Learning to Meditate using our Five Physical Senses

In my last blog, I discussed how using our breath is a simple and natural way to meditate. I found the more I used this simple technique, the easier it became. Furthermore, it is the basis of many forms of meditation.

Why is meditation important? There are many answers, but one reason is based on the Buddhist concept shin'en – translated as “heart/mind-monkey”. It refers to the restless free-flowing uncontrollable thoughts that run through our minds, holding us hostage and leading us down the path of unproductive fear, anxiety, and negativity. I am sure you will know what I mean! Learning to calm and control our mind is the most important step we can take to experience the inner peace a meditation practice can bring us. For this reason, breathing meditation was the foundation of everything we learnt during our three-month retreat.

Having learnt to use our breath, to experience a degree of stillness, our next lesson was to mindfully use our 5 physical senses. Here, we were asked to practice focusing solely on the sensations we experience through each of our five physical senses, focusing on one sense-door at a time.

Buddhism recognises our five senses are entrances into our being. This means that each of our physical senses needs to be mindfully guarded because they continually feed our mind with new information. If you are like me, the monkey-mind loves to name, classify, think, remember, judge, and worry about many things. Usually, in never-ending circles, all relating to the past or to the future; robbing us of the gift of the present moment. The Christian monastic tradition has taught a similar practice called custody of the eyes, ears and thoughts. Both traditions recognise we so easily go astray unless firmly fixed on a goal.

We were encouraged to begin with our sense of sight. I found this the easiest, to begin with, as I re-learnt to look and see what was in front of me without naming what I saw. For example, our retreat day often began before daylight. 4 am found me struggling out of bed and heading for the electric jug for the first hot drink of the day. I then sat on the old couch on the front porch, sipping the tea quietly, as I watched the dawn slowly transform the night sky. Being so far away from civilization, the darkness of the night was absolute and the stars were brilliant. It was awe-inspiring watching night being transformed into daylight! Having spent time with the sense of sight, I moved to the sense of hearing as I listened to the sound of birds or animals breaking into the profound silence of the early morning. Again, without trying to name what I heard but simply enjoy the experience of the moment.

Later in the retreat, we were encouraged to use our other senses, as we explored the fragrances carried in the air; or experienced the rich flavours of the food we ate; or the subtleties of sensation caused by the things we touched or walked on. I found all these explorations could not be rushed if I wanted to delight in the rich sensations our five physical senses have to offer.

Whenever we discovered our mind had wandered off into thinking, or dreaming, or worrying about all the inconsequential things that so readily crowd in upon us, we were asked to return to the sensation of our breathing. Then having re-established our still centre, to continue with our sensory meditation and inquiry.

This simple and engaging exercise can also be used when taking a meditation walk, for example, or as a mindfulness exercise when eating a meal, or while lying in bed, awaiting sleep.

I still work at developing these skills because they contain deep wisdom. The more proficient I become, the greater is my ability to live spaciously and with greater clarity. This, in turn, enables me to view life more objectively, and respond with greater awareness, with more skilful wisdom, and to treat others with more easily non-clinging compassion. It also helps me to enter more freely into the profound mystery of knowing God.

To be continued in my next Blog.

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga
May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil

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Adapted from my book, Pathways to the Fountain: A Christian-Buddhist Exploration, Tawera Press, 2015

Pathways to the Fountain: Insights from a Christian-Buddhist Exploration - 1

I have been attracted to meditation since childhood. Then in 2003I had the opportunity to attend a three-month Buddhist retreat. 

I was little prepared for the rigours that lay ahead as I joined sixteen other people who came from six different countries. 

Buddhists are often surprised to hear that Christianity has a long tradition of meditation that is over 2000 years old. This includes both the use of silence and the repetition of a prayer-word or mantra. St. Paul, for example, his readers to "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17 ) and the Lord's Prayer was collated from a series of one-line sayings of Jesus and is still used as a repetitive prayer. In the 4th Century CE, John Cassian, a Christian monk and theologian, also taught the use of a short prayer word or mantra that was continually repeated. He said:

"Let sleep come upon you still considering this verse, till having been moulded by the constant use of it, you grow accustomed to repeat it even in your sleep. When you wake let it be the first thing to come into your mind, let it anticipate all your waking thoughts." 1

Using our breath is another form of Buddhist meditation that has a long Christian tradition. The Hebrew word for breath is 'ruah' and associates our breath as flowing from the Divine breath (Genesis 2:7). Using the breath as a tool for stillness and prayer was not developed in the New Testament, but is found in later writings. 

For example, Gregory of Palamas was a monk of Mount Athos in Greece. He later became the Archbishop of Thessaloniki. He suggested we are to focus our attention on our breathing belly because that is where the soul is located.2 Certainly I have found extending my abdomen on inhalation and then pull it back on an exhalation creates depth and subtlety in my meditation practice. One of the physiological reasons is that deep breathing stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which in turn promotes a sense of calmness.3 This also gives new meaning to the words of the Jesuit priest, Anthony de Mello:

" Your breathing is your greatest friend. Return to it in all your troubles, and you will find comfort and guidance." 4

John Selby, a contemporary psychologist and former Presbyterian minister, promoted de Mello's use of the breath in his book, 'Jesus for the rest of us'.5 He developed a simple seven stage process he called 'The Jesus Spiral'. 

Selby's method leads us first into a place of stillness then invites us to make a series of associations between our breath and God "who is breathing me". He suggests this process could be continually repeated as it takes us ever deeper into an experience of the Divine presence. We finally end the meditation by committing ourselves to take the sensations of "light and love and peace" into our daily activities. 

This simple method is very flexible. It can be used either as a morning practice or to fill in a few moments while waiting at the traffic lights, in a shopping queue, or waiting for an appointment. The method relates closely to another comment made by Fr John Main: 

"The essence of Christian prayer is not dialogue but union, oneness... coming into fullness with the energy that created the universe." 6

To be continued in my next Blog.

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil

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1 Cassian, J, The Second Conference Of Abbot Isaac. On Prayer. Chapter 10. Available at http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/350810.htm Accessed 5/8/16

2  Kadloubovsky and Palmer (1992) Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart, UK, Faber & Faber. Vol 4 p 255, St Gregory of Palamans, Introductory Note.

3  See http://www.stress.org/take-a-deep-breath/ Accessed 26/8/16.

4  de Mello, SJ Sadhana, A Way to God, India: Gujarat Sahitya Trakash Anand, 1987, p23.

5 Selby, J,: Jesus for the rest of us, Hampton Roads Publishing Co.,2006.

6 Main, J OSB, Moment of Christ: The Path of Meditation, Darton, Longman & Todd. (1984) p 20.

46. Jesus was a Carpenter

In Mark's Gospel we are told that Jesus 'was a carpenter' (6:3). Matthew 13:54 says he was 'the son of a carpenter'. 

Both are most probably accurate and in my mind, I am reminded of the prayer that The Rev Bob Lowe often prayed at our Sunday evening Church Service:

O Jesus, Master Carpenter of Nazareth,
who on the cross through wood and nails didst work our whole salvation:
Wield well thy tools in this thy workshop;
that we who come to thee rough-hewn
may by thy hand be fashioned to a truer beauty and a greater usefulness;
for the honour of thy holy name. Amen.

The unknown author of this prayer imagined Jesus at work in the small agricultural village of Nazareth, helping Joseph to make fine furniture and farming tools. For this reason, Joseph is remembered as the Patron Saint of Carpenters, as well as many other titles. Jesus would have acquired similar skills.

Work no doubt their work regularly took the family to the beautiful, wealthy city of Sepphoris, about an hour's walk from Nazareth. It was a major Roman city,  built on a major crossroad, and the capital and heart of Galilee. It was also a centre of trade.

While the Greek word tekton is used in the Gospels to describe Joseph's trade, it is usually translated as 'carpenter'. However, it can also mean artisan, craftsman builder in wood, stonemason or metal. That being the case, it is sobering to understand he belonged to the lowest class of marginalized labouring peasants in first-century Palestine.  Even so, they were highly skilled and versatile, well-used to building and repairing whatever work they were called to do – and this is where I feel a special connection with both Joseph and Jesus.

One of my childhood memories was raiding my father's toolbox for saws, hammer, and nails to make and build things from toy guns to tree huts. While my father learnt to keep his toolbox inside the house, to control my enthusiasm and to safeguard his tools, those tools crafted in me a love for making things. I still have my childhood box for holding small treasures. As a teenager, I couldn't afford a guitar, so I built one that worked fine. Over the years, my skills developed. Now I help repair furniture donated to our local St Vincent de Paul Society.

Those of you who share the delight creativity brings to our lives, and the joy we experience as we share those skills and knowledge with others, will appreciate the comment once made by the German mystic, Meister Eckhart: 'We are heirs of the fearful creative power of God'.

It is as we give birth to the creative capacity we have within us, we become co-creators with the Divine Presence, who is waiting to assist us in the ongoing creativity of the universe.

We are all expressions of this Divine creative longing. 

May we learn to 'wield well the tools in the workshop of our lives, so that we who come 'rough-hewn' may by the Divine hand be 'fashioned to a truer beauty and a greater usefulness'. 

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga
May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil

 

45. Church Music

 Music in Church Services has always been controversial. It dates back to the earliest centuries and still remains an issue for a whole series of reasons. One of the more unusual reasons was the recent ban on hymn singing during the COVID-19 Lock-down because it might spread the virus.

Christianity grew initially from within Judaism, and the earliest Christians hymns originated from the Jewish chanting of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs from their Hebrew Scriptures. However, hymns and spiritual songs, as we understand them, along with the musical accompaniment, were not part of a normal Church service until the 10th century. Their reception was very mixed. This was partly due to their power to stir human emotions, and partly because musical instruments were generally regarded as “symbols of lasciviousness and debauchery”. 

This view continued to dominate social thinking until 1820 when the Church of England finally and officially approved the singing of hymns. However, some of the more Protestant Churches continued their resistance, controversy, opposition, and ultimately division to the introduction of hymns and musical instruments, into the 20th century!

Why I am interested in this discussion is because I have been closely involved in Church music for most of my life. My father was an Anglican Minister and an accomplished organist. He gave me my first piano lesson when I was 8 years old. As my ability progressed, I was often called on to play the small foot-pumped reed organ at his Church services.

I was a teenager when the Beatles hit the world stage, and wanted – like many teenagers – to copy them. I soon had my first guitar and played with a small group of mates from school. We thought we were great – even if we were hopelessly out of tune!

A little later on, I was introduced to the exquisite sound of Renaissance and Baroque choral music while studying music composition and theory as an adjunct to my Psychology degree. The choral music won my heart far beyond the twangs of my guitar. Although, a few more years later my guitar found its place again in the flood of new hymns and Christian songs from the post-Vatican II reforms and the Charismatic Renewal Movement. While many of these songs suffered from poor musical composition and repetitive lyrics, they were easily sung by a willing congregation, and my guitar found regular use – sometimes to the chagrin of the local organist and the more senior members of the congregation. 

A lot of time has passed since then... and now I find myself looking more like one of those more senior members of the congregation than I would like! I also find myself greeting those old hymns with renewed appreciation, especially when expected to learn a new song with odd rhythms and limited musicality. I am more sympathetic now to the comment made by the late and venerable and most eminent Rev. John Wesley, a lover of music and an elegant poet. When asked for his opinion of the new Christian music being introduced into the chapels of the Methodists. He replied in his terse and powerful manner, ‘I have no objections ... provided they are neither heard nor seen'.

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil

Franciscan & Ignatian Spirituality

 Over the past few weeks, I have been participating in online Ignatian Training Programme. As a Franciscan, I have become aware of some of the similarities and differences between these two major streams of Christian Spirituality.

Both St Francis of Assisi (1181/2- 1440) and Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1521) came from a military background that ended unsuccessfully. Both men later developed a romantic quality to their spirituality as they became knight troubadours for Christ, and soon gathered around themselves a growing community of followers. Both movements became significant Religious Orders in their own right with their own ethos and ministry.

There are, though, marked differences between the two men and the Franciscan and Ignatian forms of spirituality.

The Franciscan Way is one of simplicity. It is personal and devotional. God is found in all things: in the simple things of life; the colours of creation; the warmth of human friendship; the stillness of a church at prayer; in the sharing of meal whether it be in a church or food given to the poor and hungry. Francis wished to find and follow his beloved Christ everywhere; to become literally, the hands and feet of Christ, especially to those in need.

The Ignatian Way is also focused on finding God in all things, especially in one's desires, feelings and emotions. I find his spirituality to be more formal and regulated. It has contributed much to the intellectual life of the Church, and encourages all things to be done for 'The Greater Glory of God'.

What does appeal to me in the Ignatian programme I am doing is the way it uses symbols to help me recall real life events. It uses passages of scripture to inspire me. And it encourages me to make a choice to share what I have experienced, and if needed, to weave that change into the way I live.

If St Francis inspires me to try and follow the Way of Jesus, St Ignatius inspires me to 'read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest' the teachings of Jesus.

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil