Meditation is Powerful

     “As you go deeper into your practice, there will be times of great inner tension followed by release to the point of weeping. If you have not experienced this at least several times, you have not yet really practiced.”
        Kornfield J, Breiter P. A still forest pool. The insight meditation of Achaan Chah. Quest Books, Wheaton IL, 1985.

     Meditation practice does bring about de-repression of psychological material, where repressed, often emotionally-charged material, comes to the surface. This tends to happen gradually, so the meditator accommodates to his/her gradually increasing awareness & acceptance. However, it can occur suddenly, which can be traumatic.
       Willoughby Britton PhD studies the Adverse Effects in Meditation:
         http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/06/the-dark-knight-of-the-souls/372766/


     Our task is to discover a freedom that's independent of all circumstances & times.
       Kornfield J, Breiter P. A still forest pool. The insight meditation of Achaan Chah. Quest Books, Wheaton IL, 1985.
 

Curtis Steele   www.cheerfuleye.com

Joy is Available Right Now - Forget Happiness

     "Life is tough, but when you see & accept what is actually happening, even if it is very difficult or painful, mind and body relax. There is an exquisite quality that comes from just experiencing what arises, completely, with no separation between awareness & experience."

       Ken McLeod. "Forget Happiness. Commentary on two verses from Tokme Zongpo's Thirty-seven Practices of a Bodhisattva." Tricycle, Spring 2014 

     See "Post-traumatic growth": http://www.johnlovas.com/2012/01/post-traumatic-growth.html

Nick_Brisbane   www.dpreview.com

Direct Intimacy with Daily Life

     "Suddenly I was experiencing the vitality and immediacy of life itself - in the flowers, the people, the clamor of traffic - without the walls of resistance that human beings are heir to.
     What is this resistance? Why do we again and again resist our feelings of joy or happiness or love? We don't do it intentionally, but our conditioning, our habits of mind, and our culture all seem to work to build up the walls between what we naturally feel and what we allow ourselves to feel. Ironically, it is often the times when we are forced to feel intensely - times of grief, or physical pain - that catapult us into feeling joy. That is why we often hear people say they are grateful for the losses or difficulties they have encountered. They are grateful because the shock forced them into an intimacy with life that had been hidden from them. Intimacy seems hidden, but it is actually available to us all the time: in the world we inhabit with people, in the natural world, in our work, and in all our relationships. Once we are willing to be directly intimate with our life as it arises, joy emerges our of the simplest of life experiences."

       Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara "Simple Joy. Becoming Intimate with all of Life's Circumstances." Tricycle, Spring 2014 

William McIntosh   http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtsacprof/

Clouds Passing Through An Empty Sky

     "If you become involved with these visions,
      you may wander for a long time confused....
      Let them pass through your consciousness
      like clouds passing through an empty sky."

                                                                                                   Tibetan Book of the Dead

       Collins S. To the Light. A Journey through Buddhist Asia. WW Norton & Co, NY, 2003.

evancj   www.dpreview.com

Visions Experienced During Meditation

     "The visions you experience exist within your consciousness,
      the forms they take are determined by your past attachments,
      your past desires, your past fears, your past karma.
      These visions have no reality outside your consciousness ...
      Let them pass."

                                                                                                   Tibetan Book of the Dead

       Collins S. To the Light. A Journey through Buddhist Asia. WW Norton & Co, NY, 2003.

Anderl   www.dpreview.com

Pure Clear White Light

     "Remember the clear light, the pure clear white light from which
      everything in the universe comes, to which everything in the
      universe returns, the original nature of your own mind.
      The natural state of the universe unmanifest."
                                                                      Tibetan Book of the Dead

       Collins S. To the Light. A Journey through Buddhist Asia. WW Norton & Co, NY, 2003.

     See: http://www.johnlovas.com/2012/08/reality-hot-knife-against-your-cheek.html

PicOne   www.dpreview.com

Attitude, Virtue, our Way of Being

     "The perfume of flowers goes not against the wind,
      not even the perfume of sandalwood, of rose-bay, or of jasmine,
      but the perfume of virtue travels against the wind
      and reaches unto the ends of the world."
                                                                         Dhammapada 4.54

       Collins S. To the Light. A Journey through Buddhist Asia. WW Norton & Co, NY, 2003.

beetle1   www.dpreview.com