Learn to meditate this spring (How to)

Beginning meditators are babies in white, so go easy. Meditation may make one sleepy at first.

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An outfit just for practice helps.

It's spring. This is a good time, maybe the best time, to begin a regular meditation practice,. Well, actually the best time would have been seven years ago, but the second-best time is right now. Sitting can graduate to walking meditation, mindfulness in nature, then deep stillness and clarity to see things (vipassana) as they truly are.

Do the basics: Put on all white. Find a quiet spot apart from distractions. Use this spot over and over again. It becomes powerful. Set down a mat and cushion (a bundle of leaves or grass is enough to get the tailbone higher than the knees). Sit. Inhale deeply. Release. Do it again a few times, without forcing the air out. It's just about letting go completely, so completely that the body hangs as if held up by a clothing hanger, not stiff, not slack.

Straighter is more comfortable, even though it doesn't seem like it at first. Posture is important to attention. Bring (advert) the attention to the present moment, this moment, and to stay in just this moment, remain aware of the breath. Which breath? This breath, just the one happening now all by itself. Become the watcher (not the commenter, fixer, improver, slowdowner, or anything else), just the watcher. This is mindfulness -- clear awareness of the present without evaluation.

Whoa, what a trip! What was that? I want that again!

Set a time limit in advance and keep it. Even if it would be nice to go longer because it is going so well, know the time of rising. Even if it is going horribly with raving lunatic thoughts of a psychopath with lurid fantasies and wrath, lust and revenge, delusion and a lightshow, know the time of rising. The mind will thank you later.

Ten minutes is a good start time, slowly working up to an hourlong sit. That seems impossible now, but in time, whaddyaknow, it suddenly is possible. What changed? I'dunno. This practice is about persistence. It does itself and then there is no effort. The enemies of that are expectations, unsettled greed or desire for achieving something, and the Five Hindrances. They will come to hinder. They are already present. They can be overcome. But whether or not they have been overcome, persist. This is spring. This is the beginning. Have "beginner's mind" in place of the "monkey mind" that usually rules the cage. Smile. It helps.

Instructions are confusing because it's so simple.

It is easy to say that "meditation is NOT about thinking." That's clear. That's easy to see. Don't indulge thought; just let them be by turning your attention to this subtle breath that keeps changing. What is difficult to grasp is that "meditation is NOT about not-thinking." Not-thinking may happen. It doesn't matter. As that is not the goal, if it doesn't happen, it's okay. Giving attention to one object and bringing attention back and back again and again ("Begin again" as Sharon Salzberg says) is what is important.

The mind like a petulant and insolent child will resist. Let it. Bring it back. Do not scold it or become upset. Let it be. Surrender completely to this moment, whatever is in this moment, not being moved to do anything no matter what the mind says it must do. See what happens. Could the mind be wrong no matter what it feels or demands or insists is true?

How did Siddhartha Gautama do it?

We'll never see things as they really are so long as we keep believing that we already are seeing them that way. We have never been seeing them that way. If we had, we'd awaken. We'd be enlightened, which is to say, Dependent Origination would make sense. And it doesn't, does it? (Hint: It's a practice, not a theory). That's a whole different kind of meditation called insight (vipassana) after getting good at this kind, which is called serenity (samatha). Don't jump ahead. Let it go. (If all else fails, sign up for a free 10-day Goenka retreat. Everyone should do at least one in life).

• Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jen Bradford, Wisdom Quarterly

John Lear: You can't handle the truth? (video)

John Lear (TLM); Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

John Lear Tells All (Part 1 of 4)

(May 1, 2008) John Lear in a Project Camelot interview (projectcamelot.org/john_lear) from Las Vegas, April 2008. Now some may be asking why so many airlines collapsed that John Lear (therealjohnlear.com, thelivingmoon.com) worked for and why he got fired so many times. His excuse is simple:

• Newton is wrong: The truth about gravity

Pegasus (thelivingmoon.com)

I am not the brightest crayon in the box. I am extremely lazy. I have a smart mouth and a real poor f---ing attitude. John Lear is incorrigible and funloving, with a great sense of humor that has served him well over these many years.

This 2006 interview with John Lear remains a favorite. When he had considerably more time at his disposal than two years before, Lear piled his table high with books, diagrams, and research papers and sat down to tell "everything he knew."

With special emphasis on the Bob Lazar saga,there is coverage of the inconsistencies in some 911 theories and why, as a world-renowned pilot, he is uniquely qualified to judge what kind of planes, if any, hit the World Trade Center. (Answer: none. Lear explains why we know they were holograms).

The moon's gravity may be as much as 64% that of Earth's, so it could retain a very thin atmosphere. Ben Rich, the former director of Lockheed's skunk works, was an Israeli Mossad agent. The location of the "new Area 51," called Sandia, is deep in the Nevada desert. What really happened at Above Top Secret, an Internet forum, where he was attacked and which he has subsequently left. Much more is also covered.

There's nothing here about 2012 or "Planet X" -- both of which Lear dismisses. But he is entertaining and fascinating as he reports in detail. He reveals experiences and opinions and is someone who deserves to be respected and admired for his courage, character, and maverick commitment to revealing the truth.

• Contact Project Camelot's Bill Ryan and Kerry Cassidy at the e-mail: support@projectcamelot.org
• VIDEO: Wait, who cares about John Lear?

Five Good Powers

WQ edit of Nyanaponika Thera's 1970 translation (BPS)*

Meditative development of five powers (Photo: energyenhancement.org)

Five Powers of those in Higher Training

"Recluses, there are Five Powers of of one in Higher Training [Note 1] What are those five? The trainer's power of:

• Confidence
• Shame-in-wrongdoing
• Moral dread
• Energy
• Wisdom

"What is the Power of Confidence? Recluses, herein [this Dharma] a noble disciple has conviction: One believes in the enlightenment of the Blessed One. 'This, indeed, is a Tathagata, purified, fully enlightened, endowed with [clear] vision and [pure] behavior, sublime, knower of worlds, incomparable trainer of those to be tamed, teacher of devas and human beings, awakened, and blessed.'

"What is the Power of Shame-in-Wrongdoing? Recluses, herein a noble disciple has a pull of conscience: One feels reservations in deeds, words, and thoughts; one anticipates shame at the mere thought of anything harmful or unwholesome [n.2].

"What is the Power of Moral Dread? Recluses, herein a noble disciple contracts with apprehension at the very notion of unskillful behavior of body, speech, or mind; one experiences trepidation at even the thought of doing anything harmful or unwholesome.

"What is the Power of Energy? Recluses, herein a noble disciple lives with drive and motivation set upon the abandoning of everything unbeneficial and the acquiring of every that's of benefit; one is steadfast and strong in one's efforts, not shirking the task of doing things that are skillful.

"What is the Power of Wisdom? Recluses, herein a noble disciple is discerning; one is furnished with that knowing and seeing which perceives the rise and fall [of phenomena], which is noble and penetrating, and leads to the complete destruction of suffering [n.3].

"Recluses, these are the Five Powers of those in Higher Training. Hence, O recluses, you are wise to train yourselves: 'We will acquire the powers of conviction, conscience, trepidation, motivation, and vision possessed by those in higher training!' Thus would it benefit you to train yourselves!"

NOTES

1. Sekha-bala: Bala means "powers." A sekha ("one in training" or "a learner") is one who, in the pursuit of the three kinds of training (or sikkha in Virtue, Meditation, and liberating-Wisdom) has attained one of the four supramundane "Paths" (magga, i.e., Stream-entry, Once-returning, Non-returning, or Arhatship). Or it is someone who has attained to one of the three "Fruitions" (phala) pertaining to these Paths. Anyone who has attained the Fourth Fruition -- namely, full enlightenment -- is called an Asekkha, "one who has passed beyond the need of further training."
2. Whereas shame (hiri) with regard to wrongdoing is motivated by self-respect and is inward-looking, dread (ottappa) with regard to wrongdoing is outward-looking and motivated by respect for others. It is prompted by fear of social consequences such as blame, bad reputation, and punishment.
3. AN V.12 says: "Of these Five Powers of one in Higher Training, this is the highest, this is the one that hold them all together, namely, the power of wisdom."

(AN V.2 = Anguttara Nikaya or "The Discourse Collection in Numerical Order, Book of the Fives, Discourse 2")