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# Re: Buddhist / Bardon

#### Message 03183 of 3835

- To: BardonPraxis@yahoogroups.com
- Subject: Re: Buddhist / Bardon
- From: "forestofsymbols" <forestofsymbols@...>
- Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 02:22:17 -0000
- In-reply-to: <86.18d09eea.2ea3a7d1@...>
- User-agent: eGroups-EW/0.82

    Derrick, David, and group;

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

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

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

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

    mj

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