Re: Buddhist / Bardon

["forestofsymbols" <forestofsymbols@...>]

Derrick, David, and group;

As way of disclaimer, I did practice Bardon's system for some time 
before moving on to other practices, including vipassana. I did 
complete step One, and may be able to shed a little light on the 
subject. I did not find that Buddhist meditation could be used as a 
subsitute for Bardon's exercises. 

Vipassana meditation is different from the beginning exercises. It 
is not about keeping your attention exclusively on one object, nor is 
it letting thoughts pass by. It is a state of attentive awareness 
with a focal point. Rather than intense, one-pointed concentration, 
it is described as a shallow concentration on the breath with a 
relaxed, but fully present attention on everything that arises in the 
mental field. The attention will drift, and be brought back to the 
breath again and again. The purpose of vipassana is to see things 
just as they are, while the mental exercises in Step One aim at 
cultivating specific mental states in preparation for further steps. 
It is supposed to effect a balance in two related mental states 
simultaneously: concentration and awareness. This state is also 
practiced in daily life.

As Jason pointed out, Buddhist mindfulness practices may produce 
results, but generally these results are not the result of specific 
intention. Bringing attention itself may produce transformations, but 
these transformations may be other than expected. There are other 
Buddhist practices which, like Bardon's steps, are aimed at specific 
results; however according to many experienced Buddhists such 
practices themselves can not produce insight. Accordingly, they are 
used as supplements generally at later stages.

The primary philosophical difference between the systems, at least 
at the early stages, is that vipassana seeks to see things as they 
are, and allow things to unfold on their own whereas Bardon's system 
aims at producing specific changes through the use of effort and 
intention. The final result may be the same, but the methods used are 
different, and in my opinion, opposing. As such, one path may 
undermine the other, like trying to cross a lake with each foot on a 
separate boat. My personal advice, for what it's worth, would be to 
choose the path that fits you rather than try to combine two 
different paths. 

mj