Showing posts with label Buddhist Spirituality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buddhist Spirituality. Show all posts
Spirituality is the Chaos of Daily Life
My favorite time of day is noon.
I’m usually in the living room hunched over my laptop, promoting my book or working on an article. Then suddenly my single-pointed focus is interrupted. A loud scream rips me away from my computer. I immediately feel irritated.
I want to finish what I’m working on: write one more paragraph, make one more change, just get to a good stopping point. But that cry will not be ignored. It pierces my concentration.
I put my work aside and make my way down the hall. As soon as I open the door that cry is transformed into an innocent laugh. My frustration falls away. I crawl in the bed with my two-year-old son. He lies next to me smiling, but only for a second before he starts climbing on top of me.
There is nowhere else I would rather be. This is my favorite time of the day.
All of the world’s great spiritual traditions agree that self-centeredness is at the root of human suffering. And they all provide us with practices meant to peel us away from our identification with the false self. Meditation, prayer, yoga, self-examination, and study all help dissolve our delusion and shine the light of awareness on the false-self.
But daily life is the only practice I have encountered that ruthlessly slaps at our self-grasping hand. This is particularly true of relationships.
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| Order Finding God in the Body by Benjamin Riggs on Amazon.com |
Spirituality is an ambiguous word. I define it as “a resonant mythos infused with an actionable path of self-analysis, prayer, and meditation that enables us to transcend the false-self system and reconnect with the vitality of the body.”
In short, spirituality is concerned with one thing and one thing only: transcending the ego.
This can happen in meditation, prayer, savasana. It can happen while we are walking, running, or studying. But it can also happen while we are loading the dish washer, cutting the grass, or arguing with our spouse—if we are present and willing to respond with authenticity. The moment of awakening might be heralded in by a honking horn or a crying baby, rather than a meditation bell or a choir of angels.
There is more than one way to skin a Buddha.
The Tantric traditions of India—Buddhist and Hindu—have long understood the immense spiritual potential packed into daily life. In these traditions it is the moms and dads, the husbands and wives, the shopkeepers and farmers that are venerated, not the monk or the recluse.
Unfortunately, daily life is too often seen as an obstacle to spiritual growth, rather than the path itself. Perhaps our spouse says something that pushes our button or our child is being especially needy that day. We become impatient. Anger and frustration start bubbling up. The ego’s tendency is to blame the other. It lays our feelings at their feet. It says that our frustration is the result of their behavior. This leaves us feeling stuck.
Blame chains us to our misery, waiting on the other to change their ways so we can be happy.
The truth is that our feelings are the result of our own self-clinging. Circumstances expose the ego. They point out the areas of our life the ego has claimed.
When my child wakes up from his nap and his cries pull me away from my work, I’m only frustrated because I am identified with that work. I have become hyper-focused on that work. In the Buddhist tradition, we would say I’m living in the animal realm—piggishly pressing forward with blinders on that blot out everything except for the mud hole my ego is wallowing in.
In my case, it is doubly interesting because I am most likely writing about spirituality when all of this happens, which means I’m looking at the finger and not the moon. I am focused on the words but have forgotten their meaning.
Spiritual practice is about letting go of the ego. When daily life exposes our self-grasping tendencies, we are granted an opportunity to actually practice spiritual principles. In that moment, a portal opens. If we choose to drop our self-centered narrative and step through that gate, we discover our path.
Spirituality does not exist independent of our suffering. The Buddha said as much in the First Noble Truth. “Our path” is like a series of stepping stones that appear the moment we become aware of our shortcomings. What we call obstacles, pitfalls, and shortcomings, the Buddha calls the spiritual path.
Spiritual principles do not exist in a vacuum. They are born into the world through our actions and daily life is our midwife. Take patience as an example. In order to practice patience, there must be an asshole trying our nerves. When someone pushes our buttons they are inviting us onto our path. Without impatience the practice of patience is just a simulation. This is true of all spiritual principles.
We cannot practice generosity without a needy person—whether that be a toddler or a beggar—demanding something of us that we cling to. Morality is little more than a self-righteous façade without the presence of temptation. It is temptation that invites us to move beyond self-will by affording us the occasion to do what is right, regardless of whether we stand to profit from it or not.
We often think of freedom as the ability to do whatever we want, whenever we want. This is not freedom. It is bondage. It is the bondage of ego.
True freedom is found in freedom from self. When we are free of the ego we are no longer reactive. If, when our buttons are pressed, we move beyond the petulant, self-centered narrative between our ears, down into the silence of body, we will discover the power to meet anger with loving-kindness, fear with courage, temptation with character, and our frustrations with patience.
This is spiritual growth. Growth doesn’t happen in the safe and quiet space of bedroom. We cultivate the capacity to let go during our formal practice, but true growth happens in relationship.
Meditation, prayer, and yoga are all practices—and practice is essential—but daily life is where the rubber meets the road.
Practice pulls back the veil a bit. It enables us to glimpse the truth of selflessness, but that truth is born into the world through our actions. It is in daily life, in relationship—when we are caught up in self clinging—then and only then, are we afforded the opportunity to let go.
We cannot practice letting go, unless we are holding onto something. Anytime we are disturbed—whether we are angry, depressed, jealous, afraid, obsessed, or bored—it is because we are clinging to ego. This clinging is not only the cause of our suffering, it is the only thing that prevents us from reconnecting with our True Life. And we are often unaware of this clinginess until something tries to pry open our hand. So when we step off of the cushion or the mat and into our daily life, we are passing through the eye of the needle. We are stepping onto the path and on the spiritual path, the meditation bell sounds more like a crying child or a beggar asking for a dollar.
I will close with a relevant excerpt from my book Finding God in the Body: A Spiritual Path for the Modern West:
“Relationships are difficult because they demand that we give of our Self. This is hard because the false-self is selfish. It wants to avoid discomfort and clings to immediate gratification. Creative love matures us by reminding us that we cannot hope to grow into our True Self without something demanding our false-self in return.
“The resurrection of our True Life is proportionate to the death of our inauthentic life. The false-self is incapable of accepting this truth. It is bound to itself. Love is free to accept this maxim. This is the power of love to endure all things: marriage, divorce, success, failure, friendship, rivalries, heartache, and death. The freedom of love enables us to adapt to life’s changing circumstances. From the point of view of creative love, there are no problems, only opportunities. If the problem can be solved it is not a problem, just something for you to work with; if it can’t be solved, it is not a problem, just something to accept and move on. Creative love sees everything as workable.”
Suffering and Spiritual Practice
Excerpt from Finding God in the Body: A Spiritual Path for the Modern West
"Wanting to stop does not lead to transformation. What is an addiction apart from the perpetuation of an unwanted behavior? The idea that swearing off overcomes suffering is an adult version of the adolescent attitude that, following our first break-up declares, “Love stinks! I will never date again.” We are trying to protect ourselves from pain instead of listening to it. “I am done,” means, “I am out of here!” This is the point of departure. It is where we turn away from life."
Spiritual practice enables us to turn into our suffering, to accept it. Meditation, prayer, and self-examination enable us to work with our suffering. This work is redemptive. It is transformative.
~ Quote from Chapter One: The Truth of Suffering, Finding God in the Body
Politics and Spirituality
Erected between the Church and the State is a "Wall of Separation."
But within the envelope of my skin, there is no line of demarcation segregating politics and spirituality.
We do not live in a totalitarian state. As members of a democratic society, we have a civic duty. Our government is held in check by "we the people." In a democratic system of government, politics is just another aspect of daily living.
Spirituality is not an other-worldly affair. It is a principled worldview coupled with a system of practice that orients our whole being to the world in which we live.
Politics is not a distraction from spirituality, but one aspect of daily life with which spirituality is deeply concerned.
Saying that politics is a distraction from spirituality is like saying relationships or work are obstacles to spiritual practice. They aren't obstacles, they are opportunities for our spirituality to be born into the world. Segregating politics and spirituality is an attempt to closet your spirituality—to shield it from things that push your buttons, rather than turning into your struggles and learning to move beyond stress, fear, and anger.
We are not called to hide behind a vapid smile or to look the other way. Any spirituality that hides behind a distraction is not a spirituality but a defense mechanism. It is spiritual bypassing not spiritual practice. This is true regardless of whether our practice is rooted in Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, or lacks religious affiliation.
Gandhi once wrote, "Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is...Indeed, religion should pervade every one of our actions. Here religion does not mean sectarianism. It means a belief in ordered moral government of the universe. It is not less real because it is unseen. This religion transcends Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, etc. It does not supersede them. It harmonizes them and gives them reality."
A living spirituality is politically conscious and engaged but not obsessed. And this is the catch.
It is hard to be mindful and politically engaged at the same time. It is difficult to watch the news or read the papers without getting wrapped up in it, especially this day-and-age with a 24 hr news cycle and a controversial President that dominates every minute of that cycle.
Mindfulness and activism often feel mutually exclusive. But uniting the two is our path. We have to root our politics in mindfulness and silence. If we fail to do this, we will either neglect our civic responsibility or our politics will be tainted with fear and aggression.
You can be present and centered while protesting or voicing concern—Dorthy Day, Gandhi, King, Thich Nhat Hanh, and the Dalai Lama are perfect examples.
While the basic outline of spirituality remains unchanged, the terrain that path must traverse changes with each generation. And it is no accident that these great icons of mindful activism have come before us, showing us the way. They have outlined the path before us. Their activism is rooted in prayer and meditation.
Venturing into the realm of politics without tethering the mind to reality is the way of madness.
Meditation anchors the mind in the present moment. But it is not enough to sit every morning. Mindful activism is meditation in action. We have to bring the principles of meditation—letting go and returning to the simplicity of the present moment—into our daily life. In the presence of injustice, we often feel fear, anger, and aggression. But we must disown the fear, anger, and aggression, not the awareness of injustice, which is grounded in reality.
Our conscience must rise above our fear of confrontation. We have to speak truth to power. Our words must not be weighted down by anger and resentment.
Politics devoid of compassion is just another way to vent resentment. And our body politic is already saturated with resentment. Prayer connects the mind and the heart, melting away resentment. William James wrote in Varieties of Religious Experience, "Religion is nothing if it be not the vital act by which the entire mind seeks to save itself by clinging to the principle from which it draws its life. This act is prayer." And the heart is the principle from which the mind draws life. But once again it is not enough to pray only in the morning. We have to see aggression as a reminder to pray throughout the day. When are afraid or angry, we have to pray for those that arouse our bitterness. We have to pray for those in need. Prayer gets us out of our head, out of our self-centered mind. It awakens the spirit of selflessness and sanity.
Spirituality reminds us that it is our responsibility to be a voice of sanity, a light unto the world. I say that not with a condescending tone, but with an awareness that I too must work harder to bring mindfulness, compassion, and sanity into my politics. Politics is a sticky subject. It is easy to get caught up in politics. But the spiritual path always cuts through our obstacles. It never goes around them. This is the path we in the era of Trump must trudge and we have to do it together.
Part of doing it together is holding each other accountable. When we see someone with good intentions lash-out or become disrespectful, it is important to point that out to them. We have to remind them that how they say it is every bit as important as what they say. Yes, we are obligated to speak the truth, but we are also obligated to do that in a skillful manner. If we oppose hate, then we have to oppose it even when it is attached to a message that we agree with because hate--in any form--only adds to the problems that we face as a nation. Hate is not the counter-measure for injustice. As Martin Luther King said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
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Also available on iTunes: http://apple.co/2lK4hb4
Life is But A Dream—That is, Until We Wake Up!
“If I am called to solitude, it is, I think, to unlearn all tension, and get rid of the strain that has always falsified me in the presence of others and put harshness into the words of my mind.” ~ Thomas Merton
As modern people, we often feel stuck between our ears.
We don’t experience the world as it is. Rather, we think about it. This cuts us off from the vitality of the present moment. We feel disembodied, discontented, lifeless, which gives rise to insecurity.Kleshas are emotionally charged thoughts. They aren't innocent thoughts like, “Why are donuts round?” or “I wonder why turtles are green?” They are thoughts that push our buttons, like “I wonder if she likes me?” or “Do I look fat in this dress?”
Kleshas prey on our insecurities. They trigger our fears and before long our mind is worked into a frenzy. We start thinking about our own thoughts. “I wonder if she likes me,” we think casually. “I’ll give her a call.” No answer. Half hour goes by; we check our phone a half dozen times. No response. Another hour goes by, “Maybe she didn't noticed I called; I’ll call her back." No answer. “She’s probably with Michael. It’s obvious she likes Michael. That son of a bitch. Every time I like a girl he does this. To hell with the both of them!”
The first thought pushes our button, triggering an inbred cycle of thought. The second thought, thinks about the first thought; the third about the second. And we carry on in this way until we are five, ten, twenty thoughts removed from the present moment. Each successive thought pushes the insecurity button again. We are like a caged rat in a scientific experiment, except we aren’t getting cocaine; we’re getting fear and anger—a great big ole helpin’ of adrenaline.
So our thoughts begin racing. As our thoughts gain momentum, much like a ceiling fan, they no longer look like individual blades spinning in space. They look like a solid disk. We begin to mistake the story between our ears for reality. We start hallucinating. And to make matters worse, we make decisions based on this hallucination.
We pick up our phone and shoot her a text message saying, “I don't deserve this. You should at least call me back or tell me you’re not interested.” Then we see her response: “WTF?! What are you talking about? I’m visiting my mom this weekend and can’t talk right now. Psycho much?” Suddenly our thought bubble is popped and we are plunged from our dream world back into reality. We feel lathered in embarrassment, which pushes our buttons, cuing up the same insecure thought process. It is a vicious cycle.
A similar process occurs when we go to sleep. We dream up all kinds of fantastic scenarios. We go on magical quests, great adventures, or have nightmares about being attacked by lions or crocodiles. However, when we wake up in the morning, we know they were just dreams. In our dream, the lion is a mirage or a hallucination. Interestingly enough, in dreams, so are we. The body running from the lion is not our “real body.” Just like the lion, it was a mental construct. And so is the act of running. Subject, object, and verb—the whole scenario—are an hallucination.
So it is with day dreaming or the stressful narrative many of us feel stuck in.
This does not mean that nothing is real. There is a dream-like image that we hold over our experience. This is what we think about the world. It is our commentary on reality. Often times, we mistake what we think about the world for the world itself. And when we do, we cut ourselves off from the basic awareness of the body and migrate up into the head where we live as a false-self.
When we observe our mind, we see that the immediacy of our True Life is veiled by a dream-like overlay. This conceptual veneer is comprised of various thoughts. The mind thinks about its own thoughts until that conceptual cloud becomes so dense that the light of basic awareness no longer breaks through.
Meditation practice enables us to break through this cloud by slowing thought down. We bring our awareness to the breath, which is anchored in the present moment. When we notice our mind drifting off, we return to the present moment by reconnecting with the experience of the breath. We use the breath to break the cycle of thinking about our own thoughts. As a result, the mind settles. Thought no longer looks like a solid disk. We see the gap between each propeller. The light of basic awareness shines through that gap. This is called a spiritual experience. And such experiences are transformative. If we do this every day, we can actually unlearn this habit of consciousness.
If you are interested in learning more about meditation and contemplative spirituality, check out my book, Finding God in the Body: A Spiritual Path for the Modern West. It draws from a variety of different traditions—including Buddhism, contemplative Christianity, Judaism, and 12 Step spirituality—to present, not a smorgasbord, but a synthesized and actionable path structure that resonates with the modern Western mind. Click here to learn more about Finding God in the Body: A Spiritual Path for the Modern West.
Finding God in the Body by Benjamin Riggs: Book Trailer
Finding God in the Body draws from a variety of traditions—Buddhism, Contemplative Christianity, Judaism, and 12 Step spirituality—to offer a modern, synthesized view that resonates with the Western mind and binds that view to deep and affecting spiritual practices that enables us to experience the God of the body.
Order your copy today (available in paperback/kindle):
- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692760229
- CreateSpace (less money to Amazon, more to author): https://www.createspace.com/6447902
Below is an excerpt from Chapter 12, The Freedom to Love:
“On the spiritual path, we will fall short many times. It is easy to become impatient, frustrated, and overwhelmed. That is why love is so important. Love sees life in everything. It recognizes the life that abides within every creature. This recognition begets respect. Love is patient, kind, and endures all things, as anyone who has attended a wedding knows. Our knowledge, plans, and strategies will reach their wit’s end, but love never tires.“One day, while watching my favorite television show, The Office, I heard those famous words of St. Paul’s yet again but this time with new ears because I was holding my newborn son. As I looked at him and heard, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love,” I understood. For the first time, I understood.“In that moment, I knew: I knew that I could read every book in the world and make plans from now until the end of time, but my knowledge would be exhausted and my plans would fall short. No strategy and no amount of preparation could ever get me to the finish line. The only thing that remained was love. Only my love for him can bear the hardships and difficulties that our relationship will bring to the surface. Only my love for him can overcome my impatience and arrogance. Only my love for him can guide him without trying to bend him to my will. Only love is humble enough to teach him how to think without teaching him what to think. For only the eye of love sees him as his own person and only love is selfless enough to grant him the space he needs to grow into that person. Love is the only voice within me honest enough to admit that he does not belong to me.”
Ellen Haroutunian Reviews Finding God in the Body by Ben Riggs
Ellen Haroutunian recently reviewed Finding God in the Body.
I am grateful to Ellen and excited to share her thoughts with you. Click here to read the review in its entirety.
Here is an excerpt: "Through years of studying with contemplative spiritual teachers, I have read many, many books designed to help the restless modern mind. I was not expecting much different from this one. However, with sagacious thought and clever (if rambling) prose, Ben Riggs aptly describes many of the more difficult and ineffable concepts of the contemplative spiritual path with clarity and singular perception. It reads as part memoir, part philosophy primer and part wise mystical guide. It is a deep labyrinth of richness."
Click here to purchase Kindle or paperback on Amazon.
10 Steps to a More Fulfilling Meditation Practice
Meditation in Plain English.
We learn to touch the ground of being by letting go of our neurotic tendency to identify with impermanent, external phenomena.
Our state of mind is changing from one moment to the next. With the thought of something attractive we become excited. When we encounter something undesirable we become defensive. Regardless of whether the thought is pleasant or unpleasant our state of mind is affected. States of mind are like weather conditions, they are constantly in a state of fluctuation. This instability gives rise to paranoia. We feel like we have to monitor the environment for changing conditions. We invest a great deal of time and energy seeking out advantageous situations and trying to avoid unpleasant circumstances.
This paranoia breeds speed and chaos. It puts us at odds with our environment. We find ourselves in conflict with those who do not meet our expectations and clinging to those relationships that satisfy our demands. But no one wants to be pushed away or held hostage, so conflict is inevitable outcome. Our tendency to grasp at our thoughts as solid or real is the cause of this. The problem is not the relationship itself; rather it is our tenancy to categorize these relationships as permanent phenomena and the subsequent attachment that gives to our troubles.
We have misunderstood the nature of thought. We relate to thought as if it were a solid, objective reality; rather than our subjective commentary on an ever-changing world. So the problem lies not in thought itself, but in the way that we relate to thought. We crave the false security and the illusion of certainty generated by our conceptual map of the territory. In other words, we addicted to thought. We think about our own thoughts until we a re hundreds of thoughts removed from the present moment.
In meditation, we are not looking to stop our thought processes. In fact, we are not really looking for anything in particular. We are simply observing. As Thich Naht Hahn says “It is a practice of looking deeply.” We just watch. In simple observation, two developments take place. First, we change the way we relate to thought. We do this by loosening our grip on thought. When we catch ourselves clinging to thought we simply return to the breath, to the present moment. We are letting go of the tendency to cling to thought by thinking about thought, and as a result we are no longer working toward preordained conclusions. In this way, we reconnect with the life of the body, the present moment.
No longer working toward preconceived conclusions opens the door to new discoveries. As we divest in dualistic thinking the apparent solidity of thought dissolves. This development takes place as the speed of mentation diminishes. Ordinarily, one thought grabs a hold of the next thought so quickly that it creates the illusion of permanence or solidity. This dynamic could be compared to an airplane propeller. When the propeller is spinning at top speed it appears to be a solid disk, but when the engine slows down the disk is revealed to be several propellers. Similarly, when thought ceases to cling to itself the solidity melts away and chaos is minimized. We discover the gap between each thought. This gap is the basic awareness of the body. Resting in this gap is the practice of meditation. Rather than chasing after each emerging thought, we sit in the stillness of the body and watch as thoughts pass by like clouds in the sky.
The path of meditation co-emerges with the path that gives rise to suffering. The spiritual path is nothing more than walking backwards down the path of suffering. In this case, discontentment refers to the gulf between us and meaningful content. We feel separate or apart from life, and therefore lifeless or dis-eased. There is a void or a "hole in our soul," so to speak. Shamatha {Sanskrit} meditation is the practice of peaceful abiding. Shama means “to pacify” or “peace”. Tha means “to abide.” Shamatha meditation is not about beating the mind into submission. It is about reconnecting with and learning to abide in the depths of our being.
Below are the instructions for aligning the body. This should be done first, and then we should align the mind by following the instructions for placing the mind. In placing the mind we are consenting to the body. If this posture is uncomfortable for you, sitting in a chair will be fine, but be sure to bring the basic principles of the posture into the chair.
Our state of mind is changing from one moment to the next. With the thought of something attractive we become excited. When we encounter something undesirable we become defensive. Regardless of whether the thought is pleasant or unpleasant our state of mind is affected. States of mind are like weather conditions, they are constantly in a state of fluctuation. This instability gives rise to paranoia. We feel like we have to monitor the environment for changing conditions. We invest a great deal of time and energy seeking out advantageous situations and trying to avoid unpleasant circumstances.
This paranoia breeds speed and chaos. It puts us at odds with our environment. We find ourselves in conflict with those who do not meet our expectations and clinging to those relationships that satisfy our demands. But no one wants to be pushed away or held hostage, so conflict is inevitable outcome. Our tendency to grasp at our thoughts as solid or real is the cause of this. The problem is not the relationship itself; rather it is our tenancy to categorize these relationships as permanent phenomena and the subsequent attachment that gives to our troubles.
We have misunderstood the nature of thought. We relate to thought as if it were a solid, objective reality; rather than our subjective commentary on an ever-changing world. So the problem lies not in thought itself, but in the way that we relate to thought. We crave the false security and the illusion of certainty generated by our conceptual map of the territory. In other words, we addicted to thought. We think about our own thoughts until we a re hundreds of thoughts removed from the present moment.
In meditation, we are not looking to stop our thought processes. In fact, we are not really looking for anything in particular. We are simply observing. As Thich Naht Hahn says “It is a practice of looking deeply.” We just watch. In simple observation, two developments take place. First, we change the way we relate to thought. We do this by loosening our grip on thought. When we catch ourselves clinging to thought we simply return to the breath, to the present moment. We are letting go of the tendency to cling to thought by thinking about thought, and as a result we are no longer working toward preordained conclusions. In this way, we reconnect with the life of the body, the present moment.
No longer working toward preconceived conclusions opens the door to new discoveries. As we divest in dualistic thinking the apparent solidity of thought dissolves. This development takes place as the speed of mentation diminishes. Ordinarily, one thought grabs a hold of the next thought so quickly that it creates the illusion of permanence or solidity. This dynamic could be compared to an airplane propeller. When the propeller is spinning at top speed it appears to be a solid disk, but when the engine slows down the disk is revealed to be several propellers. Similarly, when thought ceases to cling to itself the solidity melts away and chaos is minimized. We discover the gap between each thought. This gap is the basic awareness of the body. Resting in this gap is the practice of meditation. Rather than chasing after each emerging thought, we sit in the stillness of the body and watch as thoughts pass by like clouds in the sky.
The path of meditation co-emerges with the path that gives rise to suffering. The spiritual path is nothing more than walking backwards down the path of suffering. In this case, discontentment refers to the gulf between us and meaningful content. We feel separate or apart from life, and therefore lifeless or dis-eased. There is a void or a "hole in our soul," so to speak. Shamatha {Sanskrit} meditation is the practice of peaceful abiding. Shama means “to pacify” or “peace”. Tha means “to abide.” Shamatha meditation is not about beating the mind into submission. It is about reconnecting with and learning to abide in the depths of our being.
Below are the instructions for aligning the body. This should be done first, and then we should align the mind by following the instructions for placing the mind. In placing the mind we are consenting to the body. If this posture is uncomfortable for you, sitting in a chair will be fine, but be sure to bring the basic principles of the posture into the chair.
Placing the Body :
- Sit in the crossed legged position
- Place your hands, palms down on your thighs.
- Roll your hips forward in order to straighten the back and center the weight on the hips.
- Pull your shoulders back slightly.
- Look straight forward, forming a 90 degree angle w/ the neck and chin.
- Allow your eyes to come to a soft gaze or close them, if you prefer.
- Place your tongue in the roof of your mouth behind your two front teeth.
- Take a few moments and feel your body resting on the earth. Allow your awareness to be in the body.
Placing the Mind :
- Connect with the coolness of the in-breath at the tip of your nose. Allow the breath to guide your awareness into the body, feeling your chest and abdomen expand with the inhalation. Notice the gap between the in-breath and out-breath. Feel the stomach and lungs collapse with the exhalation. Notice the warmth of the out-breath.
- Do not analyze the breath—simply notice it. Do not try to control the breath or breathe in any certain way; just pay undivided attention to the sensation of the breath as you inhale and exhale.
- When you notice yourself thinking do not become frustrated. Simply return to the breath. If you catch yourself in thought and return to the basic sensation of the breath a 1000 times, that is a great practice. Do not bother yourself with thinking about not thinking, simply return to the present moment as symbolized by the coolness of the in-breath and the warmth of out-breath.
Using the Laws of Karma to keep New Year’s Resolutions & 3 Bonus Tips.
It’s a New Year, and with every New Year comes new resolutions.
Unfortunately, many of our resolutions turn to disappointment when we are unable to overcome the inevitable struggles that transform a resolution into a new way of life. How do we turn the corner?
Perhaps the Buddhist teachings on Karma can help.
Karma is a central concept in Buddhism. You might even call it a law. Karma means action. More broadly speaking, karma is the principle of creation. It is the law of cause and effect that states for every action there is a result; that result is similar in nature to its cause; the effect produced will itself become a cause, which will produce effects that are similar in nature. In other words, our deeds shape the world we live in.
The world is our creation.
Perhaps the Buddhist teachings on Karma can help.
Karma is a central concept in Buddhism. You might even call it a law. Karma means action. More broadly speaking, karma is the principle of creation. It is the law of cause and effect that states for every action there is a result; that result is similar in nature to its cause; the effect produced will itself become a cause, which will produce effects that are similar in nature. In other words, our deeds shape the world we live in.
The world is our creation.
My Interview w/ David McMillian on Strategies for Living about My Book.
Click here to order Finding God in the Body on Amazon today
The Truth of Suffering
This is an excerpt from Finding God in the Body chapter one, The Truth of Suffering.
Finding God in the Body turns inward to examine the human condition, meeting personal suffering with heartfelt insight and transformative practice. It steers clear of the wishful thinking, unfounded beliefs, and cynicism that define much of the spirituality genre.
Ben Riggs leaves no stone unturned, addressing each stage of the journey as he explores the space between fundamentalism and atheism to uncover a spirituality that resonates with the modern, Western mind. Then he binds that view to an actionable path of self-analysis, prayer, and meditation, which introduce the reader to the God of the body.
This book is a much-needed addition to the corpus of spiritual literature, and a must-read for all modern seekers.
You can pre-order Finding God in the Body on Amazon : https://www.amazon.com/Finding-God-Body-Spiritual-Modern/dp/0692760229
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Spiritual Materialism and Buddhist Spirituality
In this episode of the Finding God in the Body Podcast, Ben Riggs talks about spiritual materialism. He talks about what Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche called the Three Lord of Materialism and places this all within the context of his own personal journey.
Please share with your friends: https://soundcloud.com/user-3423085/episode-2-spiritual-materialism
Finding God in the Body
FindingGodInTheBody.com is up and running. There you'll find reviews, sample chapters, the accompanying podcast, ordering info, and more.
"Finding God in the Body turns inward to examine the human condition, meeting personal suffering with heartfelt insight and transformative practice. It steers clear of the wishful thinking, unfounded beliefs, and cynicism that define much of the spirituality genre.
Ben Riggs leaves no stone unturned, addressing each stage of the journey as he explores the space between fundamentalism and atheism to uncover a spirituality that resonates with the modern, Western mind. Then he binds that view to an actionable path of self-analysis, prayer, and meditation, which introduce the reader to the God of the body.
This book is a much-needed addition to the corpus of spiritual literature, and a must-read for all modern seekers."
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Lack the Motivation for Spiritual Practice?
You can still practice, you know that, right?
Discipline make practice very ordinary, very boring. So our spiritual path becomes a sort of internal struggle, but the meat is in the struggle.
It is precisely because we don't want to practice that practice is a practice. Engaging in a discipline is becoming a disciple. We are you learning to worship something other than our own finicky self-interest. We are learning how to step beyond the limitations imposed on our lives by our self centered framework. We are practicing and cultivating our capacity to do what we do not want to do and not do you want to do.
We are exercising our inherent freedom.
Practical Approach to Daily Living: Follow Love or Die on the Spot.
"Everyone has to love something even if its just tortillas." - Chogyam Trungpa
We all love. There is nothing we can do about that. It is our nature to love. The question is, Will this love be intentional or will it get tied up in some mindless waste of time like video games or TV?There is an element of will power involved with love. Love has to be disciplined. In fact, we must become a disciple of love. This means that when we find what we love, we must do whatever it takes to stay with that. In this sense, discipline is a fidelity to truth, as it manifests within the context of our life.
Love is uncompromising. We must give our self wholly and completely over to it. Nothing can stand in the path of love—not relationships, not work, fear, pride, or naysayers: internal or external. You may say, "I do not have time to paint, or go mountain biking, to write, or play music. I have to make a living." But in fact, you do not have time not to love. To love is to be who you truly are. It is to follow your heart.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself." Matthew 6:25-34
Whatever stands in the way of love must be destroyed on the spot, lest we misplace our journey with worry.
This is the path of the spiritual warrior. It takes courage to abandon your self to love. To abandon worry and follow blindly the stirrings of your heart. But it is also not an option. If you do not do it, your life will begin to unravel from the inside. You will be prey to misery. So, if the courage is not there, I urge you to cultivate that courage. Courage is not the absence of fear, but, as Chogyam Trungpa said, the willingness to move forward with your knees knocking.The universe is forever calling us back to who we truly are, back to our true Self. This calling is heard in our passion. Learning how to love, how to live an impassioned life is the only way to effect change in a world that is generic and mass produced. If painting is your passion then paint; if writing brings you joy then grab a pen; if it is charity or service work that sets your heart on fire then give your Self—your whole self, holding nothing back.
This is what it means to truly live. Everything else is death.
Embodied Spirituality (video).
"Don't you know? The Body is the temple." ~ St. Paul (temple = house of God.)
Grounded Spirituality from The Refuge Meditation Group on Vimeo.
Grounded Spirituality from The Refuge Meditation Group on Vimeo.
Modern Spirituality Part 1: Buddhist Meditation & Stress.
Buddhist Spirituality and the Practice of Meditation.
Meditation is a pragmatic approach toward being human.
Rather than discarding anything, the path of meditation invites us to look at whatever arises free of our personal spin. It is a process of befriending yourself by allowing yourself to be as you are in that moment. We do not act out or suppress anything. On the meditation cushion there is nowhere to run.
In meditation, we hold the space as both sides of our internal conflict pour into one another. In this moment, who we are ceases to be a problem. We discover a thread of continuity. It is this uninterrupted and indestructible thread of experience that unites wisdom and ignorance, heaven and hell, or nirvana and samsara. It is the ground from which we emerge.
This radical non-duality has profound implications. First of all, rather than insanity being some solid condition, it is revealed to be the product of an evolutionary chain of events.
In other words, every situation—even the dark and desperate—is workable. Stuck is an illusion.
Second, sanity or wisdom is not some commodity that we have to create or produce—it is self-existing. Awakening is effortless; it is a process of consenting to who or what we are, rather than the indefinite task of becoming me. Finally, we do not have to work our way back through our narrative into the past in order to reconnect with sanity. It is available in every moment of every day. It is the ground from which every moment of every day arises. Confusion is not an obstacle to insight; it is the path to awakening. Wisdom is just the observation of confusion.
What is Stress?
We tend to associate stress with personality. It was the research of Stanford biologist, Robert Sapolsky that revolutionized the way we think about stress. He discovered that stress was an innate feature key to the survival of our species. He uncovered the thread of continuity that connects stress with basic intelligence.
Stress is not a personality trait. It is a natural mechanism found in most sentient organisms, which is triggered during life and death situations.
Sapolsky defines stress as follows, “a stressor is a challenge to homeostatic balance—a real physical challenge in the world—and the stress-response is the adaptation your body mobilizes to re-establish homeostasis.” A stressor is a challenge to the biological balance that supports life, while stress is the body’s response to that challenge. In short, stress is the fight or flight mechanism triggered in life or death situations. But, at least in theory, once stability is restored the stress response should dissipate.
For example, there is an antelope peacefully grazing in an African meadow. Then, suddenly a lion appears from behind the brush. It is the stress response that shuts down all of the antelope’s auxiliary functions, such as healing and ovulation, and redistributes that energy to more visceral features relevant to the antelope’s immediate survival. It is stress that dilates the pupils, increases the heart rate and the energy reserve by secreting stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol), in order to power the muscles instrumental in running and fighting. Once the lion is out of sight, the antelope replenishes its calorie reserve, and reinstates its auxiliary functions. It returns to a state of rest. For obvious reasons, stress is not only helpful, it is key to our survival.
Ummmm, why do I react to a talkative cash register attendant like an antelope reacts to a lion?
Well, just like the antelope, we get startled or panicked. There is a sudden shock or trauma—a burst of energy we are incapable of consciously relating to. This much is obvious. Only, in our case, seldom is there a lion or any tangible threat to our life. With humans, stress is triggered by a psychological event. Your expectation of a speedy check out is not met, and suddenly you are knocked off balance by your re-entry into reality. Then comes the stress inducing realization that you are going to be late for your meeting. To make matters worse, the cyclical nature of human psychology and the inability of our conscious brain to control more primal regions of our anatomy transforms stress into a chronic or habitual tendency with catastrophic effects.
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Robert Sapolsky.
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The stress response shuts down all secondary features, including healing, while your body is busy trying to defend itself against the psychological attack you’ve launched against yourself. As a result, it is not clearing plaque from your arteries, fighting off infection, or repairing the effects of metabolism. Therefore, not only the quality of your life deteriorates, but your actual life span shrinks. Neurotic stress dramatically increases the risk of heart disease, heart attack, gastro-intestinal complications, depression, anxiety, obesity, and a host of other health problems. Plus, it increases the likelihood that we will develop secondary health problems—complications resulting from unhealthy coping mechanisms—such as, alcohol and drug addiction, diabetes, and sleep disorders.
Why do we experience neurotic stress but antelopes don’t?
First of all, the conditions have to be operable. Essentially, we are talking about the development of confusion within the confines of stress: If basic sanity is the foundation, where did insanity or confusion come from? Or, if stress is fundamentally intelligent why do we experience it as a form of neurosis?
Insanity is a point of view disconnected from the revelation of direct experience. The development of insanity begins with a subtle but profound shift of awareness: We mistake the direct experience of Self with the tendency to think about our selves. This is triggered by the installation of the word ‘I.’ The word ‘I’ has no symbolic value; it is incapable of pointing past itself. It is only capable of referring to that which made the reference. Therefore, we get stuck in a self-oriented or self-centered cycle of thought. But ‘I’ did not just fall out of the sky. It was installed when we uploaded language. So, the conditions are made operable with the acquisition of language. Antelopes do not have words. Therefore, they do not have neurotic stress.
Now the stage is set for development of neurotic stress…
“There is a sudden shock or trauma—a burst of energy we are incapable of consciously relating to.”
We become obsessed with ‘that’ eruption of energy. It is our tunnel vision that transforms the spacious or fluid quality of energy or life situations into ‘that.’ This fixation appears to solidify space, but, in truth, it just creates a blind-spot. Like watching a shiny new car drive down the street, we ignore the space surrounding the object—the undefined, unformed quality of Being that constitutes our basic nature. This ignor-ance—the refusal to look at the blind-spot—is the basis of confusion.
The fixation with ‘that’ implies ‘this.’ The implied ‘this’ is nothing more than a self-conscious recognition of the blind-spot; while ‘that’ represents the quality of life. So, ‘this’ is cut-off or disconnected from life. It is empty. Furthermore, this blind-spot is associated with ‘I.’ So, I am empty or discontented—without content or meaning. I feel lifeless. This transforms my life into the search for meaning, content, and vitality.
How is this a life and death situation?
It is important to remember that this entire situation, apart from the basic eruption of energy, is played out on a psychological level. So, we’re talking about a psychological death. The material used to construct this psycho-scenario is thought. Following the acquisition of language, thought is largely in part governed by the rules of grammar. These rules require that a subject and object be verbing with one another in order to form a complete sentence. So, self-completion or the attainment of meaning, purpose, or content is contingent upon the co-dependent relationship between “that and this”, or self and other.
Just as left and right depend upon one another for definition, “self” requires the reference point of “other” in order to establish personality. ‘I’ acquires form, identity, or a role to play through relationship with objects in its environment. By labeling someone an enemy, ‘I’ obtains direction or a role to play. When ‘I’ names other “wife,” it spontaneously attains the title of “husband.” In a mind governed by language, ‘this’ is defined by its relationship with ‘that’, and vice versa.
When the relationship with ‘other’ is threatened, the identity of ‘self’ is also called into question. “I am the husband.” This one simple statement has far reaching implications. It is impregnated with a series of expectations: “I am the bread winner. I am the head of the house hold.” So, when the husband gets laid off, and it is his wife’s pay check that puts food on the table, his identity is called into question. ‘I’ no longer adds up, because it cannot fulfill the self-imposed expectations of a husband. From an established ego’s point of view, its life is being threatened.
How does neurotic stress become chronic stress?
The sophistication of confusion or the birth and development of ego is how the life and death situation is dealt with. Interestingly enough, it is also how it was created.
The ego is a pattern of consciousness. It is the conscious brain’s attempt to manage the stress response or eliminate threats to its stability. Unfortunately, the thinking brain is incapable of accessing the unconscious mind for the same reason a baby cannot give birth to its mother. The stress response originates in the amygdala, which is located in the oldest part of the mind, the limbic system. The un-conscious is pre-conscious—the primal mind happens before the ego. So, the ego is incapable of turning off the stress response.
To make matters worse, ‘this’ is defined by ‘that.’ The ego was installed to manage traumas. So, the fact that the alarm is still sounding is, from the ego’s point of view, a traumatic event. It calls into question the legitimacy and therefore the identity of the ego. We are stuck in a vicious cycle. “There is a sudden shock or trauma—a burst of energy we are incapable of consciously relating to…”
Revolving around the notion of ‘I’ as it does, ego-centric consciousness cannot consent to its own death. It is incapable of acknowledging its own impotence, because it cannot entertain any other possibility apart from itself. This is why ignore-ance is the basis of ego. ‘I’ is a sign that can only reference itself. Therefore, it will always nominate itself for the job when the alarm sounds…even if it was the one that pulled the chord!
Neurotic stress is chronic because the criminal is in charge of the crime scene.
Is there any way to obtain freedom from self?
While the ego might be intrinsically ignore-ant, it is not stupid. In fact, the ego is brilliant. When the cycle is re-triggered, rather than giving up or trying the exact same thing again, it comes at the threat from a different angle. All egos are essentially the same. On the basis of ignore-ance, they establish separation, and define their position in relationship to other. Once they have their footing they begin to develop their own unique properties. In an effort to more successfully manage their environment, egos develop personality programs or defense mechanisms.
These personalities are like costume changes. They still seek to control or manage the situation, but with their own style. Fundamentally, they emerge from basic intelligence, but they are tainted by self-consciousness. It is insecurity—the self-conscious wake of the trauma—that characterizes these personalities. It is a lingering thought in the back of our mind that remembers when we got hurt. It knows that we are defenseless, completely vulnerable. It is this simple fear that drives the ego, and each of these personalities is a sort of echo of that fear.
“There is a thread of continuity. It is this uninterrupted and indestructible thread of experience that unites wisdom and ignorance, heaven and hell, or nirvana and samsara. It is the ground from which we emerge.” These various styles of neurosis have their origins in our physiological inheritance or instincts. In other words, each of these personalities is grounded in the voice of basic sanity. In order to move beyond the debilitating cycle these personalities mask, we will have to reconnect with this voice of basic intelligence. This is the voice of the body.
The Biggest Misconception about Meditation Practice.
Just as the heart beats the brain thinks...
"As it is explained in many of the meditation teachings, first of all you cannot stop thoughts. It is impossible. And stopping thoughts is not our agenda. It is not doable. Even if were do-able it is not necessary, it is useless. Meditation actually is to generate the awareness of the thought. If you are supposed to develop the awareness of the thought, then you have to have the thought to be aware of! So you can’t really get rid of the thought and then try to look at something." ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Meditation in Action
In this talk Ben Riggs explains the need for a somatic orientation in our spiritual practice and guides us through a body base meditation practice developed by Reginald A. Ray called the ten-points.
Meditation in Action: Coming Back to the Body from The Refuge Meditation Group on Vimeo.
Meditation in Action: Coming Back to the Body from The Refuge Meditation Group on Vimeo.
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