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Don Salmon replied to the topic Awareness and attention audio game in the forum Meditation 5 years, 6 months ago
thanks much for listening. We’re going to put together a video too; just working on it now:>)) (may be awhile though; we probably won’t get the youtube channel for this up for at least several weeks).
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Don Salmon started the topic Awareness and attention audio game in the forum Meditation 5 years, 6 months ago
Hi Folks:
If anybody would like to try this and provide feedback I’d be delighted to hear from you.
BASIC INSTRUCTIONS:
Initially, you’re being asked to listen with “narrow” attention (rigid, selective attention, as Culadasa might put it) to the piano melody alone, trying to push away everything else (kind of the way people often do breath…[Read more]
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Don Salmon replied to the topic Me and a wave in the forum Meditation 6 years ago
Bernadette – you get my vote for best post ever at Dharma Treasure Community.
waving at you waving being a wavicle intermingling, inter-playing, smiling, laughing inseparably with all other waves oceaning/Being together…….
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Don Salmon replied to the topic Guided Body Scan in the forum Meditation 6 years ago
oh, it also is extremely useful for lowering blood pressure for some people (not for me – but others have used it for this purpose)
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Don Salmon replied to the topic Guided Body Scan in the forum Meditation 6 years ago
Hi Matthew:
This may be different from what you’re looking for – I’ve used it since 1985 and have found it profoundly useful in many contexts. I have used it as the main means of recovering from severe back spasms; as a means of learning to transition from waking into a dream with full awareness, to fall asleep when having a bout of insomnia, and…[Read more]
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Don Salmon replied to the topic Helpful Videos on No-Self in the forum Dharma Audio, Video 6 years, 1 month ago
Hi JC:
No problem at all. Sam’s a bright guy, and besides, it’s always quite valuable to examine views that are different from the ones we hold. I make a point of reading right wing and left wing views online, and taking Julie’s suggestion, if you can see the aggregates that make up the empty views, it makes for a good foundation for equanimity,…[Read more]
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Don Salmon replied to the topic Helpful Videos on No-Self in the forum Dharma Audio, Video 6 years, 1 month ago
Excellent point, Julie. Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche also understands that looking into the “light of awareness” which is inseparable from boundless space, does give insight into the nature of the universe.
Sam Harris believes that a yogi sitting in a cave, as he describes it, doesn’t have any insight about anything but his own mind.
It’s this…[Read more]
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Don Salmon replied to the topic Helpful Videos on No-Self in the forum Dharma Audio, Video 6 years, 1 month ago
Just a note – Culadasa has written an excellent (though very brief) critique of Stephen Batchelor’s view of no-self in TMI. My sense is that he would apply the same critique to Sam Harris, who, while superficially appearing to present a no-self view similar to Buddhism, actually veers way over into the fundamental error of nihilism.
It could…[Read more]
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Don Salmon replied to the topic Hard Problem of Consciousness in the forum Meditation 7 years, 2 months ago
re: Just to be clear, are you saying that nama and rupa are two specifically different things?
Distinguishable, but not separate, not “inherently existent.”
Distinguishable in the same way an apple can be distinguished from an orange, without in any way compromising or negating the essential unity (but not uniformity!) of all.
****
I did think…[Read more]
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Don Salmon replied to the topic Hard Problem of Consciousness in the forum Meditation 7 years, 2 months ago
Sure. I would just recommend, at some point, talking with someone directly or actually studying some Buddhist philosophy on emptiness. There are, I’ve found, points at which such study can clarify issues that come up in practice. Culadasa has some good recommendations in the back of TMI.
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Don Salmon replied to the topic Hard Problem of Consciousness in the forum Meditation 7 years, 2 months ago
Hi 5adja5b:
I saw your post and initially wasn’t sure what I could say that would be helpful, without knowing more about you and your practice. However, this just occurred to me and perhaps it could help.
I did my doctoral dissertation on mindfulness and pain reduction. The way it originated was in doing work with pain patients in the mid…[Read more]
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Don Salmon replied to the topic Hard Problem of Consciousness in the forum Meditation 7 years, 2 months ago
Jevan, I think Culadasa’s book provides a helpful answer.
The question “Do you think your chair is conscious?” appears to me – if I understand the context correctly – to be based on the kind of perceptions and assumptions about the world, about chairs, and about consciousness that are taken for granted in the earlier stages.
If you read in…[Read more]
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Don Salmon replied to the topic General Announcements in the forum Dharma Treasure Community Information 7 years, 2 months ago
hi folks,
just wanted to stop by to update you on attention/awareness/brain info.
I’ve been trying to be very careful not to fall into the “brain localization” fallacy in an e-course on mindfulness and the brain I’ve been working on. In fact, many of you may be aware that Culadasa, in the endnotes to “Mind Illuminted,” does NOT identify…[Read more]
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Don Salmon replied to the topic Practices to help fall asleep in the forum Meditation 7 years, 4 months ago
http://www.swamij.com/online61.htm
I’ve used this exercise for many years to help with falling asleep. It may be similar to what Blake describes, as it involves attending to body sensations.
It may be different for many people, but something particularly interesting I find with it is I can predict with some precision the point at which I’m beg…[Read more]
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Don Salmon started the topic Music as an aid to discerning the difference between attention and awareness in the forum Meditation 7 years, 4 months ago
I was listening to this and thinking that it might be an interesting way to experience the distinction between attention and awareness. There is a steady sound in this (admittedly not profound or deeply artistic) music – often referred to as a drone – and there are changing melody notes occ…[Read more]
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Don Salmon replied to the topic What helps you overcome skeptical doubt? in the forum Principles of Dharma 7 years, 4 months ago
HI Paul:
It sounds to me like both folks are saying, “don’t be concerned for now about philosophic questions.” This is different from self-doubt. Do you really need to resolve this issue in order to motivate you to practice? If so, you might want to save that for an in-depth analytic meditation.
I’d also suggest if you possibly can, find…[Read more]
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Don Salmon replied to the topic General Announcements in the forum Dharma Treasure Community Information 7 years, 4 months ago
Aha! Just found it. Stephen Kosslyn, whom I assume you know. And here he is, declaring THERE IS NO LEFT BRAIN-RIGHT BRAIN DIVIDE:>))
There Is No Left Brain/Right Brain Divide
Just so you don’t lose heart in McGilchrist’s work, virtually every idea in Kosslyn’s 2013 article is painstakingly dealt with in…[Read more]
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Don Salmon replied to the topic General Announcements in the forum Dharma Treasure Community Information 7 years, 4 months ago
Aha! Just found it. Stephen Kosslyn, whom I assume you know. And here he is, declaring THERE IS NO LEFT BRAIN-RIGHT BRAIN DIVIDE:>))
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Don Salmon replied to the topic General Announcements in the forum Dharma Treasure Community Information 7 years, 4 months ago
What a delight to hear from both of you – and thank you for your permission, and yes, we will acknowledge you (and if we have any advanced online students – the course is primarily for beginners – recommend your book!).
Well, I tend to write a lot, so you both may regret asking me this question:>)) Here is something I just “jotted down” quickly…[Read more]
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Don Salmon replied to the topic General Announcements in the forum Dharma Treasure Community Information 7 years, 4 months ago
Blake, I have a question about copyright issues associated with Culadasa’s book. I hope this is an appropriate place to write this.
Jan (my wife) and I are developing an e-course on meditation and the brain. We came across Culadasa’s excellent book recently. We’re particularly taken with his distinction between selective attention and peripheral…[Read more]
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