Mindful Happiness

Anthony Quintiliani, Ph.D, LADC

  • Home
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
    • About
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Contact

January 9, 2017 By Admin

Vipassana Meditation – Journey 4 Emptiness

Vipassana Meditation – Emptiness

One of the great insights from regular, long-term vipassana practice is the experience of emptiness. The actual knowing of it by the experience of it. This is not your typical conceptual emptiness of the West; it is not total void, negative beings, or nihilistic pit, or suffering in endlessness.  It is a more positive emptiness. This experience is a sense of being in ultimate
boundlessness, where nothing concrete exists – not even impermanence, not even dependent origination, not even no-self – just being in endless space (as some interpret it).  This experience is without egocentric and samsaric-conditioned mind filters. No desire for positive sense-door experiences over negative experiences. Again, emptiness experiences may not be good for people suffering from serious mental health of addictions problems.  Like no-self, perhaps you would be better off letting this one go. Here is our guided vipassana-like meditation on emptiness.

  1. Begin by settling into your cushion for chair. Take a few deep, slow, calm breaths and notice the emptiness that exists at the end of the in-breath and at the end of the out-breath. There is a feeling of nothing there. Continue to breathe and noticing. Focus stronger and stronger concentration on the experience being experienced without evaluations.
  2. Ancient, sacred people practiced approaching absolute truth, one aspect of which is emptiness. This comes after you let go of self and conceptual perceptions. No self-narratives; no self-referencing, no self grasping. Do your best to let go of all experience-conditioned ego. Just be.  If you are fortunate you may already obtain a small glimpse of emptiness. Meditate on this!
  3. Continue to meditate with an intention to come face-to-face with
    emptiness. If you reach even a glimpse of it, you may experience luminosity in the present moment. Perhaps your personal experience by now begins to enter a state of subtle boundlessness. Meditate on this! Use more mental energy to concentrate on the experience at hand.
  4. In the mind-only school and aspects of shambhala, the experience of being in emptiness is an experience of perceiving no space, no difference between the entity that perceives and the object/experience being perceived.  This is quite “heady” stuff. Meditate with an expectation to experience an ultimate holism between subjects and object, between perceiver and that being perceived (emptiness). Meditate of this! Again, strengthen your meditative  energy via concentrating.
  5.   In the middle way or madyamaka view, emptiness may be understood as the dearth of isolation between events/experiences. All experience and all phenomena are totally inter-dependent in nature. Our wholesomeness affects others in a strongly karmic manner. Everything is connected to everything, thus there is no one thing that exists independently – a form of emptiness in experience. So be certain to “let go” of conceptual awareness and expectancies. Meditate deeply on this!
  6. Remain open as much as possible and “let go” of self-cherishing and fixations of self-desires. No more craving; no more clinging; no more attachment. Just be and do not avoid emotional realities involved in your personal experience of emptiness. Avoid what Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche called “shunyata poisonng.” Do not be cognitively analytic or deeply interested in your desire for a new self-narrative or positive/negative realities in relationships.  Just be with the emptiness; just be the emptiness. Meditate deeply on this!
  7. Sit there an enjoy any glimpse of emptiness you may have within this present moment.  Enjoy, but do not analyze, the bliss you may experience.
  8. William James noted that true mystical experience via spiritual practice is beyond verbal and conceptual definition.  This illuminated experience may imply a “superior power,” depending on your own views of spiritual experience. When Walt Whitman discussed the universe of souls, he along with James may have implied that such experiences come with both blessings and burdens.  Now that we know a more true reality via personal experience, what good will be do with this knowledge and new being? What about the suffering of others as well as our own?
  9. Now take a few breaths and prepare to return your experience back to this room. Prepare to rise, paying attention to the feelings in your legs and feet. Move slowly.

For more information refer to Nichtern, E. (2015). The Road Home: A Contemporary Exploration of the Buddhist Path. New York: North Point Press, pp. 138-146. See also James, W. The Varieties of Religious Experience. In William James: Writings 1902-1910. New York: Library of America, 1987, pp. 343-344.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, VermontChiYinYang_EleanorRLiebmanCenter

Author of Mindful Happiness  

Mindful Happiness cover designs.indd

New Edition of Mindful Happiness in Production…Coming soon!

Filed Under: Activities, ANTHONY QUINTILIANI, Benefits of Meditation, Benefits of Mindfulness, Emptiness, Featured, Meditation, MIndfulness Activities, Practices, Vipassana Meditation Tagged With: ANTHONY QUINTILIANI, MEDITATIONS ON EMPTINESS, MINDFUL HAPPINESS, VIPASSANA MEDITATION

March 10, 2015 By Admin

Meditations on Emptiness

An Advanced View on Meditations on Emptiness

An earlier post on the Dalai Lama’s book, Meditations on the Nature of Mind, ended with suggested meditations (my own themiddleway-faithgroundedinreasonpersonal contemplation’s) about emptiness.  I will first review those contemplations.  Contemplate deeply on what emptiness means personally to you.  Contemplate about a time when you received a glimpse of personal emptiness.  Contemplate on your experience to see if it was positive, neutral, of negative (happiness, neutral or suffering).  Why do you think you experienced it the way you did?  Contemplate on ways you may be able to use the experience of emptiness to reduce personal suffering and increase personal happiness.  Please do these four contemplations one after the other before you attempt to contemplate of what follows here.  I created these suggested contemplations after my own long meditation practices on emptiness.  Keep in mind that Lord Marpa noted a very long time ago that only fools think emptiness is the same as nihilism.  It is not nihilism.  Also remember that when your mind shifts away from the object of your contemplation (emptiness) gently return attention back to the object, AND each time try to go deeper into concentration on your contemplation.

What follows here is a compilation of various insights about meditation on The Middle Way and on emptiness.  Some come from The Dalai Lama; some come from T’song-kha-pa; some come from Nargarjuna; some come  from Chandrakirti; and, somemindful_happiness very far less exquisite ideas come from me.  My effort here is to make the wisdom of the wisdom leaders more pragmatic and practical for us today, in our world as it is now.  A key concept in the process of becoming enlightened is that we do it more for the sake of others.  Thus, the bodhisattva/bodhichitta compassionate action ideals are seriously pursued.  Our practice is based on the desired unification of two important bodies: Dharma and Form.  The Dharma refers to the body of emptiness and other ultimate realities, and the form refers to the body of Buddha.   Pursuit of Buddhist Dharma and the experience of emptiness connect us to the pure path of liberation.  Wisdom about no-self, impermanence, dependent origination, karma, causes and effects, interconnectedness, conventional vs ultimate truth, and ultimate emptiness of intrinsic existence of all phenomena – all lead the way to liberation and enlightenment.  They all lead us from conceptual knowing to experiential knowing, and from the Samara world of conditioned sense pleasures and suffering to wisdom.  In many respects to practice a wisdom-informed life IS to move along the path, The Middle Way to complete realization.  In the final analysis of emptiness, there lies a clear implication that there is no such reality as an object becoming established on its own.  Therefore, there can be no-self nature, thus no-self.  What appears to be middleway-emptiness-Mindful-Happinessconcrete in nature is actually made up of totally dependent arisings.  One may experience a contradiction here; if we are the Buddha already, does it matter if it is just emptiness?  The answer to this inquiry is far more complex than it sounds.  Only our thoughts and our minds perceive the concrete self-phenomena as existing in and of their own. The correct view of it all suggests that there is no thought or cognition about Dharma (even if we study it); it is more about post-perceptual experiences and understanding via pure wisdom experiences. T’song-kha-pa noted that in the “profound Middle Way” there is NO independent, intrinsic, concrete self or things.  It is pure wisdom of experiential awareness.

Now on to the contemplation practices.

Again, I am creating these on my own as means to experience some glimpse of emptiness in meditation.

  • 1) Contemplate about your own compassionate actions for the benefit of others.  When you feel/experience being deep enough into contemplation, add the experience of emptiness to this process.  Be mindfully aware of what happens in the experience?
  • 2) Contemplate deeply in the ultimate wisdom that there is no intrinsic existence in any phenomena, including your own contemplation right now.  What happens in your experience?
  • 3) Contemplate deeply about how your own life is conditioned via sense pleasures and avoiding suffering.  Go even deeper, and contemplate the factors of non-existence (emptiness) in this process. What happens to your experience at this point?
  • 4) Contemplate deeply on the experience of experiential awareness now.  Continue until you are experiencing just experiencing without conceptual or cognitive awareness.  Now what happens to your experience?
  • 5) Lastly, contemplate deeply on what experiential insights may have been found via your four experiential contemplations.  Shift gently to cognition now, and note what the insights are.

Now take a few deep, slow, calm breaths and bring your experiential self back into awareness.  Be aware! Move your body slightly before you attempt to stand up.  Think about what you might wish to share with others.

For more information refer to The Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso). (2009). The Middle Way: Faith Grounded in Reason. Boston: Wisdom Publications, pp. 119-147. Also refer to The Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso and others). (2011). Meditation on the Nature of Mind. Boston: Wisdom Publications, pp. 126-139.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, VermontChiYinYang_EleanorRLiebmanCenter

Author of Mindful Happiness

CLICK HERE to Order!

Mindful Happiness cover designs.indd

 

Filed Under: Activities, Emptiness, Featured, Meditation, Meditation Activities, The Middle Way Tagged With: DR ANTHONY QUINTILIANI, MEDITATIONS ON EMPTINESS, MINDFUL HAPPINESS

Twitter

Mindful Happiness -Currently in Production

Mindful Happiness Posts

Relational Suffering and Buddhist Practice Recently I experienced a deep, sudden, afflictive emotional experience. This sudden and profound sense of loss was due to temporary heartbreak; the temporary heartbreak dealt with rejection from a younger woman I found to be interesting and attractive (inside and outside). My “lost” person seemed to possess all the attachment […]

How to Offer Personal Tribute to Those Who Have Died The Four Noble Truths tell us sobering news. There is suffering, and impermanence of all things including us and our loved ones. Below I have listed several thing you can do to HONOR a person you have lost.  Here is the list. Recall a special […]

Mindfulness-Based Emotion Regulation The following emotional regulation practices (also called emotional balance skills) have been supported by over 2500 years of mindfulness training and current psychological research on human emotions.  These practices/skills are to be practiced before they are needed, and directly applied when they are needed.  Here is the list. 1) Practice noticing and […]

Pursuit of Happiness – Mindful Happiness Gilbert, a professor of Psychology at Harvard University and the author of Stumbling on Happiness, implies that we make mind-errors in our search for happiness.  Happiness is a core human emotion, most often activated into consciousness via the midbrain reward centers and dopamine activation. Perhaps our hardwired brains are made to […]

 Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy “gems” In my opinion there are about eleven such “gems” in psychoanalytic psychotherapy.  Use of these interventions in various types of psychotherapy may improve clinical outcomes beyond insight. Although these curative interventions have often been associated with treatment of psychological trauma, object loss, and inner conflict, they may also be useful in the […]

Overcoming the Hindrances of Ill-Will and Aversion Although regular daily practice and sincerely following of The Eight-Fold Path in one’s life may be the best ways to overcome various hindrances, there may be some additional practical suggestions to consider on the path.  We will begin our discussion with common human pain and suffering; we will […]

Meditation on the Feeling of Letting Go – Pacification! Pacifying the mind is a desired outcome of regular, stable meditation practice.  Pacification may be done via meditating on the breath, general mindfulness awareness, vipassana, and various other forms of  meditation.  However, the wise mind skill of “letting go” of unhelpful, negative, and harmful thoughts and […]

Building Healthy Intimate Relationships: Intimate relationships are often the source of many years of happiness and satisfaction, and sometimes the cause of great pain and suffering. It depends! I will list various realities of initiating and maintaining a positive intimate relationship.  After reading these, ask yourself: Where is my relationship? If you are unhappy, do […]

Mindfulness and Concentration –  Experience Differences In this post I will explain some basic differences between mindfulness and concentration, both of which are required for effective meditation practice.  This will be the first of three posts dealing with what mindfulness and concentration are, how to experience them briefly in a body-based activity, and how to […]

Amitabha Buddha – Pure Land Meditation The following meditation had been modified by me to make it a more specific self-healing meditation and to better fit the time we now live in. Sit quietly and complete 3-4 deep, calming breaths. Pay attention to the quality and density of the light you see outside of your […]

Mindfulness in the NFL Yes, mindfulness as part of sports psychology programming is being used in the NFL.  Yes, big and physically tough football players are being helped via a mindfulness component of sports psychology. There are some important roots here. Dogen, the famous ancient Japanese Buddhist meditation master, brought Chan Buddhism from China to […]

Chronic Pain and Doing Body Scanning Although doing body scans cannot fully relieve your pain, it may help you manage it better. If your pain is serious and chronic you need to work with a qualified pain management professional, who will use both psychological and medical interventions. Note that a recent issue of Consumer Reports reviewed […]

Reminders for Your Psychological and Physical Health If you desire to be more compassionate with others and with yourself, remember the following. Be certain to ACT on the following. 1) Life is complete only with joy/happiness, neutral experiences, and suffering/pain.  These are the realities of human existence. These are the conditions of human life. Make […]

 Poem on Nature    – Haiku-Like As I sat peacefully by the westward window of my sunroom at my retreat center, I noticed!  I noticed the restless, natural movement of a tormented sky trying to calm itself.   Here is my poem. “The Sky, the Lake and the Mountains” Sitting at our home, alone – […]

Anahata – Heart Chakra Meditation Practice Rumi noted that to reach the sky we must use our hearts. The Heart Chakra is a very popular focus of meditation practice.  Here we will simply review some characteristics and then move on to a meditation practice. Specific characteristics: Green color, YAM sound (say at least three times […]

I Have Questions Our spiritual traditions have many sources of powerful spiritual origination: Shiva, Buddha, Jesus, Saint Francis to note just a few.  The Roman thinker Seneca noted that our most feared day is our last on earth, but this is also the beginning of our eternity.  As a practicing Buddhist, a secular meditation teacher, […]

Practice: Yogi Deep Meditation on Inner Listening Carl Jung noted: Who looks outside dreams; who looks inside, awakens. The Katha Upanishads (800-400 BCE) noted: One path leads outward and the other inward. [The] way inward leads to grace. The Mind Cave Focus instructs us to close our eyes and expand your third-eye space to the back of […]

Trauma Therapy:  Basics from Some Expert Clinicians For many years trauma therapist have used many approaches in their psychotherapy. Most of these approaches lack strong empirical support for outcomes, and are often the “favorites” of these therapists.  One might wonder what benefits therapists derive from using approaches that are not evidence-based. If an intervention fails […]

Preverbal Trauma – Therapy Problems A. R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC Preverbal trauma (hereafter PVT) is one of the most pervasively troubling human conditions. PVT occurs when a preverbal child is exposed to parental, caretaker, or other forms of abuse. This abuse may be sexual, physical, or emotional. This form of abuse is so destructive because […]

Personal Experiences When in Longer-Term Silence The luxury (or horror depending on your perspective and psychological structure) of being in long-term silence is a rare thing in today’s noisy, super-active and reactive world. The experience is difficult to describe verbally. The best we can do is count on our own experiences and the writings of […]

Mindful Happiness Tags

CLINICAL SUPERVISION VIPASSANA ANTHONY QUINTILIANI MINDFULNESS MINDFUL HAPPINESS PRACTICES DR ANTHONY QUINTILIANI PRACTICE BUDDHISM MEDITATION MINDFUL TRAINING ACTIVITY SELF COMPASSION COVID-19 ACTIVITIES PSYCHOTHERAPY MINDFUL MEDITATION PRACTICE ENLIGHTENMENT JOURNALING MINDFUL MEDITATION COMPASSION BRAIN TRAINING THERAPY. CONSCIOUSNESS THICH NHAT HANH MBSR SELF MEDICATION SUFFERING SELF HAPPINESS EMPTINESS VERMONT ADDICTION MINDFULNESS TRAINING SELF ESTEEM ELEANOR R LIEBMAN CENTER VIPASSANA MEDITATION WALKING MEDITATION TRAUMA SELF CARE WISE MIND EXERCISES BREATHING

Mindful Categories

Mindful Happiness Pages

  • About
  • Contact
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Site Map

Copyright © 2023 · Mindful Happiness