My friends question was quit shocking to me; she wanted to know how to practice detachment from the death of her mother who died when she was 16 years old.
My immediate reaction was “What are you trying to detach from?”
Our teacher told us a story that remained me of this one:
There is a story told of a Zen master who is weeping after the death of his child. His disciple finds him weeping and says ,"But master, you have told us it’s all illusion."
“Yes," replies the master “And the death of one’s child is the most painful illusion of all."
I spoke with my friend after the class has ended. We spoke of ways of practicing detachment from the deep and evolved feeling and concept of death.
One of our teacher’s suggestions for practicing meditation was to start with a gross objects (he suggested a bottle of FIJI Water) and not subtle ones that are more of a concept like Love or Compassion. In the same mater I suggested practicing detachment on less conceptual subjects of death like Lost and Body.
Practice detachment from object that you feel very attached to, practice giving them up, leaving them behind, that is a first step to practice of detachment of loss.
Death of our body is related to the feelings of ownership that we have to our bodies, practicing detachment from that, from the vanity that we feel to our bodies, and our reactions to the immediate sensation of our bodies is the first step to the practice of detachment from our bodies.
The practice of Yoga (I use this here as the physical practice) is a great place to examine that feeling. As you move on and off your matt during your practice you will feel joy and pain. These feelings will pass, and you will be left with the results of your practice. The practice end with Shavasana or Corpse Pose, where we fully detach from our bodies.
Our bodies and mind learn that the sensation pass, and we are left with are benefits (which you should dedicate to the universe, but we can talk about that another time.)
So when you are practicing detachment, or anything else from a very subtle concept, that you find too large in magnitude to deal with, you may find these ideas helpful:
One, Choose a “grosser” subject to work on (instead of loss of life choose loss of objects); Two, choose a related subject for your intention (instead of loss of body in death choose sensation of the body.)
“Your practice will not free you from pain, which is part of human experience, but will free you from the suffering that grows out of grasping and clinging, out of wanting things to be different than they are. Your practice will give you the balance of wisdom and compassion, wisdom to see just how things are and compassion to keep your heart open with things as they are. I pause.”
My immediate reaction was “What are you trying to detach from?”
Our teacher told us a story that remained me of this one:
There is a story told of a Zen master who is weeping after the death of his child. His disciple finds him weeping and says ,"But master, you have told us it’s all illusion."
“Yes," replies the master “And the death of one’s child is the most painful illusion of all."
I spoke with my friend after the class has ended. We spoke of ways of practicing detachment from the deep and evolved feeling and concept of death.
One of our teacher’s suggestions for practicing meditation was to start with a gross objects (he suggested a bottle of FIJI Water) and not subtle ones that are more of a concept like Love or Compassion. In the same mater I suggested practicing detachment on less conceptual subjects of death like Lost and Body.
Practice detachment from object that you feel very attached to, practice giving them up, leaving them behind, that is a first step to practice of detachment of loss.
Death of our body is related to the feelings of ownership that we have to our bodies, practicing detachment from that, from the vanity that we feel to our bodies, and our reactions to the immediate sensation of our bodies is the first step to the practice of detachment from our bodies.
The practice of Yoga (I use this here as the physical practice) is a great place to examine that feeling. As you move on and off your matt during your practice you will feel joy and pain. These feelings will pass, and you will be left with the results of your practice. The practice end with Shavasana or Corpse Pose, where we fully detach from our bodies.
Our bodies and mind learn that the sensation pass, and we are left with are benefits (which you should dedicate to the universe, but we can talk about that another time.)
So when you are practicing detachment, or anything else from a very subtle concept, that you find too large in magnitude to deal with, you may find these ideas helpful:
One, Choose a “grosser” subject to work on (instead of loss of life choose loss of objects); Two, choose a related subject for your intention (instead of loss of body in death choose sensation of the body.)
“Your practice will not free you from pain, which is part of human experience, but will free you from the suffering that grows out of grasping and clinging, out of wanting things to be different than they are. Your practice will give you the balance of wisdom and compassion, wisdom to see just how things are and compassion to keep your heart open with things as they are. I pause.”
1 comment:
Great post!
Thank you for sharing!
Post a Comment