Tue, 05 Oct 2010
Misunderstanding Vipassanna
I read a post from a rationalist website talking up the value of vipassanna meditation in the Goenka tradition. The author says that the purpose of meditation is to break the connection between affective judgements (emotions) and mental states. I'm not surprised. Meditation does work, and one of the first effects regular meditators notice is that they gain a certain distance from their emotions. Instead of being totally oblivious to their anger or greed, they watch it while it is happening. Some people like this and others hate it. It does have the advantage that it gives you a chance to prevent your emotions from getting away from you. But this is not the traditional goal of meditation, that goal is enlightenment. People can meditate for whatever reason they please. But the idea of people predisposed to a overly rational, intellectual approach to life using meditation as a kind of spiritual novocaine to numb their emotions is a little dismaying. It's as if they view their emotions as a boisterous puppy that needs to be put on a leash. But the surprising thing is that the distancing between our rational mind and our emotions is based on an illusion. We are holding a leash, but the leash is around our own necks. So it doesn't matter if we hold the leash or not. That is why mahamudra talks of thoughts and emotions emotions as self liberated.
