this fast-paced age, the often overwhelming realities of daily life may leave you feeling un… |
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