Whence Thinking? (For all ye TM/Vedic scholars)
Chet McCann
We all have thoughts. And it is all right to experience thoughts
during TM.
The general yogic tradition of India recognizes the existence of
multiple "bodies" in the human person. They are called by various
terms, including *kosa* or *kosha* (sheaths). Depending on the system,
usually between five and seven are differentiated. In English, the
terms are often translated as "physical", "etheric", "astral",
"mental", "buddhic", and so on.
Now what does TM teach is the source of everyday thougts? Is it the
brain (physical) or does this ordinary, familiar kind of thinking
originate from a deeper source? Another way to look at the question is
'when you go to the source of thought, what level do yoiu arrive at?'
Your thoughts on thoughts?
... Chet
sudarsha
in mammoth detail. Dogen (in Shobogenzo) looks at this question from a
multitude of perspectives. The Buddha himself points in this direction with
every utterance ("a nice story" was a simple example of following 'the
present' back to its origins): the teaching of dependent origination (what
Thich Nhat Hanh calls "interbeing" because all things 'inter are').
Maybe, in the end, we can only use the Heart Sutra (prajnaparamita hridaya)
to point the way (gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha): I wonder if
the very ancient Rishis summarised it as "I am that, Thou art that, all this
is that, only that is" -- finding the origins of thought leaves two options:
either you stand in awe of the phenomena, or you pass through into sunyata.
"Chet McCann" <mcca...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3a2c2eb0...@news.netidea.com...
Chet McCann
Interesting response.
I was coming at the question a little differently, though. For the
last hundred years if not longer, Western educated "scientific-minded"
people have realized the brain and everyday thinking are intimately
linked. We know that with TM and at least certain other meditation
methods, the brain tends toward quietness, until there are periods of
complete slilence ("transcending").
Now, my question is: is the ultimate goal simply quiet brain circuits,
or is this "chemical-electrical" level only a beginning?
As you may know, the evidence of parapsychology in the West, and the
testimony of yogic theory in Asia, generally holds that the physical
body (including the brain) cannot account for all phenomena of human
awareness and action.
So does TM take an experienced, veteran meditator simply to the basic
level of the physical, or beyond?
... Chet
On Tue, 5 Dec 2000 06:22:34 -0500, "sudarsha" <suda...@attcanada.ca>
wrote:
>What a delicious question! We see the abhidhamma delves into this question
>in mammoth detail. Dogen (in Shobogenzo) looks at this question from a
>multitude of perspectives. The Buddha himself points in this direction with
>every utterance ("a nice story" was a simple example of following 'the
>present' back to its origins): the teaching of dependent origination (what
>Thich Nhat Hanh calls "interbeing" because all things 'inter are').
>
>Maybe, in the end, we can only use the Heart Sutra (prajnaparamita hridaya)
>to point the way (gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha): I wonder if
>the very ancient Rishis summarised it as "I am that, Thou art that, all this
>is that, only that is" -- finding the origins of thought leaves two options:
>either you stand in awe of the phenomena, or you pass through into sunyata.
>
>"Chet McCann" <mcca...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:3a2c2eb0...@news.netidea.com...
-mikey
mcca...@hotmail.com (Chet McCann) wrote:
> Hi...
>
Hi Chet, ... seems to me that this question doesn't have *that* much to
do with TM, so I'll toss my two cents in the well. Hope you don't mind.
> We all have thoughts. And it is all right to experience thoughts
> during TM.
>
> The general yogic tradition of India recognizes the existence of
> multiple "bodies" in the human person. They are called by various
> terms, including *kosa* or *kosha* (sheaths). Depending on the system,
> usually between five and seven are differentiated. In English, the
> terms are often translated as "physical", "etheric", "astral",
> "mental", "buddhic", and so on.
>
My experience seems to be that "I" have different kinds of thoughts.
Apparently originating different "places" in me (more than likely
corresponding to those "sheaths"). There are the least significant,
but most prominent, thoughts of my everyday life. Like maybe
responding to a question from a friend at a coffee shop, thinking about
what I'll say at the meeting tonight, etc. These (physical) come in
digital form, words placed in sentence format. My feeling is that
these are the products of the brain. In meditation, I've found that
once these types of thoughts are transcended another "type" surface.
These are what I call analog thoughts (mental). They come
in "spherical" form. Like all at once, and can be quite large in scope
(the limit seems to be my small self's ability to grok them) and "go"
in every direction, at once. If I expand more, "my" thoughts
get "bigger" and eventually loose all size, but seem to encompass
everything, without a subject/object relationship, IOW "I" am
everything (being the Buddhic). In any event, they seem to *come* as a
result of need, rather than by any direction of "mine", altho this must
be the case because "I" have placed the need before myself. This seems
to be a very fine line. Where does life begin and end? Who's intent
is it to exist in the first place?
> Now what does TM teach is the source of everyday thougts? Is it the
> brain (physical) or does this ordinary, familiar kind of thinking
> originate from a deeper source?
>
No comment here. Didn't get the initiation, hope y'all don't mind.
> Another way to look at the question is when you go to the source
> of thought, what level do yoiu arrive at?'
>
You arrive at the source of thought. A *very large* level. Cosmic
Consciousness, IOW, the viewpoint of the Great Spirit.
> Your thoughts on thoughts?
>
There's a hundred books of discussion in this question, and a thousand
in the answer. Don't you love it?
-mikey (no thing against TM ... just a fellow meditator)
"Love all with the love you give to your parents, children, and other
dear ones. That all-inclusive love is the most wonderful consciousness."
--Paramahansa Yogananda
Love is a tune I can play with this human instrument. I direct the
tune, the body makes the music. My spirit does the dance of life and
death-not-death. But what is "I"? "Bº)
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
sudarsha
perspective is: it depends upon where you want to go.
The abhidhamma literature chronicles where others have gone, as do the other
sources I mentioned.
For a more Western type of neuro-science approach, you might be interested
in works by Francisco Varela and Christopher deCharms. I found The
Psychology of Awakening (Watson, Batchelor and Claxton) really interesting
as a "rational" but not necessarily science approach. Mark Epstein's
Thoughts Without a Thinker is much more science-based, but not exactly
science or, perhaps, science in the form of philosophy. HH the Dalai Lama
regularly meets with Harvard folks to talk about the science of mind. Gentle
Bridges is one such text in the series. I have also found Jon Kabat-Zinn's
Full Catastrophe Living to be a very science-based, rational approach to
using the body-mind's available resources to heal (not necessarily cure).
This doesn't exactly address your question, of course, in any detail. But,
as with my first response to your question, it depends upon what you want,
how hard you are willing to work for it and how much energy you have as an
individual to put into the necessary hard work.
I have a couple of tm friends hell-bent on enlightenment who have been
rounding for years and years. They are lucky, because the support I would
have thought necessary for this kind of endeavour is simply non-existent
(they are mostly on their own). What little they are willing to disclose
does not suggest the awakening of pre-existing pathology (a very good
thing). They don't seem "peculiar", that is, they don't seem to have outward
adverse affective indications. They do, however, have about them the "feel"
of having gone very far. But how far is far?
I have an analogy (for those with this year's Dilbert calendar, I hope the
analogy police will not get involved, nor Phil, the prince of Lesser Light).
It goes like this: if you are going to a particular store for a particular
thing and the store is at the end of a street with no other stores, you will
probably get what you want. If, however, the store is at the other end of
the mall and you have to go past or through many stores and are shown many
different items all similar to the thing you want, you may not make it to
the store that has exactly what you want. Or, by the time you get there, you
may be unsure of what you want.
The spiritual journey in today's spiritual market place is a bit more like
the mall. For people who grew up in ancient India or old Tibet, the path was
less distracting and more like the street with the store at the end.
I don't know if I subscribe to the theory that, in the end, all paths lead
to the same goal. Stamp-collecting, for example leads to a lot of stamps.
But if one goes about stamp-collecting with one-pointed awareness, if one
collects stamps rooted evermore in the moment, then maybe you end up with a
lot of stamps AND are closer to the ultimate goal. (HH the Dalai Lama's
book, The Meaning of Life, helps to clarify this.) I think it is much more a
matter of knowing what you are looking for and going after it. I am much in
admiration of the teaching stories of Ramakrishna (19th Century Bengali). He
compares the spiritual journey to a thief in the dark. Touch this (no, it
isn't gold). Tough that (no, it isn't gold). When he touches the gold, he
knows it for what it is and is gone.
gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha
When you get to the ultimate, then there is no more knower, no more knowing
and no more known, just sunya.
I don't think this actually has been helpful, but maybe it has.
"Chet McCann" <mcca...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3a2d130d...@news.netidea.com...
Lawson English
The latest theories of consciousness, from people like Penrose, Nanapolous
and so on, are concerned with the Quantum Mechanical nature of the most
fundamental nature of our nervous system and human consciousness.
Penrose considers QM interactions to be the _sine qua non_ of human-like
consciousness and pooh poohs the mechanistic concepts that you've presented.
in article 3a2d130d...@news.netidea.com, Chet McCann at
mcca...@hotmail.com wrote on 12/5/00 9:14 AM:
> sudarsha...
>
> Interesting response.
>
> I was coming at the question a little differently, though. For the
> last hundred years if not longer, Western educated "scientific-minded"
> people have realized the brain and everyday thinking are intimately
> linked. We know that with TM and at least certain other meditation
> methods, the brain tends toward quietness, until there are periods of
> complete slilence ("transcending").
>
> Now, my question is: is the ultimate goal simply quiet brain circuits,
> or is this "chemical-electrical" level only a beginning?
>
> As you may know, the evidence of parapsychology in the West, and the
> testimony of yogic theory in Asia, generally holds that the physical
> body (including the brain) cannot account for all phenomena of human
> awareness and action.
>
> So does TM take an experienced, veteran meditator simply to the basic
> level of the physical, or beyond?
>
> ... Chet
--
"It is very material that order, decency and
regularity, be preserved in a dignified public body."
-Thomas Jefferson, 1812, _A Manual of Parliamentary Practice_
"Who cares?" -Patrick J. Buchanan, 2000, Buchanan Reform Party Convention
--
Anthony
Chet McCann wrote in message <3a2c2eb0...@news.netidea.com>...
I think this is an extremely difficult question to ask, but not a reason not
to ask it.
I have been of the understanding that Being is the ultimate source of
thought and of anything in the relative field. And Being can be experienced
in TM when a person "transcends" (someone please correct me if I am wrong).
Obviously, other streams of thought and research have drawn different
conclusions or made different speculations about the source of thought. I
think the reason why your questions are difficult to answer is because such
answers would depend on answering other more fundamental questions. Some of
these are:
1. Can a person *experience* the source of thought?
2. If so, how does such a person *know* that they have arrived at the source
of thought? What are the criteria for knowing or experiencing the source of
thought? Is it actually silence (amongst other things)? Or something else?
Individuals claim to have very profound experiences during or as part of the
process of transcending. Some of them have said that the experience is much
more than silence, and suggest that what they experience is Being. And Being
is, at least, taught to be the source of relative existence (and is the
field in which thoughts belong). If we want to conduct some kind of third
party investigation, then one important thing that needs to be done is to
try to disentangle beliefs and experience as much as possible. In the first
innocent experience of transcending TM, what exactly is experienced? Does a
person automatically acknowledge their experience to be the source of
thought, or even the source of themselves and relative existence? Some
TM'ers here might like to offer a description of their first time
experiences, as may have occurred prior to interpretations being laid on
that experience by TM teachings.
Anyhoo... nice question. I don't have any answers. I have some private
notions that I would like to think are pretty accurate, but it's a tough one
to answer!
Cheers...
-- Anthony.
>
>... Chet
Chet McCann
<eng...@primenet.com> wrote:
>How do you know that it is only "chemical-electrical?"
>
>The latest theories of consciousness, from people like Penrose, Nanapolous
>and so on, are concerned with the Quantum Mechanical nature of the most
>fundamental nature of our nervous system and human consciousness.
>
>Penrose considers QM interactions to be the _sine qua non_ of human-like
>consciousness and pooh poohs the mechanistic concepts that you've presented.
>
>
Hi, Lawson...
Well, I have not presented a personal theory of consciousness,
mechanistic or otherwise.
What I did say is that in the tradition of India (and Tibet, ancient
China, etc) a human being has been seen as a composite of levels or
sheaths, physical, etheric, etc.
Then I asked our n.g. participants where they believe our everyday
thoughts originate. And where we feel (level-wise) we "transcend to"
via TM.
It's not that I want to set the terms of this discussion by way of
what may be outdated concepts of Western physics. But remember that in
Asia the concepts of levels or sheaths are empirical.
... Chet
Stu
mcca...@hotmail.com wrote on 12/4/00 4:02 PM:
> Your thoughts on thoughts?
>
> ... Chet
We are born into this world simply "being". Without filtering the world it
appears before and around us as us. Pure consciousness. In a room as an
infant something noisy falls and we cry. We see light and we laugh. No I
no object. Just being. Infant means non-talker.
To survive we need to put an imaginary grid on the world to give it sense.
I is separated from object. Objects are separated. Food, mom, bed, TV,
stupid big brother. This is the mirror stage. This orientation of the
imaginary grid shapes the self.
Eventually the objects take on a symbolic representation that takes us
further from the Real (being). Thus we categorize the world through the
symbols (gestures, words). In order to express desire within environment
we use Language (expression). For example we call out "Ma!" to get a bottle.
Language exerts its influence in the mind. The process of developing
symbolic expression of the world is thought. This is cross cultural.
Language is as much of a physical human attribute as arms and legs.
As we fall deeper into the symbolic world (necessitated by survival, an
understandable desire) we get further away from the real.
Thought is a subtle level of Language. It is expression of desire. Yoga
works to cease the fluctuations of the mind. The turmoil of Language. It
is a momentary return to being.
--
~Stu
Lawson English
mcca...@hotmail.com wrote on 12/6/00 9:16 AM:
>
> It's not that I want to set the terms of this discussion by way of
> what may be outdated concepts of Western physics. But remember that in
> Asia the concepts of levels or sheaths are empirical.
No. They are experiential, which isn't quite the same thing.
While there may be some obvious (to 21st Century Medical technology) reason
why some sage/guru/saint/yogi/etc might claim to have levels or layers or
sheaths of "self," that doesn't mean that the internal interpretation makes
any sense to an outsider. OTOH, perception of color, texture, etc., while
also experiential, DO have some component to the perception that makes sense
to outside observers.
As it happens, the current theory on "pure consciousness" and "Self"
suggests that these are phenomena of the brain stem, which may mean that
every living creature has some degree of "Self" inherent in being alive.
IOW, the "highest self" is also the lowest -the most fundamental.
sudarsha
the foundation and seek attributions of achievement by association. While
Penrose and Nanapolous (is this the correct spelling?) may indeed give
accountings for the quantum/mathematical nature of consciousness or whether
a quantum field actually generates consciousness or whether something yet
unthought, yet undiscovered is responsible, this is unlikely to be very
helpful for the thinking individual (whether or not "thinking" comes from
physical, electro-chemical or mystical sources).
For the individual who aspires to transcend the relative world and
experience the increasingly subtle levels of awareness, quantum physics,
Newtonian physics or Aristotelian explanations are of little importance and
possibly less value. It is only a matter of thought itself, whatever labels
or explanations are attached to it.
It is, to quote S. N. Goenka, a matter of experience, not explanation.
Having experienced thought for nearly 6 decades, it is still unclear to me
"where it comes from" -- what is important is that it comes. If it stops,
who will start it? Whether quantum physics or Zen parables will explain it
is of very little importance: knowledge is structured in consciousness, for
the one who does not know (have) this consciousness, what will the words
mean? An enigma, a conundrum, a paradox?
So, what is important? The explanation may actually lie in the opening of
the Science of Being: to be is to live. Thought is an expression of life, as
moving branches in a tree express an invisible wind. Thought just is. It,
like life itself, may actually not arise. It may just be. We can get really
crazy wondering what was before the big bang, for example.
The solution, if there is one, can only be to follow the thought back to its
origins and see where it came from. Certainly tm does not permit us to do
this. I have heard reports from long-term tm-ers that seem to indicate an
awareness of great subtlety, but not of matching articulation. I can only
refer to the abhidhamma literature where we do encounter very clear, very
articulate accounts, step-by-step, of this progression from gross to subtle.
(The origins of these explanations, however, is not founded in concentrative
practise, but in increasing awareness of the thought itself.)
We don't hear from m any explanation for the source of thought (unless
"being" is somehow an explanation). I am not convinced that there is even a
"best way" to go about solving the riddle -- it is more a matter of finding
what is best for one's own composition of electro-chemical limitations and
abilities.
This is, again, not really helpful and does not really address your question
except obliquely. But, maybe something worthwhile can come of it.
"Chet McCann" <mcca...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3a2e64e0...@news.netidea.com...
| On Tue, 05 Dec 2000 18:00:13 -0700, Lawson English
| <eng...@primenet.com> wrote:
|
| >How do you know that it is only "chemical-electrical?"
| >
| >The latest theories of consciousness, from people like Penrose,
Nanapolous
| >and so on, are concerned with the Quantum Mechanical nature of the most
| >fundamental nature of our nervous system and human consciousness.
| >
| >Penrose considers QM interactions to be the _sine qua non_ of human-like
| >consciousness and pooh poohs the mechanistic concepts that you've
presented.
| >
| >
|
| Hi, Lawson...
|
| Well, I have not presented a personal theory of consciousness,
| mechanistic or otherwise.
|
| What I did say is that in the tradition of India (and Tibet, ancient
| China, etc) a human being has been seen as a composite of levels or
| sheaths, physical, etheric, etc.
|
| Then I asked our n.g. participants where they believe our everyday
| thoughts originate. And where we feel (level-wise) we "transcend to"
| via TM.
|
| It's not that I want to set the terms of this discussion by way of
| what may be outdated concepts of Western physics. But remember that in
| Asia the concepts of levels or sheaths are empirical.
|
| ... Chet
sudarsha
Without this understanding, it is like explaining international economics to
a starving person, isn't it. Or reading a cookbook when hungry. Simple,
practical, fundamental: this is where we live and this is where we grow as
humans and spiritual beings.
"Stu" <nos...@no.spam> wrote in message news:B653D124.A08%nos...@no.spam...
| in article 3a2c2eb0...@news.netidea.com, Chet McCann at
| mcca...@hotmail.com wrote on 12/4/00 4:02 PM:
|
| > Your thoughts on thoughts?
| >
| > ... Chet
|
Lawson English
suda...@attcanada.ca wrote on 12/6/00 2:58 PM:
>
> The solution, if there is one, can only be to follow the thought back to its
> origins and see where it came from. Certainly tm does not permit us to do
> this. I have heard reports from long-term tm-ers that seem to indicate an
> awareness of great subtlety, but not of matching articulation. I can only
> refer to the abhidhamma literature where we do encounter very clear, very
> articulate accounts, step-by-step, of this progression from gross to subtle.
> (The origins of these explanations, however, is not founded in concentrative
> practise, but in increasing awareness of the thought itself.)
How do you know what TM does or doesn't permit one to do?
Just because the run-of-the-mill long-term meditator doesn't write masterful
descriptions of some sublime non-experience, doesn't mean that they don't
have "familiarity" with the same.
Remember that public discussions of experiences during meditation are
generally discouraged, and the oldest meditators would be the most likely to
take the value of silence to heart and not say much in public (or private).
Lon
"Lawson English" <eng...@primenet.com> wrote in message
news:B6541601.12B97%eng...@primenet.com...
> Just because the run-of-the-mill long-term meditator doesn't write
masterful
> descriptions of some sublime non-experience, doesn't mean that they don't
> have "familiarity" with the same.
>
> Remember that public discussions of experiences during meditation are
> generally discouraged, and the oldest meditators would be the most likely
to
> take the value of silence to heart and not say much in public (or
private).
>
That's right Lawson, you tell him. Just because no one has seen someone fly
does not mean that they don't. Just because we don't know of a cure for
aids, does not preclude some researcher from keeping it to them selves.
Lawson, you are so full of sh*t. You know very well every positive
experience is repeated and printed endlessly. It is only the negative
experiences that are not passed around. And the oldest meditators are most
likely to keep the secrets of damage done by TM.
Steve Ralph
ROTFL!! Hey, I'm so damaged after all these years of TM, I am too
screwed up to tell anyone, and have this overriding compulsion to keep
it all secret. Wow, Loon, you've got our number!
But you never know, Loon may one day break through his brainwashing,
and say something positive and uplifting about something or somebody.
< Cue Loon hate-filled diatribe>
Steve Ralph
Lon
the movement, presented by Denaro. An old document that is still relevant
and insightful after all these years. All that has changed is the name and
faces of the victims.
ANTHONY D. DENARO, an attorney admitted to the practice of law in the State
of New York, affirms under penalties of perjury that:
1. I reside at 151 Littleworth Lane, Sea Cliff, New York 11579.
2. On or about August 1975 I was invited to the MIU campus in Fairfield,
Iowa by Steve Drucker, an attorney at law, who was Executive Vice President
of, Maharishi International University.
3. I was hired as a professor of law and economics, and began teaching in
September 1975. However, I returned home briefly (Long Island) to complete
travel arrangements, arrange to lease our house to tenants, and bring my
wife to the campus.
4. Prior to coming to MIU I was a professor of law and economics at Hofstra
University, Adelphi University Graduate School, and Cornell University
School of Labor and Industrial Relations. I was admitted to practice in New
York in 1964, and began teaching law and economics at graduate and
undergraduate levels in September 1964.
5. On November 21, 1975 I began work as Director of Grants Administration at
MIU, and had over-all responsibility for all of the grants and funding
programs including World Plan Executive Council- United States (WPEC-US).
I was also legal counsel and reported directly to either Ed Tarabilda, Vice
President of Legal Affairs and/or Steve Druker, Executive Vice President. In
addition, I had a full time teaching schedule in economics and business law.
Prior to coming to MIU I was initiated into the practice of TM.
My wife worked at MIU as an administrator and researcher, and we resided in
Frat #108. I continued to work as a professor of law and economics until my
last day on campus, July 13, 1975.
6. Within a week, after reviewing tax matters and previously submitted grant
applications to federal, state and private agencies (public and private) it
was obvious to me that organization was so deeply immersed in a systematic,
wilful pattern of fraud including tax fraud, lobbying problems and other
deceptions, that it was ethically impossible for me to become involved
further as legal counsel.
I discussed this with Steve Druker, but agreed to remain as Director of
Grants provided certain conditions and restrictions were met. In practice,
however, because I recognized a very serious and deliberate pattern of
fraud, designed, in part, to misrepresent the TM movement as a science (not
as a cult), and fraudulently claim and obtain tax exempt status with the
IRS, I was a lame duck Director of Grants Administration.
The only project I initiated was an internal education program with valid
and rigorous academic and scholarly demands. (Not very popular with many of
the faculty, who were inclined more towards mysticism than academically
sound content).
In effect, I was nominally Director of Grants, and when time permitted I
attended outside symposia for grants procurement. As noted, the fraud and
deceptions vis a vis IRS and government agencies was so systematic and
wilful, and known to lawyers Steve Druker and Ed Tarabilda, that it was not
ethically possible to work in this capacity.
Occassionally[sic], on an ad hoc basis, where the legal issues did not
present any ethical question, I was able to render legal service.
No part of any information disclosed here is privileged, and was not
obtained through an attorney- client relationship.
6.[sic] I continued as professor of law and economics, and nominally (except
for a limited, strictly academic proposal) as Director of Grants, and, in
effect, quit as legal counsel to MIU and WPEC-US before December 1975.
7. In my capacity as professor, Sy (Seymour) Migdal, Dean of the College of
Arts & Sciences and Faculty Affairs tried to exercise improper and
academically unsound control over the curricula. Ultimately all of the
course content in any discipline was controlled by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Business law and economics was somehow, through some tortured manipulation
and drastic tampering with content, supposed to be subordinate to SCI,
Science of Creative Intelligence. SCI in reality was a peculiar blend of
mysticism, voodoo academics, bastardized Hinduism (bona fide religious
Hindus and gurus are appalled by the debasement of a major world religion),
hucksterism, pop-philosophy and pseudo-science.
For example, in a basic macro-micro economics, first year course, I've been
teaching for ten (10) years at Hofstra University, I spent a little time on
Irving Fisher (1867-1947), a professor of economics known for his quantity
theory of money. Fisher is a useful bridge for understanding John Maynard
Keynes. Sy Migdal wanted me to teach some esoteric mysticism Fisher
apparently was involved in, and delete the only real economic content of the
course.
This would be somewhat analogous to teaching about Einstein's
stamp-collection or, worse, demon worship, for example, of a pioneering
medical researcher like Pasteur. In sum, the course would have little
academic merit if Migdal and the Maharishi had their way.
The normal criteria and obstacles towards acquiring accreditation from North
Central States Associates of Colleges and Universities was surmounted in
large measure, to the best of my knowledge and belief, by their association
with Paul Silverman, Chairman of North Central's Commission on Institutions
of Higher Education. Professor Silverman was a trustee of MIU, a clear
conflict of interest.
Per letter for distribution to the trustees and others of November 25, 1975,
Ed Tarabilda, an attorney, Vice President of Legal Affairs and Secretary to
the Board of Trustees, writes that Paul Silverman is being nominated for
trustee: "As you know, Paul Silverman serves as the Chairman of North
Central's Commission on Instructions of Higher Education, and was very
influential in our gaining the status of candidacy for accreditation."
Migdal, Druker, Tarabilda and the Maharishi, for example, relied heavily in
their contact and relationship with Silverman to acquire accreditation. In
reality, the course content, syllabi, course descriptions were so seriously
tampered with and camouflaged to make them appear bona fide and academically
sound, that a wilful, systematic fraud was present.
The course in every discipline, humanities, arts, social and behavioral
sciences, and the physical sciences, which had to be subordinate to SCI,
were essentially worthless. The final arbiter, who exercised day-to-day
control over curricula and content was Maharishi. The control was exercised
by telex and telephone even when Maharishi was at MERU in Switzerland or
elsewhere.
In psychology, the manipulative adulteration and dilution of the course was
so substantial, as to constitute a hazard to the usually impressionable and
naive students. Maharishi personally told me in early December 1975 that
western psychology was "no good" and not "natural."
The only course with real academic content, to my knowledge, were the ones I
taught, since I insisted on teaching undiluted and unfiltered economics and
law without the over-riding ideology of SCI. It is inconceivable that the
curricula and course materials could have received proper scrutiny and
evaluation by the accreditation committee.
9. The deliberate pattern and practice of fraud, deceit and
misrepresentation by knowledgeable, aware, educated and intelligent people,
including lawyers, Tarabilda and Druker in tax (IRS) matters, corruption of
the curricula, inter alia, is very pertinent and material to understanding
and gaining some insight into how and why the practices of the defendants
was able to continue without interruption for so long. It also suggests why
they are seeking to cover-up a very substantial and injurious pattern of
deception, fraud and corruption:
They demonstrate, for example, that:
a) The Movement, the defendants, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, WPEC-US, and
Maharishi International University (MIU) were so committed to advancing the
organization and its ideology that they were, and are, very willing to
violate the law and engage in criminal behavior;
b) Essentially the attitude and philosophy was, and, to my knowledge, is
now: "anything goes";
c) There is religiously based justification for this criminal conduct in
Hindu texts, for example, the colloquy between Arjuna and Lord Krishna;
d) Scienter [informed or guilty knowledge] was clearly present in the
frauds, but was justified in the name of a higher ideology, which presumably
means they can lie, come into a federal court, and commit perjury;
e) More significantly, an understanding of their wilful deceits and
machinations in these areas, provides a useful insight and perspective into
the more serious areas resulting in psychological and physical injury to
very vulnerable, and easily manipulated young men and women;
f) If it can be demonstrated that the zealous, and often fanatical, educated
people, including lawyers associated with the TM cult, are willing, even
eager, to engage in an active, deliberate, systematic pattern and practice
of major fraud involving hundreds of millions of dollars against the federal
government, it might reasonably be inferred that they are willing to deceive
and injure (if necessary) innocent and very vulnerable private citizens,
i.e., young students; and,
g) Has specific and direct relevance to actual allegations in the
plaintiff's complaint.
10. The inside, confidential files and correspondence from and between
Edward Tarabilda, attorney for MIU and Charley Egner, State
Coordinator-Ohio, 1818 W. Lane Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43221: (614) 486-9298)
and IMS (International Meditation Society) and illegal deceits to avoid the
consequences of IRS Sec. I-501(c) (3) et seq, sheds important light on a
multi-million dollar tax fraud over a couple of decades.
See, for example, Charley Egner's letter of 10/25/75 to Edward Tarabilda.
Egner writes: ..."the report (for lobbying) was written in the first person,
so Guy would seem independent from the organization." (emphasis added)
Steven L. Schwartz, an attorney and MIU Director of Legal Affairs, answering
in Tarabilda's absence, in his response of 12/17/75 writes: "If you have an
'outside' party willing to lobby...." The letter suggests how to conceal an
integral and ineluctable connection of presumably "independent" lobbyists
from the TM movement and/or World Plan Center.
Similar correspondence between and among Tarabilda or Schwartz, inter alia,
Ginny Hafner, Secretary to the midwest regional TM program (RR3, Box 67,
Long Grove Road, Barrington, Ill., 60010; (312) 381-1610), letter of
6/23/75, Amy Roosevelt of 124 High St., Denver, Colo. 80218 (303)-722-3825),
Tim Gautherat, Chairman of IMS at 248 S. Adams, Birmingham, Mich. 48005
(6/11/75, ltr.), contacts with Lt. Governor Bill Christensen of New Mexico;
and, other correspondence with, among others, Jerry Jarvis, Director of WPEC
in Los Angeles concerning, for example, the behind-the-scenes lobbying by
the secret world-wide network of 108's are particularly instructive on the
attitude, ethics and duplicity of high ranking cult leaders and lawyers in
pursuit of the Holy Grail.
11. I have read an affidavit consisting of one and a half pages, sworn and
subscribed to by Professor John W. Patterson on June 30, 1986, and agree
with his observations and conclusions.
At para 3, page 1, Professor Patterson suggests more than "gross scientific
incompetence" is involved and believes the misrepresentations are the result
of "dishonesty, deliberate deceit and fraud." I agree unequivocally.
The deceptions are systematic and planned. My personal and professional
experience over the last 12 years (since 1975) convince me that the
leadership and upper echelon, for a variety of reasons, ideological and
economic, has systematically and wilfully deceived the federal government,
state and local governments, private and public funding sources and
agencies, the students, and inter alia, the general public about the nature,
purpose and consequences of the TM-Sidhi and SCI programs.
Some deceptions have economic or financial consequences: for example, a
massive and deliberate fraud against the federal government. However, a
disturbing number of wilful deceits have the potential for serious
psychological and physical trauma, particularly among young, impressionable
uncritical and very vulnerable young men and women.
12. The deceptions are intricate, fairly sophisticated, intentional, and are
mainly designed to sell or market TM. I've also read the affidavit of Bevan
H. Morris, President of MIU, and find that it is replete with transparently
false statements.
Professor Morris, in his 6/19/86 affidavit, resorts to standardized, canned
script propaganda, written and disseminated to an uni[n]formed public over
the last several decades to support his application. The only genuine
observation he makes about the need for confidentiality and protection for a
trade secret appears at the end of para. 24-4, i.e. they need the trade
secret shield "to protect the economic viability of defendants."
Actually there is no difference at all between other meditation techniques,
and TM except the much- publicized propaganda and advertising claims. Dr.
Robert Benson's Relaxation Response, for example, produces with less time
and effort, a safer result. It also spares the meditator from using nonsense
mantras with mystical undercurrents. It's also a lot cheaper: a three dollar
paperback (or newspaper article) versus $125.00 [now $1,000] for an
"exclusive, tailor-made" mantra. (Actually not exclusive, as they falsely
and deliberately claimed for years.)
The extent and scope of the deception before, during and after becoming
"initiated" (their term) into TM-Sidhi programs is so vast and far-reaching
with enormous potential for severe injury, and, even death, that it is
impossible, within this necessarily abbreviated brief, to document it all.
At para. 17, President Morris claims "heightened intellectual clarity." As a
professor who taught at MIU that claim is false. The effect is the opposite:
a spaced-out, unfocused, zombie-like automaton, incapable of critical
thinking is the more usual "benefit" of prolonged meditation.
In fact, meditation was used as an excuse (probably valid) by my students
for not completing a project much in the way a "virus" or "the flu"
debilitates the average college student. The consequences of intensive, or
even regular, meditation was so damaging and disruptive to the nervous
system, that students could not enroll in, or continue with, regular
academic programs.
Many of my students offered as an excuse for not being able to sit for an
examination or write a paper, the fact that they had a "bad meditation" or
just "got off rounding" (group TM) and haven't gotten "back to earth yet."
13. The source of my statement that the deceptions existed, were substantial
and material, were intentional, and have detrimental consequences are my
personal and professional observations (I lived on campus with faculty,
staff and students), internal "secret" correspondence (not privileged),
president council meetings, faculty senate meetings, executive sessions and
conferences with MIU and WPEC-US hierarchy.
The individuals I spoke to included, but are not limited to, Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi, on or about December 6-9, 1975 on campus (at least two private
conferences while he presided over a physics conference at MIU), Keith
Wallace ([then])President), Steve Druker, Steve Schwartz, Sy Migdal, Robert
Winquist ([then]Vice President), Ed Tarabilda, Dean of Students Dennis
Raimundi, Robin Babov, Professors Michael Weinless, Barbara Edison, and
Franklin Mason, Vice President David Clay (Vice President of Administration)
and psychologist Jonathan Shapiro.
14. A simple review of internal correspondence reflects the inconsistency
between the outward, sanitized, "safe" public image they try to present, and
the frequently dangerous reality of TM-Sidhi techniques.
A disturbing denial or avoidance syndrome, and even outright lies and
deception, are used to cover-up or sanitize the dangerous reality on campus
of very serious nervous breakdowns, episodes of dangerous and bizarre
behavior, suicidal and homicidal ideation, threats and attempts, psychotic
episodes, crime, depression and manic behavior that often accompanied
roundings (intensive group meditations with brainwashing techniques).
Euphemisms are employed to describe essentially dangerous, unstable and
injurious behavior. "Unstressing," for example, "Baking" is another.
For example, a memo dated 5/21/75 from Dean Sluyter, a copy of which is
annexed (with original markings and notations) to Jon Shapiro, the head of
psychological services, acknowledges that rounding results in bizarre
behavior. The memo notes that it includes a recommendation from the
President's Council [of MIU].
The effectiveness of a course leader depends largely on his ability to
maintain and manifest a fee[t]-on-the-ground, non-rounding perspective.
Constant immersion in the usually "baked" atmosphere of a long rounding
course presents a challenge to that perspective.
Course leaders in Europe have a notorious tendency to get baked.
Jonathan Shapiro, and other experienced Forest Academy and TTC leaders, in a
moment of candor, have personally acknowledged that rounding can result in a
nervous breakdown. However, this is not the term they prefer to use.
15. The care and attention devoted to maintaining the right and proper image
is illustrated from this excerpt from the President's Council Meeting
minutes of 5/28/75.
The BBC are scheduled to visit MIU on June 3-5 to film a documentary...
Everything we can possibly do to prepare for the visit including the
elimination of all objects in the Bookstore resembling Indian handicrafts
such as tapestries, brass incense holders, etc., and the incense must be
discretely displayed.
All Indian objects will be removed from the Bookstore. It was felt by
members of the Council that MIU must project a conservative image that is,
as Jon Shapiro put it, "as American as apple pie." We should be
"supersensitive" to what we are doing and it should be a matter of policy
that we do not have anything Indian in the Store.
16. The TM-Sidhi movement makes absurd claims that meditation reduces
collective stress, crime, violence and assorted social problems. This is
contradicted by their own experiences within the MIU community.
a) "Ed Tarabilda wrote a letter to the boy who allegedly stole a Puja
[brass, initiation] set suggesting that if he has it in his possession it
would be wise to return it." (President's Council Meeting, minutes 7/3/75.)
b) Upon information and belief a married couple experienced psychotic
episodes and manifested irrational and bizarre behavior in the summer and
early fall of 1975. This may have been related to the following excerpt from
the minutes of the President's Council Meeting of 10/15/75.
The situation of Phil and Madeline Simon was discussed, and the Council
agreed that they should be asked to leave the campus immediately. A note to
this effect was drawn up and delivered to them by Campus Security. The
Council felt it would be better for MIU if they left the state as well.
c) Another example of how a meditating community reduces crime:
MIU PERSONNEL CHARGED WITH CRIMES The Council discussed the policy of MIU
with regard to volunteers who commit crimes. A recent incident involved the
alleged theft of a bicycle from a paper boy by an MIU volunteer who works
for Food Services. It was felt by the Council that because MIU is in the
eyes of the public at all times, it should not be necessary to retain
volunteers who have these kinds of social problems. If guilty he will be
asked to leave MIU. (Minutes, Pres. Council Mtg., 7/16/75)
d)
The case of Gary and Patsy Wells was discussed. This couple has been asked
to leave MIU because of unsuitable work and behavior... it was felt we
should offer to financially assist them to get to their families in
Wichita... (Minutes, Pres. Council Mtg., 10/8/75)
There were meditators who experienced serious breakdowns during and
following meditation. MIU and the counselling staff usually opted for
banishment in these cases, although their practices often triggered mental
breakdowns. Many students who experienced severe and uncontrollable trauma
from meditation came to me for assistance and counselling since Jonathan
Shapiro and his staff were punitive and hostile in their "therapeutic"
approach.
Banishing people who have problems not only from the campus, but attempting
to keep them out of the state [Iowa] through extortion, threats or
intimidation is not unusual. In many cases, the problems are precipitated or
worsened by TM-Sidhi practices and/or by activities of the TM hierarchy.
Essentially they cause the problem, blame the victim for his or her
breakdown, and then threaten them with injury or other means if they don't
leave the state permanently.
17. The affidavit of Joanna Feinberg of 6/20/86 submitted to the USDC is so
patently false and joltingly absurd that Mrs. Feinberg must be testifying
falsely with scienter or guilty knowledge of its fabrication.
It is absolutely false to state that no claims were ever made about
reversing the "ageing process," "perfect health," "purified nervous system,"
"personal enlightenment," or "prevention of misfortune or difficulties" in
TTC introductory courses by any individual teaching under the auspices of
WPEC- US.
This is directly contradicted by, inter alia:
a) Scores of papers written by my students in a writing course. In a
typical, non-cult college or university students might volunteer to write
about "how I spent my summer vacation." At MIU they write about "how I
achieved eternal bliss consciousness in ten easy lessons, and loved every
ecstatic cosmic moment."
b) Hundreds of conversations, interviews, term papers, class discussions
inter alia, with students who took similar courses under WPEC-US auspices.
c) In the Spring of 1976, I took a course in Science of Creative
Intelligence. (I was pressured into it by Steve Druker and Sy Migdal.)
Basically I had to attend the course to retain my position as professor of
law and economics although it had absolutely no relationship to my
qualifications or competence in my teaching and research disciplines.
Not only were these claims about "personal health," inter alia, made , but
the instructor, a young man, made the astounding claim in class that higher
consciousness, achieved through regular meditation over a long period of
time, would make the meditator impervious to the effects of a tornado (a
major risk in this part of the country).
Most of the vague nonsense of "purified nervous system" (in fact everything
Joanna Feinberg claims is not part of the course) I left unchallenged.
However, since there were about 30 young, very impressionable and gullible
men and women in the class, I questioned him further. He literally meant
that physically a person would be left unscathed if a tornado swept him or
her away.
Several weeks later, about three or four in the morning I was awakened by
noise and excitement outside of my dorm. A twister (and possibly more than
one) was west of the campus in the direction of Ottumwa and clearly visible.
The students were outside their frats (dorms) in their nightclothes to test
their "supernatural" powers. No one was injured simply because the twister
did not hit the campus. Nevertheless scores of students believed (I
questioned them the next day) that somehow the meditation safeguarded them.
18. These experiences and myths perpetrated by the TM cult might appear
humorous or silly, but in fact I saw many casualties from their
irresponsible lies and deceptions. Teaching methodology, for example, is
actually indoctrination or brain washing and one of the very few (perhaps
only) classes where genuine learning was attempted was in my classroom.
19. I have more than five (5) years family court law guardian experience and
work with young drug abuses and addicts. In addition, I was involved in
implementing a drug addiction program in Nassau County, New York. My
observation and experience of some of the erratic and volatile "unstressing"
(actually nervous breakdowns) on campus was similar to the reactions I've
observed from people who had a "bad trip" or "freaked-out" from dangerous
hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD.
20. In early December 1975, while the Maharishi was on campus, I spent a
great deal of time trying to persuade him to adopt a more honest, less
commercial, approach to meditation, the Sidhi courses, the curricula, the
disguised religious element masquerading as a science, inter alia.
He was aware, apparently for some time, of the problem, suicide attempts,
assaults, homicidal ideation, serious psychotic episodes, depressions, inter
alia, but his general attitude was to leave it alone or conceal it because
the community would lose faith in the TM movement.
21. Maharishi had a very cavalier, almost elitist, view about very serious
injuries and trauma to meditators. His basic attitude towards the
concealment of the religious nature of TM was: "When America is ready for
Hinduism I will tell them."
22. The claims of flying and levitation in the Sidhi courses are more than
just false and dishonest, and an ambitious, cynical money making scheme by a
group of cosmic merchants. They are exceedingly dangerous to a small, but
significant, percentage of people who believe this and uncritically accept
these outlandish claims.
23. In his more subtle and very sophisticated way Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and
his charlatanism is [sic] a far more destructive and dangerous cult leader
than Jim Jones who induced more than 900 people to commit suicide in Guyana.
24. Based on specific and personal observations and knowledge, inter alia,
there is no question, but that the Maharishi had prior and actual notice and
knowledge of the detrimental consequences of some meditative and Sidhi
practices. However, he made a conscious decision and choice a long time ago
to make money, develop a world-wide network of TM-SCI-Sidhi programs,
irrespective of the trauma he caused to many vulnerable and uninformed
people who were willing to trust him.
The above 9 page affirmation by an attorney is the equivalent of an
affidavit in New York, and is true to the best of my knowledge and belief.
[signed]ANTHONY D. DENARO
DATED:
July 16, 1986
Sea Cliff, New York
"Steve Ralph" <sra...@borealis.com> wrote in message
news:3a2f8040...@news.dircon.co.uk...
Lon
that fits your comments closer. They are only allegations and no one was
charged. See below.
"Dan" <nos...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3a3035f3.39303526@news-server...
> On Thu, 7 Dec 2000 08:20:03 -0500, "Lon" <LonPS@ HotMail,com> wrote:
>
> Those are pretty serious allegations. Who was charged and who was
> convicted? After 25 years, they must almost be eligible for parole.
>
> Dan
>
The Maharishi's Children:
Childhood in the Movement
When you think of "Heaven on Earth" what images pop into your mind? If you
were told that by following a few simple techniques your life would become
this "Heaven" would you follow them? Many of the followers of the TM
movement were given this promise.
I was a movement child. I was born into this "Heaven" in the year 1972.
My mother started meditating when she was 17. I was born when she was 22.
She married my adoptive father who she met on a Teacher Training Course in
La Antillia, Spain. At this course there was no hot water where we were
staying. My mother said it was very cold. Parents were washing their
children's diapers in cold water. There was a nursery where kids went
sometimes. Other times children were left in rooms in playpens for hours,
which I have found was a common occurrence on the early days of the courses.
Sometimes babies screamed all night while their parents attended
round-the-clock sessions.
Today many people come up to me with stories of what a "blissful" baby I
was. "I remember the time you gave Maharishi a flower. You were so radiant."
Yeah, right. That's the "bliss ninny" version. According to others, I spent
a great deal of time screaming uncontrollably -- like so many of the other
babies.
While at the course I suffered a severe burn to my left arm. My mother says
I rolled up against a space heater while I was sleeping. I was not sleeping
in the same room as her I guess. I've asked how she couldn't notice. I must
have screamed -- I have a scar from my wrist to my elbow.
In 1973 we moved to Colorado to start our new life. We lived in Denver,
Greeley and Fort Collins. My parents always lived around their movement
friends. During program time I would be expected to entertain myself an
hour-and-a-half or two hours at a time.
My mom told me of a time where I was screaming, locked in the room next to
theirs. Although I was screaming for over an hour, they didn't come and get
me.
I was a very angry little girl. My anger was the topic of conversation
within my parents' group of friends. I was only two at this time.
Shortly after we got back from the course my mother went on another course,
leaving me with my father and one of their friends. This woman has now been
clinically diagnosed with Bi-Polar disorder. My father and she had an
affair. I was ignored.
Later my father went and joined my mother on the course. I was now cared for
by a woman and her boyfriend -- I think the woman was from the Center or
something. The woman was very nice, but her boyfriend thought it was funny
to tell me my mother would never be coming home. I would get very angry and
tell him she was coming home. Every night I would lie in bed, repeating to
myself, "She will come back, she will come back." I remember sitting on a
rock and wishing I could kill myself. I was two years old.
My mother got pregnant with my brother at this time. We spent a lot of time
at the center. I was allowed to play downstairs while my parents taught TM
or did program for hours.
In the basement of the center one particular man would play with me,
tickling, touching, fondling. I liked to play games, and I was proud of how
well I could keep a secret.
Life was pretty much the same for the next couple of years. My brother was
born. My parents continued their involvement with the movement. They were
not happy together, they fought a lot about money and how they should spend
it.
There was always enough money for the TM courses and the Sidhis.
When my mother would go to courses, sometimes for months, I became my
father's surrogate wife. I mean, I was not like his daughter, I was like his
mistress. He would dress me up and have me model clothes for him. I slept in
his bed with him. He had other affairs while she was away, too.
My mother called him from a course and told him they were going to have a
celibate marriage. "Maybe you are, but I'm not," he said.
My parents were meditating at the center on St. Paul street in Denver. My
3-year-old brother and I (7 years old) were left in a park alone. I was
afraid because I had heard people at the center discussing how unsafe this
neighborhood was. It was a run down, black neighborhood. My parents assured
me they would be back before it got dark and we would be safe.
It started to get dark. I started to get nervous and look for my parents,
but they were no where to be found. I didn't know my way back to the center
and I knew it was dangerous to cross busy streets, especially with my
brother. I kept thinking,"They will come back, they will come back," and
tried not to let my brother see my fear.
A group of teens were gathering in the park as the sun descended. I was
afraid of the teenage boys there. They kept looking at my brother and I,
making remarks about "us little white kids." I decided it would be safe
enough to cross one street to a store that was open. At this time it was
almost dark, all of the street lights were on. I took my brothers hand and
we crossed the street.
This is the first time I realized that my parents' beliefs did not fit in
with the rest of societies. They believed "Nature was supporting" -- that
nothing bad could happen to us because we were meditators.
I asked the store clerk if we could wait there for our parents.
He looked at my with a funny face and said, "Where are your parents?"
"They're flying," I replied.
"FLYING," the man asked.
"Yes, flying," I said.
"FLYING WHERE... IN AN AIRPLANE?" the man asked, his voice getting louder.
"No, they are flying at the center... you know, flying," I said.
The man just looked at me calmly at first and then said, with a look of
anger in his eyes, "Don't you know what can happen to kids like you after
dark...?"
I was very scared, because for me after dark meant getting raped. I thought
this man meant he was going to rape me. I took my brother and left...
crying, back to the park to wait for my parents in the darkness.
They came about a half hour later -- in the dark. I didn't even know my way
back to the center. They had been gone two, two-and-a-half hours. All they
said was, "Well, everything's fine. Nothing happened." And we were off home.
My parents divorced in 1980. My father moved in with a fellow governor. We
spent weekends with him and his roommate, "Steve."
Their house had two bedrooms and an office. I was happy because "Steve"
really liked me. I knew him from the center. We played games together,
sometimes these games would make me feel funny, but they didn't hurt me.
I knew he was my special friend and looked forward to spending time with him
on the weekends. He would ask my father if I could sleep in his bed with him
at night. My father always said yes. Sleeping naked was the thing to do, and
being tickled naked was fun, being on top of this man with his hard penis
rubbing up and down my body was fun too.
This game lasted for a while, although it was getting boring for "Steve."
Sometimes "Steve" would go out at night. I still slept in his room. My bed
was at the foot of his bed. I awoke one night to the sounds of heavy
breathing. I looked and there was "Steve" on the bed with a grown woman, who
I learned later was a prostitute.
"Steve" asked me to come to bed. I went, but in the middle of it I got sick
to my stomach. I ran out of the room to the bathroom, puking.... I wasn't
used to the taste of a vagina.
My father was very angry, I guess he didn't want anyone else touching me,
although I was still allowed to sleep with "Steve."
I found out we were moving to Fairfield that summer... the summer of 1980. I
did not want to move.
Before I go on, there are a couple points I want to make clear. The movement
set up an environment in which abuse could and did thrive. Sexual, physical,
but even more damaging and manipulative . . . emotional abuse.
A lot of people may be wondering why I never told my mother, a teacher or
someone else who could help me. First, I was not aware that what was
happening was not normal. From such an early age men molested me. I did not
know there was something wrong with it. I knew it felt funny, but growing up
I was always told that meditation was protection, that nothing bad could
happen to you if you meditated. We were the "chosen ones" we were lucky to
have this protection. And most of all, we were better then everyone else.
Second, within the movement and my family there was a rule that no one is to
focus on "negativity." "What you put your attention on grows." "We only
speak the sweet truth here (at MIU school )." There was no room for any sort
of anger, sadness, or even questions. Thinking of anything negative or
asking questions that were of negative nature was cause for judgment,
ridicule, and most important, shame.
To be thought of as "bad." to have your state of consciousness judged daily
does not set up any sort of environment for growth, only denial. To this day
if you speak of negativity to many movement people you will get the same
responses.
Imagine being a child in this environment. If you are told you were special,
that you had the power to CHANGE THE WORLD through your behavior and
meditation, that your level of consciousness was superior to the rest of the
world, how is it that a child is to grow into a healthy adult with this sort
of pressure put on him/her?
There was a man at the TM center in Denver who must have seen that I was in
need of attention and love. This man took me to movies, played with me like
I was a child, and was very nice to me. Every time that we would go
somewhere or were alone together I was waiting for him to become sexual with
me. He never did.
Instead of being relieved, I felt like he didn't like me. As I said before,
sexual abuse was so common I thought it was normal.
I would like to thank you, Brian, for never touching me.
I guess I should at least make my own point here and let everyone know why I
think that the Movement has a part in my abuse.
I am not saying that is was MMY's [the Maharishi's] intention to abuse me,
nor was it the Movement's intention to abuse children. I think that they set
up a perfect situation where abuse could, did, and does thrive by creating
an unsafe environment for people within their Movement.
My mother was and still is a firm believer in everything MMY has to say
along with many other intelligent, capable adults. She started meditating
when she was 17 and searching for an answer to her own miserable life.
She thought she found it in TM.
With this in mind, is it any wonder that she bought into the belief that I
was protected? She moved to "Heaven on Earth," Fairfield, Iowa! I was now
blessed enough to live with other members of the TM community. I was [under
10], my brother [a few years younger].
Fairfield was a strange place. I was referred to as a "guru" or "'Ru" and
made fun of often by the local people. I was grateful to have other
meditators to be with. When we complained about this to our parents we were
told that we were better than the local people, more evolved, and they were
ignorant.
It was definitely us and them.
As a TM child, you have to believe that there is something wrong with the
rest of society for not accepting you. I felt a close bond with Martin
Luther King, Jr. "We shall overcome!" One day the world would see us for who
we were, although if they did they would have to be just like us because we
were better and once they knew this, they would join us! So it was not
really the same thing as the civil rights movement, but I could still
pretend it was.
It was summer [in the early '80s]. My mother had to work to support us as
well as adhere to the Creating Coherence Program [CCP -- the Maharishi's
plan for Fairfield TM "sidhas" to meditate together twice a day to avert
World War III which he predicted was imminent]. She was meditating for 6-8
hours a day. My brother and I were put in daycare in the Fieldhouse on MIU
[Maharishi International University, now known as Maharishi University of
Management or MUM].
Many other children from MIU faculty were there as well, along with other
TSR people [Town Super-Radiance, "lay" TMers in Fairfield who meditated 2 to
4 hours a day, while holding down jobs and family life]. "Dick" who ran the
daycare had been in prison, it later became general knowledge, for bank
robbery. And some claimed his stepdaughter was taken away because he
sexually molested her. But no one bothered to check his references. If he
was a TMer, he must be pure.
This is where the sexual abuse started.
Over the summer, "Dick" and some other adults and older boys forced to watch
older kids have sex. They led us in small groups of six or seven down into
the tunnels and Howard, the men's dormitory. Some of us were forced to
perform sexual things in front of adults and have oral sex with adults.
And then there was the mental abuse. Sometimes they would lock us in the
boiler room and tell us there was going to be a fire and we couldn't get
out. We were very scared the first time. After all we were 10 and under and
we could feel the heat of the boilers. Kids cried and comforted each other,
"It's all right."
I was there with my younger brother. I had to maintain this level of
"everything is going to be okay" because there were younger kids and my
brother.
Later, when they kept doing this over the summer, it didn't feel like kind
of extreme terror anymore. Then it felt like this was just what kind you had
to do and when would it be over this time.
I think there were about twenty kids involved off and on. No one ever
reported it that I know of.
There were many locked doors, including fire exits. Sometimes we were lead
outside to underground tunnels. I remember desperately trying to escape from
the men's bathroom through windows. And when I did feeling sick to my
stomach because my brother was still inside.
I was used to this sort of abuse, in fact I didn't know it was wrong. It
scared me, but my mind kept telling me that it was ok. If it wasn't ok, it
couldn't be happening...
When I found out that I had to go to an overnight camp run by the same
people I was terrified. Most of the kids at this camp had also been in the
daycare with me, although the younger ones were not allowed.
I begged and cried, I didn't want to go. My mother was reassured by the
staff that I would be ok, there would be group meditation for the older kids
and Word of Wisdom [a TM technique for children as young as three years old]
time for the younger ones.
I was not ok.
I tried to call my mother but the staff would not let me. I finally snuck to
a phone in the middle of the night by leaving the campground and walking to
a phone booth. My mother talked to a staff member, a woman. She assured Mom
I was all right, some kids just have a harder time adjusting to camp... blah
blah blah...
There was more, similar sexual abuse from "Dick," a man named "Peter," and
other counselors, including older teenagers. The camp had 40 kids total, but
I'm not sure how many were abused. I only know what happened in my cabin. It
seemed liked "Dick" and "Peter" chose their victims, but I'm not sure how.
I was so happy to start third grade at MIU school [now called Maharishi
School for the Age of Enlightenment]. My life would get back to normal!
My mother [taught a course] so she could receive free tuition -- she did not
have a college degree. Many of the teachers were parents with no degrees.
The kids in my class did not know their academic subjects. I remember a girl
who would just sit in class and mew like an injured cat. She had been in
camp with me. I knew something was wrong with her, but no one did anything
about it, I thought she might be retarded??? The sounds she made still haunt
me. I wondered what was wrong with the adults, they pretended like this was
normal behavior. Later I found out the mewing girl was not retarded. She is
an adult now, and has full brain function.
We were told, we don't put our attention on negativity at the MIU school.
This is when I started to question the validity of what I was being taught.
I could see what was happening and I wanted answers.
I wanted to go home, to my old school in Denver, even to my dad. I felt my
life was spinning out of control and my thoughts and feelings had no
validity.
I was labeled by my mom, my teachers, and my friends' parents as a trouble
maker, damaged, and a negative person.
It did not make sense to me.
I looked at what was happening around me, I knew things were not right, but
I was told on a daily basis by my mother, the school, my friends parents and
teachers that life was bliss, that one day I would be enlightened and any
negativity was just "unstressing" [a TM term for purifying the mind and body
toward enlightenment]. With this in mind we had the answer to anything.
MEDITATION!!!
In the fourth grade we moved onto campus, in Frat 106. I liked it because it
was filled with kids, a lot of fun.
It was great to have so many friends living in the same building. During
program [meditation periods] I was responsible for my brother and a
4-month-old baby.
Kids ran wild during program. There was no supervision at all. This was not
an isolated event within my family, it was the norm for many kids on campus.
With our parents in the dome for 2-and-a-half-hours every night we were left
vulnerable to whoever was around.
A pedophile's dream!
This leads me to a theory that I have no idea if it is valid or not. Within
the Movement not only is negativity not addressed, sexuality is completely
suppressed. Celibacy is expected of people. A lot of guilt techniques have
been employed to assure this. I wonder if there is a higher rate of sexual
misconduct, especially sexual abuse of children because there is no outlet
for normal sexual urges?
MIU is a college, college-aged people are exploring their sexuality. Where
does the sexual energy go? I don't think it is possible to meditate it
away!! I say this because I experienced so many incidents of fondling and
abuse from the college students and MIU staff, in my case a young male, that
to this day I am shocked and a little scared that there are so many sick
people out there in the world.
"Peter," decided to open camps and daycare for the kids of MIU. It was
located in another Frat. Unfortunately this man turned out to be sadistic.
"Peter" had been on MIU security and housekeeping, had access to keys of any
building he wanted. Unfortunately he was also very charming, able to tell
parents what he wanted them to hear. He and his wife opened summer day camps
for kids. I went to one session. He also had camps for "boys only" --
especially boys without fathers.
Many of the kids were now introduced to drugs by "Peter" as sort of a
recruiting thing. Kids gave them to other kids too, not necessarily selling,
but using the drugs to get them to hang out with them and "Peter" after
hours. Pot and alcohol mostly.
This was my first big beef with "Peter." Because I wouldn't do the drugs. I
waited to the ripe old age of 12 to do drugs.
Sex often goes along with drugs and makes people a little crazy. I have
witnessed boys being anally raped by "Peter" in the basement of the MIU
Library. There are two little rooms off to the back and to the right with
locks. "Peter" was in one room with the boy, and I was locked in the other
room with some girls who took turns looking through a slat. I think there
were 10 kids or so who took part over time.
Parents used to hire "Peter" to chaperone birthday parties that he would run
by himself. The parents would leave them alone.
Many of the kids were doing sex with "Peter" and with other kids as
"experimentation." You could have called it consensual. Although now, as an
adult I see that this was definitely abuse. When you are drugged, it is hard
to put your finger on what is right and what is wrong, things that you
thought were consensual are not.
"Peter" and "Dick" began to offer children's martial arts classes, claiming
to boost self-esteem -- particularly for children without fathers. Within
the classes, "Peter" as "sensei" [master, guru, teacher] developed his own
little subculture, consisting mainly of teenage TM boys.
I personally saw "Peter" give drugs to young boys and heard that this was
very common. And again there was sex. Group sex between "Peter," his wife,
and his teenaged clique. One of my personal friends feels her life has been
ruined by these experiences.
The story was he would watch the boys have sex with his wife while he would
watch and have anal sex with the guys. It was a common practice.
The loyalty to "Peter" was and is unwavering even after severe beatings and
great mental humiliation. "Peter" would get fucked up on drugs and then go
beat the crap out of people just for fun. One friend of mine had his arm
broken at the dojo and had a hernia from being kicked in balls by "Peter"
and his clique.
"Peter" was eventually run out of town by a woman whose teenaged son was
beaten severely by him, around in the early 90s. When he left, many of the
kids who are now adults, followed him, or still think of him as their
leader.
This leads me to my sixth grade at the Maharishi School of the Age of
Enlightenment.
I experienced a very violent group rape by "Peter" and some of his students.
We were in the basement of a friend's house. "Peter" was angry that I
wouldn't go along with the drugs and stuff. He put me on a table and had
everyone sit around in a circle. They all tried to get my boyfriend at the
time to do it, but he wouldn't. So "Peter" and some of the others did. I
don't know how many.
I was beaten up on my back and kidneys where you couldn't see the
black-and-blue marks. I blacked out. It was a group of 3 or 4 younger boys
and 3 girls. I was in pain for up to 9 months later. My chiropractor found a
dropped. I know it was from this beating. Around the same time I developed a
severe kidney infection that I had to have treated by a medical doctor.
My bloody panties were brought to school and hung up for display in the
bathroom by a fellow student. Adults were aware of this, but no one did a
thing. We don't focus on negativity at MIU.
My friend remembers this incident as well as my teacher [from that time].
She remembers some "roughness" associated with this situation. I am not
saying she knew what happened, only that someone should have investigated
what was going on.
As you can imagine, I was not a happy child. On the outside I appeared to be
fine, although I was considered a horrible influence on the other kids at
school because I had a "bad attitude."
I was in a teacher's office, "Mr. Brown's," a lot. He hated me especially.
Another teacher remembers that I was usually in the office daily.
For some reason "Mr. Brown" seemed to want to control every aspect of my
life. I heard he did the same with other children -- especially since so
many Movement mothers raise children without father figures.
He would call my father in Denver before Christmas break with a list of
movies I was not allowed to see, music I was not allowed to listen to. He
told my father what time I should go to bed. My father was not amused,
especially given the nature of our relationship.
I would be in "Mr. Brown's" office, behind locked doors, for no apparent
reason. The verbal and emotional abuse was worse to this day then the sexual
abuse. I was told that I was so incredibly negative and damaged. I felt like
I was inherently bad and dirty, that everything that happened to me was the
result of my own actions and thoughts.
This was after other girls in the fifth and sixth grade staged a boycott on
"Mr. White" because he was giving us hugs and kisses that made us
uncomfortable. We complained to the teachers and "Mr. Brown" but nothing
happened to "Mr. White" until we took this extreme measure. He was quietly
asked to leave. I think "Mr. Brown" got nervous [about the boycott] because
not long after that I was kicked out of school [for being a little
outrageous at an assembly]. (I admit, I was doing it on purpose).
Now I see that is was probably divine intervention that I was out of that
environment, but at the time I felt like my life was ending.
I started starving myself. None of my friends could play with me any more
because I was such a "bad influence." What was told to me my entire life was
finally true, there was no denying it anymore.
I was still told that if I meditated I would be all right, it was not too
late for me. I just needed to be "checked"...
Bullshit!! I knew better.
My teens were rough, but I am grateful I was out of the Movement. I was
hospitalized for drug abuse numerous times.
Throughout it all, I never fully understood how I was affected by this, no
one addressed it even in the treatment centers.
I had my first child at 19.
Becoming a mother helped me to look at my life with objectivity I lacked
before. I finally realized I was a good person andI was not damaged.
I was ok -- even without meditation. I have been through a lot of shit and I
struggle with depression, but I feel clarity and hope for the future.
But adults still within the Movement are easily brainwashed. That is pretty
obvious by their actions -- changing their diets, dress, times of awakening
and sleeping ... doing anything to get money to go on courses including
taking out ads in newspapers to beg for sponsorship, giving god knows how
much money to the Movement for courses, herbs, advanced techniques, ...
giving up a wonderful life to move to a tiny town in Iowa ... sending their
children to a school where a man with an SCI [TM's Science of Creative
Intelligence] degree is teaching High School physics and joking about it ...
parents leaving their children alone for hours on end, just knowing that
nature is supporting them ...
If you come to Fairfield now you will see that many houses have been
reconstructed so that they will have east entrances ... campus has been
closed off except for two entrances. This is because "everything that is
wrong in the world today is the result of a southern entrance" [according to
the Maharishi].
I wonder why MMY didn't give us this knowledge when they built the Raj [the
TM Movement's showcase Ayurvedic treatment center, built in the last few
years]. Now they are ripping up all of their toilets so they will face
south.
Wow, I just realized I'm going way off track here, so, these things show you
that rational people will do irrational things if they have this faith that
they will reach enlightenment.
I just found out this last week of another incident that showed me that this
abuse just keeps going.
The MSAE school uniform is tights and a jumper.
One day a second-grade girl wore stretch pants and a jumper instead. "Mr.
Brown" took her into his office, lifted her skirt, and took off her stretch
pants. All behind a closed door -- even though secretaries were right
outside. This wasn't appropriate. In fact, I think it was molestation. I
know the child was really shook up. The mom took the child out of school
immediately. But no discipline for "Mr. Brown."
And in the last few years, there has been an epidemic of older men dating
and marrying younger girls, teens, that would shock most people. These
aren't isolated incidents. This is our culture here.
The other day I was at a friend's house. Her daughter goes to MSAE, she is a
junior. There was a note from the school. Apparently they are having a
meeting for parents on "what it is like to raise enlightened children." They
are addressing the joys of parenting enlightened kids.
When I saw that I realized that I need to speak out. It is not fair to put
that sort of pressure on human beings, let alone children. My intentions
with this story is to open people's eyes, and hopefully allow someone to see
that we are all mortal beings, and growth in life is not always easy.
The saying "no pain, no gain" is true. The nature of life is to grow -- like
birth, even through the pain.
Annie Replies to Her Critics
I guess I should post that I have not been in therapy to recover any
memories. Every place that I have talked about is on campus. If anyone
wanted to, they could go and see it.
I also wonder why no other children have come forward. I do know that many
people have left Fairfield immediately without any apparent reason.
The children that I remember being with me have not had easy lives. Many of
them are still doing drugs and are in their own groups, living together and
associating with each other.
A lot of the other kids have had very hard childhoods, attempting suicide,
doing drugs, blocking out their entire childhood, and fighting depression. I
have tried to talk to some kids to help me with this, but no one will talk
to me.
Part of the reason I have come forward is because it is a horribly lonely
feeling to have all of this and no one to talk to about it. You feel like
you must be crazy. I hope that someone will see this who was there and that
they will see that it is ok to talk about it.
I should also mention that some of the people I have mentioned are very
violent (I have been raped and beaten severely by them).
I still live in Fairfield with these people, and I can tell you I am scared
of them. If they read this it will be obvious who I am. So I have put myself
in some danger by doing this, but it is something I needed to do for myself.
I can totally understand why this would seem unbelievable to a lot of
people. I invite anyone to investigate these "allegations." I could give you
names of certain people that have been directly affected by some of the
violence, but I don't think that is fair to them (especially because I am
anonymous).
I should mention that even some of these people do not consider what was
done to them wrong. That is how we have been mentally screwed with.
Again, none of what I have written has been the result of any sort of
hypnosis, therapy, or any other mind control tricks. I wish this was my
imagination.........
Steve Ralph
>Thanks Steve for a chance to remind everyone of policies and practices of
>the movement, presented by Denaro. An old document that is still relevant
>and insightful after all these years. All that has changed is the name and
>faces of the victims.
Sigh ... and there was I thinking Loon may have some original comment
this time.
Dan
sudarsha
Student Organization's web site lists this very interesting 2-part
discussion.
Buddhism as a Psychotherapy (Part 1)
Buddhism as a Psychotherapy (Part 2)
If this isn't "clickable", let me know and I can post the material as a word
document. It may be that the source of thought is the same as the source of
life. We can only see a thing that is alive, not the life, itself. The same
may be true of thought: it is something the brain detects and manipulates
(which only opens the door to wondering what the heck the brain is). But we
can also use the brain's sense of self to very consciously and awarely be
increasingly conscious of the thought as it materializes (a sort of
reverse-engineering). Perhaps at its source it is no more than the impulse
of life and it is the brain's stored memories (experiences) that shape the
impulse into something the experiences can fathom.
Hence I referred to wondering what came before the big bang. It is hard to
know from where we sit. In principle, we would have to go back to the big
bang and then look on the other side. Not too likely. But experiencing our
thought as thought in ever more careful awareness is another matter and open
to pursuit.
On another very interesting note is a side-bar vis-a-vis the yoga sutras
(yoga darshana). A careful examination of the structure of the material
seems (at least to me) to indicate that every sutra is explanatory of and
dependent upon the one prior to it. What many if not all commentators have
missed (I have studied many, not all, so that is a grey area) is that the
section which details the 8-limbs of yoga is actually a footnote. When the
author explains samyama and refers to "the three together" he is referring
to the three very distinct components he was talking about before the
footnote (which may be a later insertion). Those three, in my opinion, make
a heck of a lot of sense: the three (seeing, seen, seer) together are
samyama. One commentator (possibly Ballantine, but I don't have those notes
handy) immediately says that samyama would be nice to understand, but we
don't know what it means. The author (presumably Patanjali) is at great
pains to explain from that point until he comments that the siddhis are
impediments (we note eki's very useful explanatoin of upasarga) just what
"samyama" is and means.
So, if the siddhis are impediments, why does he include them? I don't think
he did. Someone else added them in an effort to be helpful. [like adding the
8-limbs of yoga explanation] If you read the siddhi sutras with an open mind
just for the value of what is said, do they really make any sense or appeal
to your sense of common sense? If a used car salesman handed you a line of
bull like this, would you accept it? [No one ever seems to have questioned
if they are impediments why m built golden domes to spend much time in
working at them.]
The author does seem to say that siddhis are a by-product of being focused
on the path. He implies that getting side-tracked is the impedimentia.
If we skip the siddhi bit we come to the fruits of samyama (at which he has
been at great pains to explain) and the text makes more sense.
So we seem to see in Patanjali a great deal of very good analysis, very
early analysis, of what was possible for the mind to accomplish. Mind using
mind, not a matter of mind understanding quantium neuro-science, if such a
thing exists, but just the materials available to any person of normal
intelligence.
Again, Chet, I suspect that this has not been helpful in addressing your
very reasonable, very provocative question. I will keep thinking.
sudarsha
Here is the text:
Buddhism as a Psychotherapy
(Adapted from the transcription of a Dhamma talk)
By Ven. Bhante Punnaji
It is popularly thought today that Buddhism is a religion containing
numerous myths, traditions and mystical practices. If we examine the
original Buddhism as taught by Gautama the Buddha, we will discover that it
is indeed different from this popular view.
In order to clarify this point, let me draw the reader's attention to the
distinction between original Buddhism and modern Buddhist practices and
belief. It is important not to confuse modern Buddhism as it is practiced in
different cultures and societies with what was taught and practiced by
Gotama the Buddha and his disciples. What is practiced today in most
Buddhist cultures, whether Theravada or Mahayana, are mainly rituals and
ceremonies associated with emotionally held traditional dogmas or worldviews
and objects of veneration. This type of Buddhism is not different from any
other religion with different dogmas, rituals and symbols of worship, which
serve mankind only in temporarily reducing the anxieties and worries of
life, about the here and hereafter.
Quite distinct from this modern Buddhism is Original Buddhism which was a
practical solution to the basic problem of existence which is the anxiety
that underlies all our daily concerns, troubles and tribulations. Without
understanding this distinction, it is not possible to examine this
psychotherapeutic aspect of Buddhism. Therefore, I wish to emphasize at this
point that whenever I use the word "Buddhism", I refer to that original
Buddhism and not to any form of modern Buddhism that is practiced by any
culture today.
In speaking of the psychotherapeutic aspect of Buddhism, I have presented my
position too mildly. I would prefer to say that Buddhism is entirely a
psychotherapy. My hesitation in doing so, is because it would be too much of
a shock to the devout ethnocentric Buddhist. Yet, I would like to remind
those familiar with Buddhism that the Buddha says, in the Anguttara Nikaya,
that it may be possible for a person to claim to have been free from
physical disease even for a hundred years, but it is not possible for a
person to claim to have been free from mental disease even for one day,
except for an Arahant or a perfected disciple or a Buddha. It is recognized
by all Buddhist scholars that the ultimate aim of the Buddha, according to
the Pali Nikayas, is to produce Arahants. Arahantship was the culmination of
the Original Buddhist Practice. If the Arahant is the only person with
perfect mental health, the aim of the Buddha was to produce mentally healthy
personalities. This means that Buddhism is a psychotherapy or rather the
ultimate psychotherapy.
In the Pali Nikayas, the Buddha was called the "Unsurpassable physician and
surgeon" (anuttaro bhisakko sallakatto) and also the "Unsurpassable trainer
of persons" (anuttaro purissa dhamma sarati). Expressed in modern language,
these terms may be rendered as "the super psychiatrist" and "the super
personality trainer".
Let us now examine Buddhism in relation to modern psychotherapeutic concepts
to find out whether this claim is true. When I examine the history of the
evolution of modern psychotherapeutic concepts, I find that all modern
theories and practices are centred around one important problem which is
understandable in terms of the structural hypothesis presented by Sigmund
Freud (in 1923). Almost all modern therapeutic systems could be described in
terms of this structural hypothesis. These different systems could be
broadly classified into two groups, that is, (a) those therapies that are
mainly concerned with the Id and its expressions and (b) those that are
mainly concerned with the Ego and its functions.
The Id psychologies can also be seen as affective therapies and Ego
psychologies as cognitive therapies. It is not possible to discuss in detail
these different therapies within the limits of this presentation. However, I
wish to draw your attention to this all important psychological problem
revealed through the structural hypothesis of Freud. The reason for my
drawing your attention to these important assumptions of modern
psychotherapeutic thinking is to facilitate the introduction of the Buddhist
concepts that underlie the Buddhist therapeutic technique. I would not be
able to do justice to this subject within the brevity of this presentation.
Though there are many aspects of the therapeutic technique of the Buddha, I
can summarize the teachings of the Buddha to make you aware of the basic
principles on which this Buddhist psychotherapy stands. I see no better way
to introduce these basic principles than to discuss the contents of the
first sermon of the Buddha called the Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta, appearing
in the Samyutta Nikaya, and translated by me as "The Revolution of the Wheel
of Experience".
The first point elaborated in the Sutta is that there are two extreme modes
of living to be avoided. One is the pursuit of sensual pleasure which is
bi-polarized as seeking sensual pleasure and avoiding sensual pain
(Kamsukallikanuyoga). The other extreme is self exhaustion through
self-denial and asceticism (Attakilamatanuyoga). Avoiding these two
extremes, the Buddha teaches a third intermediate mode of living (Majjima
Patipada) called the Sublime Eight-fold Way (Ariya Attangita Magga). This
third intermediate way consists of an awareness of reality and is
accompanied by thinking, speaking, acting and living in harmony with it.
This teaching of the Buddha could easily be understood in terms of the
structural hypothesis of Freud. The pursuit of sensual pleasure is nothing
but the activity of the Id. The special emphasis of Buddhism is on the fact
that gratification of the Id, through seeking sensual pleasures does not
lead either to mental health or happiness. This concept is not entirely in
conflict with Freudian thinking because Freud recognized that emotional
maturity is gained through the overcoming of the pleasure principle by the
reality principle. Some modem psychologists still believe that gratification
of the Id in some way is necessary for mental health. This of course is not
entirely denied in Buddhism, as we shall subsequently see.
Self exhaustion through self denial is again, obviously, the activity of the
Super Ego. According to Buddhism, being guided entirely by the Super Ego is
not conducive to mental health. This too is acceptable to psychoanalytic
thinking as according to Freud, a complete repression of the Id in this way
leads to the utilization of the full psychic energy available to the ego in
this task of repression and therefore leaves the Ego ineffectual for dealing
with external reality.
The healthy intermediate mold of living recommended by the Buddha, which is
to align one's thinking and living in harmony with reality, is undoubtedly
the activity of the Ego, from a Freudian standpoint. Since, according to
Freud, maturity consists in being dominated by the reality principle, this
intermediate way of the Buddha falls in line with the Freudian concept of
mental health, which is also the generally accepted view of all modern
psychotherapists.
It is also recognized generally in modern psychotherapy that an adequate
sense of reality or the ability to distinguish between the outer world and
the inner world of wishes and impulses is an important indication of mental
health. In severe mental illness, this ability is considered impaired or
totally lost. This sense of reality is present to a greater degree in the
neurotic and in the psychotic. However, modern psychologists admit that even
the normal person is not perfect in this ability to distinguish reality,
thus agreeing with the Buddhist position. An important aspect of the
development of the sense of reality, is the ability to distinguish between '
self ' and ' not self ', or what is under one's control and what is not
under one's control. Freud recognized [in 1911] that frustration of the Id
due to the impermanence of external objects is the most significant factor
in the development of the concept of self in the infant and the demarcation
of the ego boundaries or the line that separates the ' self ' from the ' not
self '.
The Buddhist psychotherapist, it must be pointed out, does not play the role
of a doctor in his therapeutic practice. His role is that of the teacher.
His technique of therapy is a process of education. We might even go so far
as to say that Buddhism is a form of Ego therapy or cognitive therapy.
Through education, the patient's sense of reality is improved. The conflict
between the Id and the Super Ego as well as that between the Id and reality
is resolved through education of the Ego. This education is done first
through verbal communication by the use of reason and secondly through the
practice of meditation where the patient, or more correctly, the student, is
helped to become aware of his experience within, which is observed as
physical movements and tensions, feelings and emotions, and as mental images
and concepts.
The first thing that the student learns is that goodness and happiness are
not opposed to each other, for goodness is happiness. To put in Freudian
terms, the pleasure seeking of the Id is not wrong or evil but true pleasure
is not the pleasant sensation but inner happiness. This inner happiness is
achieved through relaxation and calm rather than through stimulation of the
senses, excitement, tension and release of tension. Happiness is gained
through the relaxation response. In other words, the student is enlightened
about the need to pursue the goal of calm in order to satisfy all three
parts of the personality, namely the Id, the Super Ego and Ego. The Id is
satisfied because calmness is the way to happiness. The Super Ego, which
seeks to do what is good and right, is satisfied because calmness is the way
to be good. The Ego is satisfied because calmness is the realistic way to be
happy and good and therefore calmness is realistic. Calmness also helps the
student to get in touch with reality without interference from the wishes
and impulses. This way the Ego, which seeks to be realistic, is satisfied.
The pursuit of this harmonizing goal of calmness which resolves the conflict
within and without is called the Sublime Pursuit (Ariya Pariyesana) and this
way of life is called the Sublime Way (Ariya Magga) or the Harmonious Way
(Samma Magga). It is also the way of mental health (Arogya).
This explanation of the Buddha's teaching in terms of modern psychological
concepts is not done with a view to obtain support for the Buddhist position
from modern psychology but to make the Buddhist position intelligible to the
modern mind acquainted with modern psychological concepts, and to show that
the Buddhist psychotherapeutic is not only relevant in the modern world but
also a constructive contribution to modern psychotherapeutic thought.
The first sermon of the Buddha, which we are in the process of discussing,
introduces the subject in the foregoing way, and proceeds further to discuss
the basic problem of anxiety called Dukkha. This anxiety, according to the
Buddha, is experienced in relation to seven basic situations: 1) birth, 2)
old age, 3) disease, 4) death, 5) meeting unpleasant people and
circumstances, 6) parting from pleasant people and circumstances, 7)
frustration of desire. The totality of anxiety is also presented as an
aggregate (khanda) or body (kaya). It is the sum total of all experienced
phenomena analyzed into five aggregates which are personalized, to form the
experience of " self-in-the-world". This five-fold totality of personalized
phenomena is called Pancupadanakkhanda. It is also called Sakkhaya, which
means "personalized body". This may be compared to the concept of "self
image" or "self concept" that is found in modern psychology.
This "self-image" which is the result of the personalization of phenomena is
seen as a bundle of anxiety by the Buddha and this anxiety is bundled up
through the process of personalization which results in the concept of
"being self" [Bhava]. All worries, anxieties, fears and feelings of
insecurity, which are basic to life, are the result of this process of
personalization (Upadana) and being a self (bhava). This process of
personalization is associated with the feeling of power over what is
personalized. Therefore, personalization is also seen as the wielding of
power (vasavatti) . From this standpoint, in order to remove the basic
anxiety that underlies human existence, it is necessary to depersonalize
(upadana nirodha) the five-fold totality phenomena and remove the "self
concept". Therefore the ultimate purpose of Buddhism is to produce an
individual who is free from the emotional experience of "self" within. This
is the one who is perfect in mental health and who is called Arahant, the
worthy one. Though this ultimate state is rarely reached, the mental health
of an individual is measured according to the degree to which the individual
has lost his experience of self.
(Part 2)
by Ven. Bhante Punnaji
(Adapted from the transcription of a Dhamma talk)
[In part 1, the author compares the Buddha's teaching of avoiding the
extremes of indulgence in pleasure and "self denial" with Freud's Structural
Hypothesis. The Ego, guided by the reality principle, should find that the
state of calmness from meditation practice brings inner peace and is also
good, thus satisfying both the Id and the Super Ego. He also explains that
anxiety caused by our personalization of experiences that are beyond our
control can be removed by depersonalizing these experiences.]
The question seems to be a matter of self-boundary or ego boundary from a
Freudian standpoint. This is the extent to which a person identifies the
things in the world as belonging to himself or as a part of himself. The
abnormal person's self-boundary is greater in circumference than that of the
normal one. The normal person's self-boundary is greater in circumference
than that of the supernormal one. The supernormal person's self-boundary is
greater in circumference than that of the sublime one. Buddha therefore
recognizes two levels of being above the normal level, the supernormal
(uttari manussa) and the sublime (ariya).
The personalization process is dependent on what is called tanha, which in
literal translation is thirst, which is similar to the Freudian urge. This
thirst, or tanha, is three-fold: the thirst for pleasure, the thirst for
existence and the thirst for non-existence. It is interesting to note that
the Freudian concept of drives which included the sexual and the
self-preservative drives at first, and later proposed as the life and death
drives, seems to coincide with the Buddhist concept of tanha. It seems that
psychologists are rediscovering what the Buddha discovered 2500 years ago.
Yet the aim of Buddhism goes beyond the aim of modern psychology in that a
complete disappearance of tanha is aimed at. According to Buddhism, perfect
mental health is not achieved until this thirst has been completely rooted
out. Although modern psychology seems to rest satisfied by making an
abnormal person normal, Buddhism aims at removing even normal mental
discomfort and unhappiness by bringing about perfection of health. It is
interesting to note that the Buddha recognizes nine levels of mental health
above the normal stage. This is discussed in detail in a sutta in the
Anguttara Nikaya (A IV 44). Of the nine supernormal (uttari manussa) levels
of mental health, the ninth one which is called the sublime level (ariya
bhumi) is further analyzed into four levels of personality: 1) that Stream
entrant (sotapanna); 2) the Once returner (sakadagami); 3) the Non-returner
(anagami); and 4) the Worthy One (arahant). Modern psychology, of course,
does not seem to think that it is possible to remove this thirst or urge
altogether. Yet Eric Fromm points out that Freud's ultimate aim was to
remove the Id entirely and he quotes Freud as saying, "in place of the Id
there shall be the Ego." This seems to support the Buddhist position.
The first sermon of the Buddha that we are discussing goes on to explain
further the technique by which this thirst is remove. This technique is
called the Sublime Eight-Fold Way which we discussed earlier as the medial
mode of living that avoids the two extremes: the pursuit of sensual
pleasures, and self exhaustion through "self denial". This Eight-Fold Way
begins with what is called samma ditti, which is awareness of reality by
understanding three important facts of life: 1) instability (anicca), 2)
discomfort or anxiety (dukkha) and 3) impersonality (anatta). Anicca, or
instability, is the transitory nature of all experienced phenomena to which
we become attached and which we personalize, thinking "this is mine", "this
is me or myself". Dukkha or anxiety is what is experienced due to the
experiencing of what has been personalized. This anxiety is the result of a
clash between the wish for permanence and the reality of instability. Here
we begin to distinguish between the wish for permanence and the fact that we
do not wield any power over anything because we cannot make permanent what
is impermanent. It is the recognition of the fact that we do not have power
not only over external objects but also over what is within the body which
is identified as self. In other words, if ownership is seen as lordship or
wielding of power over what is owned, we own nothing in the world, not even
what we call ourselves. Therefore, there is no basis for the concept "mine"
or "myself". In other words, the "self concept" is also seen as made up of
our wishes or impulses. This is, in Freudian terms, reality testing or
distinguishing between reality and a wish. This way we acquire the healthy
sense of reality which removes all anxiety. This understanding results in an
emotional state of calmness, happiness and kindness. Such an emotional state
leads to good external behavior, verbal and physical, which is regarded as
good socially. A life based on this perspective and this emotional state and
behavior is a harmonious life. And this harmonious life has to be maintained
and perfected by means of the harmonious practice.
In discussing the harmonious practice we come to another aspect of Buddhist
therapy which is in line with a different kind of psychological technique
from what we have just discussed. The modern psychological technique that
falls in line with this practice comes under what is called the Behaviour
Therapies. This practice could be described by using terms like
desensitization, operant conditioning, and also the learning theory. Buddha
regards even mental processes as habits of thought which have been learned
and which could be unlearned by consciously stopping their repetition, and
constantly practicing wholesome thoughts. What are regarded as wholesome
thoughts are those thoughts that are calming. Those that excite the mind and
produce tension are regarded as unwholesome.
Buddhism also recognizes that affective mental processes or emotional
excitements are rooted in cognitive mental processes, such as the formation
of concepts or interpretation of experiences. According to how you interpret
the situation, you become emotionally excited or become calm and relaxed.
These interpretations that produce excitement are always associated with a
"self-concept" or "self-image". If we carry bad self-images habitually, we
become habitually unhappy individuals. By practicing good thoughts we begin
to eliminate these bad self-images and cultivate images of calm. The calm
mind is able to observe the subjective experience objectively and this
brings us to the next step which is the harmonious awareness. In the
harmonious awareness, one becomes aware of the subjective experience
objectively and by the constant practice of this awareness, one begins to
depersonalize the subjective experience. This way the personality
perspective (sakkaya ditti) is gradually removed followed by further gradual
removal of all thoughts of "I" and "mine". This gradual depersonalizing
process calms the mind further and leads to the experiencing of
progressively deeper levels of tranquillity and happiness, leading to the
perfection of mental health with the complete eradication of the experience
of self within and the rooting out of thirst, and the disappearance of all
anxiety for good. This ultimate state of mental health is rarely attained in
modern Buddhist practice, but this is the final goal of the Buddhist as
taught 2500 years ago.
These principles of Buddhist psychology could be used in the modern world
and could be constructively used by modern psychotherapists. Space
limitation does not allow me to discuss in detail, in the present essay, the
various cases where the Buddha has used these principles in his time. For
the same reason, I am unable to discuss here some of the cases in my own
experience where I have used these principles. The most important of all is
the use of these principles on oneself. I would like to state, in passing,
that I have tested in my own experience the validity of these principles.
In discussing the First Sermon of the Buddha called the Revolution of the
Wheel of Experience in this way, as the process of transformation of an
individual's personality from an unhealthy one to one of health, I might
appear to have strayed away from the Orthodox Theravada, Mahayana or any
other Buddhist tradition. But as I pointed out earlier, I am not discussing
any form of modern Buddhist standpoint or practice. I am discussing the
Original Teaching and Practice of the Buddha as found in the earliest
sources recognized by all scholars which do not belong to any modern school
of thought. I hope this effort will kindle your interest in exploring
further the early teachings of the Buddha. I believe that if modern
psychologists make a serious study of these early teachings of the Buddha,
it would become a significant turning point and breakthrough in modern
psychotherapeutic thought and practice.
May all beings be happy!
Ven. Madawela Punnaji Mahathera
(This concludes the essay "Buddhism as Psychotherapy")
The author, the scholar monk Mahathera Punnaji has played a significant role
in the dissemination of Buddhism in the West and is well known to Buddhists
in Canada and abroad. Recently, Ven. Punnaji completed a one-year tenure at
the Fo Kuang Shan University as Professor of Buddhism and returned to the
West End Buddhist Centre in February (1998). Sought by many as a resourceful
spiritual guide, Ven. Punnaji shares this time between the West End Buddhist
centre and other locations in Canada, the U.S. and England
Anthony
Stu wrote in message ...
>in article 3a2c2eb0...@news.netidea.com, Chet McCann at
>mcca...@hotmail.com wrote on 12/4/00 4:02 PM:
>
<snip>
>
>Eventually the objects take on a symbolic representation that takes us
>further from the Real (being). Thus we categorize the world through the
>symbols (gestures, words). In order to express desire within environment
>we use Language (expression). For example we call out "Ma!" to get a
bottle.
>Language exerts its influence in the mind. The process of developing
>symbolic expression of the world is thought. This is cross cultural.
>Language is as much of a physical human attribute as arms and legs.
>
<snip>
>
>Thought is a subtle level of Language. It is expression of desire. Yoga
>works to cease the fluctuations of the mind. The turmoil of Language. It
>is a momentary return to being.
>--
The question of whether language is a necessary basis for thought is one
that can and has been debated very rigorously over the years. As far as I am
aware. the jury is still out on this one. Personally, I am not sure. Can an
organism (human or otherwise) "think" without language (symbolic
representation)?
But I do agree that the development of symbolic respresentations (and
associated categories) and associations made between representations create
a particular lens for looking at the world. To a large extent, I think that
people are not seeing reality per se, but their mind's interpretation of
that reality. They are seeing what they have *learnt* to see.
So if we want to see reality directly, what do we do? And so a variety of
philosophies (and methods) have arisen over the ages. I think this question
is one of the more fundamental ones to human life. If we could see reality
in a more direct way, it might sweep various problems away. It might show us
how our beliefs about ourselves and others are constructs rather than based
on reality. And all the bad feelings we might have towards others and
ourselves might dissipate in the process of seeing reality for what it is
rather than through a translator that sits up in the mind. TM and TM theory
provides one avenue. It will be interesting to see what can be acheived over
time. But in the meantime, I am, personally, interested in exploring many
avenues until confirmation has been obtained from any one particular avenue.
In short, I find the above question fascinating and equally so for the
potential answers to it.
Cheers,
-- Anthony.
>~Stu
>
>
sudarsha
thought you and others at this newsgroup might actually like to know a
little more about what you are talking about. The loon or common loon is one
of nature's finest creatures. I will submit this url
http://www.gmnphotography.com/ for your edification in the hopes that you
are not so damaged as to be unable to learn something (or to know what you
are talking about).
<<< edit >>> Hey, I'm so damaged after all these years of TM, I am too
| screwed up to tell anyone, and have this overriding compulsion to keep
| it all secret. <<< edit >>>
| Steve Ralph
Stu
a.l...@psych.unimelb.edu.au wrote on 12/8/00 5:46 PM:
> The question of whether language is a necessary basis for thought is one
> that can and has been debated very rigorously over the years. As far as I am
> aware. the jury is still out on this one. Personally, I am not sure. Can an
> organism (human or otherwise) "think" without language (symbolic
> representation)?
>
When I use the word Language I am using it with a capitol "L". Language in
this case is all expression (of desire). Thinking inherently is coupled
with Language in that rudimentary animals are "thinking" when they make
decisions to eat or protect themselves. Although the content of the thought
is primitive like "must eat" or "must get out of way of spear" there is
thought the vessel of meaning. The meaning does not have to be linguistic
but always is "desire".
Freud thought desire was sexual, I suggest that desire is textual. It is an
innate attempt to codify the world.
> But I do agree that the development of symbolic respresentations (and
> associated categories) and associations made between representations create
> a particular lens for looking at the world. To a large extent, I think that
> people are not seeing reality per se, but their mind's interpretation of
> that reality. They are seeing what they have *learnt* to see.
>
Aside from primitive survival desire, there is a hidden agenda in human
thought that is to fully symbolize the world. Thus the New Testament starts
with "In the beginning was the word". The ultimate fantasy to sum up
everything as Language. Somehow if we can symbolize the mysterious it
becomes manageable. This is what science is. The quantification of the
world.
In both western religious and scientific systems "thought" is in itself the
stream that carries the thinker towards an impossible goal. We desire to
understand the Real world (see last post) through the imaginary and symbolic
world.
In fact attempting to codify or describe the world takes the seeker further
away from the real.
> So if we want to see reality directly, what do we do? And so a variety of
> philosophies (and methods) have arisen over the ages. I think this question
> is one of the more fundamental ones to human life. If we could see reality
> in a more direct way, it might sweep various problems away. It might show us
> how our beliefs about ourselves and others are constructs rather than based
> on reality. And all the bad feelings we might have towards others and
> ourselves might dissipate in the process of seeing reality for what it is
> rather than through a translator that sits up in the mind. TM and TM theory
> provides one avenue.
TM? I suggest that a joke or a poem are examples of Language that attempt
to momentarily break down expected syntax and reveal for a fleeting
experience of the Real. Most art is an attempt to break down Language and
thus thought.
Yoga is both and art and science in that it is developed to help us
transcend thought (and its desire to process all info) and experience the
Real. The effect of this experience on "thought" is what we are talking
about.
Please note that in my opinion that prolonged experience of the Real is
contrary to survival. We have developed thought, the Imaginary, and the
Symbolic as survival mechanisms to deal with the world. To be totally
immersed in the Real can be hazardous to your health.
>It will be interesting to see what can be acheived over
> time. But in the meantime, I am, personally, interested in exploring many
> avenues until confirmation has been obtained from any one particular avenue.
> In short, I find the above question fascinating and equally so for the
> potential answers to it.
As do I.
--
~Stu
sudarsha
news:90jir3$m3u$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
<<< edit >>>
Hi, -mikey, Chet, Anthony & Stu
I thought that your various sets of ideas reflected very nicely off one
another as well as casting excellent reflection on the original question
posed by Chet (5 Dec 00). I have been looking at a number of ways of finding
a reasonable means of arriving at an individual or personal solution.
At the risk of making a marginally sacrilegious pun: thus have I read --
there are some very excellent texts that have striven (is that a real word?)
to make the task of understanding the nature of thought and finding
awakening in the bargain more accessible.
Silananda's THE FOUR FOUNDATIONS OF MINDFULNESS (Wisdom) is an excellent
discussion of the primary source of Buddhist meditation practise. It is also
a bit of a turn off as it is written from a very South Asian perspective
which makes some of his explanations difficult to relate to.
Buddhadasa Bhikkhu's MINDFULNESS WITH BREATHING (Wisdom) looks at the same
material, but from a different perspective and with a more Western sense of
understanding.
Hsing Yun's ONLY A GREAT RAIN (Wisdom) also looks at this material but from
a tradition that is quite removed from South Asia. He presents a very clear
explanation of the 8 jhanna (he uses the term, dhyana) which may make a
subjective evaluation of our diverse experiences arising from different
practices "measurable". (The last being the dhyana of not thinking and not
not thinking, in case someone's evil grin is beginning to drool.) The
explanations are similar to my own sentiments regarding Patanjali's yoga
darshana: the objective is not to treat these states as practicable
objectives, but to see them as measures of subjective progress and nothing
more -- measures of development along the path, not shortcuts to skipping
the path.
On quite a different track is Lati Rinbochay's MIND IN TIBETAN BUDDHISM
(Snow Lion). From the tradition of the abhidhamma and visuddhimaga to the
present day, thinkers and writers have tried to conceptualize and
accessiblise the basic understanding the Buddha taught. Only by direct
practise of every means of understanding mind and consciousness can the
problem of actually grasping the meaning of mind and consciousness be
achieved. Although not particularly easy to follow, this is a useful text.
Terry Clifford's TIBETAN BUDDHIST MEDICINE AND PSYCHIATRY (Weiser) is
completely different, but addresses the issues of mind, thought and wellness
in quite surprising clarity. A very interesting history of ayurveda in also
included.
Hopefully there may be something useful for those interested in tracking
down what it is that this business of consciousness is all about.
Delia
> To be totally immersed in the Real can be hazardous to your health.
So true.
They should be required to put that warning label on all the cartons.