2011-10-03

Does Meditation Make You a Better Person?

Revised on 2011/09/30 @ http://downthecrookedpath-meditation-gurus.blogspot.com/2011/06/does-meditation-make-you-better-person.html


I once believed that the Love (Bliss) state that you experienced in meditation would change you into a kind, loving, and compassionate person, and that the lack of meditation in Christianity was the reason why it appeared to me that they did not have these fine qualities, at least not the Christians that I had known. But then I learned that these qualities that I saw in meditators were only on the surface. All you had to do was say something that they didn’t like, and you could easily rile them up, even gurus can get riled, only they call it “destroying the ego” and claim it is not done out of meanness. This in turn, made me wonder, have they never experienced this blissful state of Love? I know of one hostile swami who said that he never had.

So I left Hinduism when I learned that the gurus were no better than some Christian ministers I had met. Then I decided to check out Buddhism since the Buddha has always been known for Compassion. But wasn’t Christ known for those same qualities?

I took my questions to the abbot of the Zen group that I was joined, and I learned that meditation does not make you a better person or even a moral one; you have to work hard at developing these qualities. The abbots and the monks did just that, and as a result they were both kind and loving. So perhaps they are right, you just had to work hard to develop compassion. But still, it seems that bliss states should change people, after all, these states, as I understand it, arise from your Soul or your Mind, depending on your view, and so why can’t they be with you in normal states of consciousness?

Then I read Bhagavan Das' autobiography, It's Here now, Are You?, and he was constantly in a state of bliss and felt so much love for God, that at times, I felt a little envious. Then then I read how he cheated on his wife, abandoned his children, was narcissistic, ran away from his responsibilities, gave a woman drugs (who then ended up in a mental hospital), and was just basically amoral. He was not just in Hinduism but Tibetan Buddhism as well. And when I was in these groups I noticed that there was a big element of amoral behavior in them, which is why I left. People were really getting hurt. So for Bhagavan Das, feeling this blissful state of love for God and mankind did not change his behavior. And I ask, why not? Maybe he didn’t experience these states of mind as often as he made it sound in his book. Could that be it?

And now scientists do these brain wave tests on monks while they are meditating, and it appears that these tests prove that meditation increases feelings of compassion:

“Eight Buddhist adepts and 10 volunteers who had had a crash course in meditation engaged in the form of meditation called nonreferential compassion. In this state, the meditator focuses on unlimited compassion and loving kindness toward all living beings.

As the volunteers began meditating, one kind of brain wave grew exceptionally strong: gamma waves. These, scientists believe, are a signature of neuronal activity that knits together far-flung circuits -- consciousness, in a sense. Gamma waves appear when the brain brings together different features of an object, such as look, feel, sound and other attributes that lead the brain to its aha moment of, yup, that's an armadillo.

Some of the novices 'showed a slight but significant increase in the gamma signal,' Prof. Davidson explained to the Dalai Lama. But at the moment the monks switched on compassion meditation, the gamma signal began rising and kept rising. On its own, that is hardly astounding: Everything the mind does has a physical correlate, so the gamma waves (much more intense than in the novice meditators) might just have been the mark of compassion meditation.

Except for one thing. In between meditations, the gamma signal in the monks never died down. Even when they were not meditating, their brains were different from the novices' brains, marked by waves associated with perception, problem solving and consciousness. Moreover, the more hours of meditation training a monk had had, the stronger and more enduring the gamma signal.”

http://www.dalailama.com/news/post/104-how-thinking-can-change-the-brain

Okay, but I would like to see how this translates into their every day behavior. Are they always kind towards others? How long did the gamma signal last after meditation? Remember, these tests are done on Tibetan Buddhists, and if you have read other posts I have made you will find that Tibetan Buddhism is an amoral religion. Why is this? Why is it that after they have learned compassion and taking the higher tantra empowerments they can now drink alcohol, have sex, lie, steal, kill, and etc?

Here is one of the articles I wrote:http://downthecrookedpath-meditation-gurus.blogspot.com/2011/09/tibetan-buddhism-really-is-cesspool.html

Even Bhagavan Das’ book shows this amoral behavior, as I noted. He thinks nothing of talking about the sexual affairs that Choygen Rinpoche had or that he was an alcoholic. It was all okay to him that these masters were amoral or should I call it “immoral”?

So I thought back then, if meditation didn’t help one to become a better person, why meditate? What was meditation for? Enlightenment? What about that? I never met an enlightened teacher, only met those who claimed to be, and I can't say much for them. And I never wanted to be enlightened in the first place.

And then I read about the dangers of meditation and just quit meditating and wrote about my findings in my blog:
http://downthecrookedpath-meditation-gurus.blogspot.com/2011/07/dangers-of-meditation.html

But this state of bliss which feels like heaven, can also turn into its opposite, and you don't know if or when this will ever happen. So our minds have states of heaven and hell. Kundalini is like that. It is always a surprised just as LSD had been for many people.

I am beginning to think that praying to God is much safer. And if there is a God, wouldn’t you think that he would have made a safer way to feel his/her/Its presence than that of meditation? Shouldn’t it be as safe as prayer? But of course that state of bliss is wonderful, I have to admit that, and so I don’t really want to even try take that desire away from anyone. I just want people to be aware of the dangers and to be careful. It is an experience that I will never forget. But just don’t think, as I did, that it will turn you into a kind and loving person no matter what those tests show, especially in view of how gurus behave.

One thing that meditation does do is this: it causes a person to become more charismatic, just as it did the little pilgrim in the book, The Way of the Pilgrim, for he said that people were now drawn to him. Just make sure that those teachers that you are drawn to are not just charismatic immoral teachers that will not only destroy your ego but your soul as well.

6 comments:

  1. I have read Josey's considerations and I would like to write some own thoughts.

    Viktor and Viktoria Trimondi called their fantastic book "The Shadow of the Dalai Lama". Later we will see, that this title has a deeper sense.

    We all know we are used to live dual. In this material world we have no other chance because we must breathe, the basic of duality to exist.

    Now human beings do that what the psychology calls "projection" or the "shadow". We project acts, feelings, thoughts and unconscious processes we dont integrate onto other persons.

    Now I try to translate a part from a German book into English. It is called "The Spectrum of conscioueness" written by Ken Wilber, a famous American consciousness researcher. I apologize if the translation is not very well, but I do my very best.

    "So we project our negative feelings, then we feel free and the others tainted with. That is a common phenomenon because we would like to get rid of the less pleasant sides of personality. We force them out of our consciousness, but of course that is in vain.; they remain our own and so we make to do to project them to other. And has that succeeded in convincing, it may be blown to the witch hunt: communists under every bed; the devil lurks around every corner; we, the goods, against them, the evils. Our passionate fight against the devils of this world is nothing more than shadow boxing:" (Das Spektrum des Bewusstseins, S. 207)

    And perhaps now slowly we understand why meditation alone doesn't make good human beings and why the Trimondis chose this title for their book. And perhaps we understand why some hundred years ago the Tibetan Buddhism and other tantric systems "opend the witch hunt" against the women. They project all these terrible things like - women are of lower birth, women are the evil of the univers, women must disappear because they give birth to the children and so Karma is repeated - onto the women of this world. They are even all that ugly, that evil. But they have to take care that their projections doesn't turn against them. That is a law of the univers too.

    We see, we can meditate till we have green hair, if we are not ready to work hard to become loving human beings with compassion for the whole univers, we will achieve nothing. And that work means to integrate the shadow, do not project but to reflect all things which are happening.
    Meditation can be a help and support to do this work and praying too.

    One word about the meditation of the tantric. It is important for them to reach a certain state of consciousness: The ecstasy. Sometime they have learned to manipulate energy at this state, with terrible consequences for the women. If you ever go into ecstasy some time you you will be addicted to get more and more. Addicts will never give up to get their stuff.

    The Lama system is a complecated system of sex abuse, abuse of meditation and finally abuse of the whole univers.

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  2. Übersetzung zum vorherigen Kommentar:

    Ich habe Josey's Überlegungen gelesen und möchte gerne einige eigenen Gedanken niederschreiben.

    Viktor und Viktoria Trimondi haben ihr fantastisches Buch "der Schatten des Dalai Lama" genannt. Später werden wir sehen, dass dieser Titel seinen tieferen Sinn hat.

    Wir alle wissen, dass wir gewöhnt sind, dual zu leben. In dieser materiellen Welt haben wir keine andere Möglichkeit, weil wir atmen müssen, die Basis der Dualität um zu existieren. Menschen tun das, was die Psychologie "Projektion" oder "Schatten" nennt. Wir projizieren Handlungen, Gefühle, Gedanken und unbewusste Prozesse, die wir nicht integrieren, auf andere Personen.

    Jetzt möchte ich aus dem Buch "Das Spektrum des Bewusstseins" zitieren, das von dem berühmten amerikanischen Bewusstseinsforscher Ken Wilber geschrieben wurde.

    "So projizieren wir auch negative Eigenschaften, fühlen uns dann frei davon und die anderen behaftet. Das ist ein sehr häufiges Phänomen, denn die weniger erfreulichen Seiten unserer Persönlichkeit wären wir natürlich gerne los. Wir drängen sie aus unserem Bewusstsein, aber das ist natürlich vergeblich; sie bleiben unser eigen, und so behelfen wir uns damit, dass wir sie auf andere projizieren. Und ist das überzeugend gelungen, so darf zur Hexenjagd geblasen werden: Kommunisten unter jedem Bett; der Teufel lauert an jeder Ecke; wir, die Guten, gegen sie, die Bösen. Unser passionierter Kampf gegen die Teufel dieser Welt ist nichts als Schattenboxen." (Das Spektrum des Bewusstseins, S. 207)

    Und vielleicht verstehen wir nun langsam, warum Meditation allein keine guten Menschen macht und warum die Trimondis diesen Titel für ihr Buch wählten. Und vielleicht verstehen wir, warum vor einigen hundert Jahren der tibetische Buddhismus und andere tantrische Systeme "die Hexenjagd eröffnet haben" gegen die Frauen. Sie projizieren all diese furchtbaren Dinge wie - Frauen sind von geringerer Geburt, Frauen sind das Übel des Universums, Frauen müssen verschwinden weil sie Kinder gebären und sich so das Karma immer wiederholt - auf die Frauen dieser Welt. Sie selbst sind all dieses Hässliche, dieses Übel. Aber sie müssen aufpassen, dass sich ihre Projektionen nicht gegen sie selbst richten. Auch das ist ein Gesetz des Universums.

    Noch ein Wort zur Meditation der Tantriker. Für sie ist es wichtig, eine bestimmte Ebene des Bewusstseins zu erreichen: Die Ekstase. Irgendwann haben sie gelernt die Energie auf dieser Ebene zu manipulieren, mit furchtbaren Konsequenzen für die Frauen. Wenn du immer in die Ekstase gehst, wirst du irgendwann süchtig sein nach mehr und mehr. Süchtige werden nie aufgeben, ihren Stoff zu bekommen.

    Das Lamasystem ist ein kompliziertes system des sexuellen Missbrauchs, des Missbrauchs der Meditation und schließlich des Missbrauchs des ganzen Universums.

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  3. Your thoughts are beneficial. And I want to make some more thoughts: The conscioueness is not the goal of Buddhist practition. The mediation is a way to train our concentration. The conscioueness helps us to find our true heart, but it is not the [true heart] itself. Anyone who would like to get Buddhahood, must make clear of his false thoughts.

    Thanks for your translation, severitas.

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  4. Many thanks to severitas, very brave to step forward and speak out to the evil.
    Very good of TK, you are definitely right about the Buddhist practice. Excellent.
    Let's move on and keep courage!

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  5. Very brave of severitas to speak out against the devil. My compliment to TK, you are definitely right about what you said. The conscious mind is to find out our true heart - Alayavijnana, that is the goal for enlightenment. It takes a lot of time and energy, but still, let's keep moving on to get rid of the devil - Lamaism.

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  6. You are right. Severitas is very brave to speak out to the evil! I heard the story of two victims yesterday who were abused by lamas and still sad with their experiences. However, there are many female followers believing in the devil tantric Buddhism. Yes, let's keep moving on to get rid of the Lamaism.

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