emotions¶
enlightenment does not mean you go dull and numb and stop having feelings and bliss out
it does mean that you understand the nature of the mind because you stay alert and observe situations carefully without blinders on so you are not often shocked or deluded and unstable
picture yourself as a sky with sunny days and stormy days passing by, you are not a storm, you are not sunshine, you are the sky that experiences the weather
or a mountain, you are the mountain, in the spring flowers grow on you, then in the fall you get covered in leaves, then rain snow and ice, then it melts and starts over - you are not a deadly ice covered cold mountain, you are always the same mountain under the cover of lively colorful plants or whatever weather passes by
the good and the bad¶
meditating with emotions as a support is not much different than any other meditation, stay objective, cognizant, calm and blissful while letting emotions come and go naturally
having preferences is natural, being deluded is not, it is the stimulus response afflictive aspect of emotions that you have to put a yoke on
emotions and thought are natural to life, you cannot resist them that would be like trying to dam a huge flowing river
they can be useful or they can be afflictions, the key is to stay cognizant and objective and not identify with them but let them naturally flow while maintaining objective meditative awareness, if you do this correctly the energy will dissipate and nothing harmful comes from the emotions, no attachment, no identification, etc. your mind should get brighter and calmer not duller, you might have to approach this one gradually over time with increasing difficulty
if someone you were attached to just died, don't punish yourself endlessly, try meditating on something positive to build stability, or some lesser loss you may not have processed, then come back when you are ready to stay objective
if you do not let your emotions arise and fall naturally and you resist them they it will bottle up, then they build up and eventually explode and cause harm
when they arise then just get absorbed in the objective observation of them, the key is objectivity, if they swell up you are not meditating you are dwelling in an afflicted mind
if you cannot stay objective you might need to practice other meditation skills first, but it's important to come back and drain the emotional energy out
enlightenment has nothing to do with stimulus response reactions, hedonistic pleasure, etc. it is the opposite, it is the simply the recognition that life is perfect as it is without adding nonsense to it
what most call positive emotions (hapiness, arrousal, bliss, etc.) can cause hedonistic pleasure, grasping, obsession, and can cause harm
what most call negative emotions (fear, anger, apathy, etc.) can cause also become obsession, attachment, violence, etc.
but positive or negative emotions can also be used like a compass to direct you toward a good life if you can maintain mental clarity
anger meditation¶
here's a quick simple checklist before you try anger meditation, you might just have a rudimertary body problem going on
- slangry - your body might just need to sleep before meditating
- hangry - your body might just need to eat before meditating
- rangry - have you been driving in interruptive traffic or been in a vehicle a long time - this can cause road rage
- "i am angry" - are you angry? or is your body angry? see the previous meditation on being aware of awareness itself, you should never identify yourself with emotions you should stay cognizant of them without identification
- rejection - are you mentally rejecting reality? practice this meditation before attempting anger meditation because if you're rejecting something it will just exaggerate the feelings
overwhelmed¶
this type of meditation can be extremely difficult, if you have trouble with meditating on your emotions then back up
- ngondro - for overall stability attachment obsession, etc.
- awareness - if you have trouble staying objective
- shamatha - if you cannot calm down
- vipassana - if yyou take things too seriously
first you might go somewhere in public where you can find other people with extreme emotions and problems bigger than yours to put it in perspective, a courtroom, a rough neighborhood (use common sense, and stay distant and inconspicous) or something safter like a video on television
remember emotions are natural, they are life, they can also be death so this is a difficult skills that you have to cultivate with patience eventually emotions can become a useful compass
if someone is really nasty to you it's natural to get angry and