Skilful Meditation Project

www.skillfulmeditation.org/meditation/index.php

This is Jason Siff's site, he has a book on "Unlearning Meditation". Just wondering if anyone had thoughts on this. One of the things he recommends is "recollective awareness", which to me is essentially the act of noting what you were just embedded in (as opposed say, to just moving on to the next thing). It seems to provide some closure or something, it kind of feels good, but I'm not sure beyond that. Some of the things he recommends seem to border on psychologizing.

I do his idea of looking at meditation methods and seeing if the method itself is causing unwanted habits.

Came across him when I stumbled onto www.thesecularbuddhist.com/

I believe Vince interviewed him last year. An interesting approach. However, some of it seems like virtually a formula for spacing out, such as the practice where you just kind of let yourself spin out and try to be aware of the spinning out process itself. I'm pretty sure I would just start to drool and that a big "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!" would appear in a thought bubble above my head. I do sometimes note "remembering imagining thought" and that kind of thing. Seems to be a recognition of where the embededness had been if that makes any sense. I believe Siff criticizes noting as a biased endeavor where you're looking for the Three Cs, but I'm not sure I buy this. Seems to me that the Three Cs are just imprinted on the mind as a result of reality being what it is, whether you're looking for them or not, kind of in the way Ron describes. But I should learn more about Siff's methods. Not criticizing 'em per se.

I just stumbled upon Siff's book yesterday, and it had me gasping, laughing, and reading passages out loud to my patient and indulgent girlfriend, "Look, look, this happens all the time, but I have never seen it in print before!" It has validated many experiences that I have had on the path, both on and off the cushion. Siff writes of explicitly giving oneself permission to have the kinds of experiences that in fact do occur to contemporary practitioners.

It reminds me of Third Gear, in my limited understanding of it, just being with what is -- but especially including tensions between ideals and embedded assumptions about what one thinks one is supposed to be doing and what actually happens when one "tries to meditate".

I don't think he is advocating any particular practice, and his "recollective awareness" strikes me more as a meta-practice (pun noted) for how to do what works without getting stuck. Probably of greater interest and relevance to anyone who has experience with several schools, traditions, or practices than to a total beginner, the basic message of the book is along the lines of "work smarter not harder."

Direct link to the book: books.google.ca/books/about/Unlearning_M...0pxI1vIC&redir_esc=y

...and the Buddhist Geeks interviews:
www.buddhistgeeks.com/2010/08/bg-185-unlearning-meditation/
www.buddhistgeeks.com/2010/08/bg-186-a-d...roaching-meditation/

Thanks Eric. Beth is trying to get me to do more of this kind of thing, so I might well check out some of his audio.

Cheers
Andy