[Gem]

Originally Posted by sentient

I don’t know Gem.

Imo. everything can be turned into a meditative practice, there being no real boundary or border between mundane activity and meditation.

Exactly. Meditation is the ability to keep a mindful balance regardless of what the experience is. As part of the life-long training there is breath awareness and so on, but it soon becomes the practice of everything.

Before enlightenment - chopping wood and carrying water.
The path – chopping wood and carrying water.
After enlightenment – chopping wood and carrying water.


In Bali I loved the idea/concept that the Balinese dance is not a dance to the audience, instead it is an inward moving meditative offering to their Gods.
This leads to the idea that every act, every movement can be a meditative offering in surrender …..
.... and with that kind of integration, one’s daily life can become a 24/7 meditative flow …

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My friend from a spiritual commune in the jungles held the same belief about musical performances, so we were on the same page.
But in practice, I over time saw my friend lose his centre of meditative inward autonomy and change from a shaven headed spiritual practitioner to a dreadlocks down his ars* musical circus act for a kind of narcissist need/desire for the attention energy from the audience/fans.

The last I saw of my friend was when he was playing with 2 classical guitarists who went deep within their art and entered into “the zone” – leaving my friend outside the zone, his musical skills having deteriorated - mirroring himself through the eyes of the onlookers ….

Maybe drugs also had had something to do with the deterioration of the attention span and rhythmic coordination etc. ….. I don’t know, but what a waste.

Yet I don’t see this as a ‘moral issue’, but more like the mistakes (the free) will makes, and once we realize our mistake – it ceases to be a mistake.
A learning experience from a meditative centre to losing it and finding it again and now having an in-depth understanding of its value ….



I don’t see a reason why Buddhist monks would need to go to a ‘school of meditation’ to learn meditation – heh.

It's kinda like a master pianist continues to study music I guess.

Though Buddhists seem to encourage practitioners to gain various experiences from other schools

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I spent time looking at the various Buddhist schools around here, and I'm glad I ended up with this one, because it's quiet and has absolutely no 'bells and whistles'. I can just go to meditate and they give me a room and feed me without asking for anything in return, and, well, I don't have to shave my head and wear a uniform robe and imitate monks. Still there are dress codes like shorts have go down to the knees, you have to wear a shirt with sleeves (no shirtless or tank tops) and other stuff like no exercising like yoga, no religious practice like praying etc, no reading, writing, music or any other form of entertainment. All that suits me and there are good reasons to cut out all of those distractions so everyone gets the most benefit from their retreat. I like it, but I wouldn't suggest going to any Buddhist school. If people want to go to some place, just make sure they built their organisation on the foundations of Sila. If the teacher is, like, hugging people and stuff, allowing alcohol, and the males and females are philandering about and stuff... get out asap.