What are the dangers of Vipassana Insight Meditation?

[CatholicHere_Hi]

And even this article, likely written by Europeans with an axe to grind re their cultural Christianity

I posted two Buddhist sources from Buddhist authors, not just the Wikipedia.

They deny a “creator” god

That’s the problem and why its not same thing as what Catholics believe.

not “gods” altogether.

I never said they denied gods altogether. I said they denied permanent, eternal gods. Buddhists believe in impermanent gods.

The simple fact is that Buddhism at the time of its establishment had no concept of the Judaic God so it is simply something never really contemplated or seriously addressed by Buddha.

This is true, but the Judaic God is an eternally present creator. So one just has to put 2 and 2 together on what Buddha would have said about it. But Buddhism goes beyond just Gautama Buddha. Modern Buddhism rejects the possibility of a permanent, eternal creator God. The sources I listed will make this clear.

 

[CatholicHere_Hi]

Despite Christian rhetoric to the contrary some strains of Buddhism do find room for the Christian soul and I have not yet found a strong reason to believe a “permanent god” must absolutely be rejected by its principles.

"some strains’ may do, but overall, Buddhism does not believe in a eternal soul nor permanent God.

Do Buddhists believe in a soul? | Lion’s Roar

Do Buddhists believe in a soul? We answer your questions on Buddhism and meditation.

www.lionsroar.com

https://www.budsas.org/ebud/whatbudbeliev/115.htm

 

[BlackFriar]

My friend I am not going to assist you further.
You came here asking questions but then proceed to try and teach on the basis of secondhand sources.

Like most young or uneducated persons you seem to believe true learning comes from autodidactic education rather than sitting at the feet of actual professional practitioners of the culture in question.

I have answered your question on the basis of actual experience with real Asian Buddhists not paper European ones.

If you prefer to live by 2nd hand paper education and wish to reject the views of lived experience then why bother to ask questions if you already know the answers.
But you will remain caged in a very small intellectual world if you continue along this illusory path.

 

[CatholicHere_Hi]

We kind of got off topic, but we’ll just have to agree to disagree.

 

[Brendan_64]

Emptying of the mind merely means emptying of erroneous thoughts which take us away from prayer.

I was involved in Therevada Buddhism for a period of time. The Vipassana meditation as practiced there was not about emptying one’s mind in order to focus on prayer, it was about emptying one’s mind of everything, without a determined aim. Prayer would have been viewed as a material attachment to be shed.

Some people used to come and light candles to a deity and pray. This seemed to run counter to what the monks had taught us, so I asked why are they doing this in the temple. The monk replied that these people are at a different level of consciousness. This view that these devout, simple, prayerful people, honouring a deity (a false diety obviously as there is only one God) were of a lower level of consciousness because they were devout and prayerful rather than the people who would sit on a cushions for hours lost in the emptiness of their own heads, was elitism and is the opposite of reality.

That’s Buddhism for you in my opinion, elitist nonsense, where piety and devotion are viewed as being on a lower level of consciousness, where the world and material things are viewed as bad and where you aim to free yourself from this by ultimately being nothing.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

It was more probably the emptying of the mind of things which pull one out of prayer.

As I stated, it’s not possible to empty the mind of all thought 100%.

Jim

 

[Brendan_64]

As I stated, it’s not possible to empty the mind of all thought 100%.

I think you’re correct there.

Personally I would not touch anything that has its roots in Eastern spiritual practices. I believe that the whole ethos behind these practices runs counter to the the structure of our Faith.

 

[CatholicHere_Hi]

I’m curious now. What is the context of this statement from the CCC then? Is this accusing other religions of “emptying the mind” in meditation?

Some people view prayer as a simple psychological activity, others as an effort of concentration to reach a mental void. (CCC #2726 )

 

[JimR-OCDS]

It’s all depended on what the focus of intention is.

Many in this forum believe that Centering Prayer comes from Eastern Meditation.

It’s a false notion and betrays their own ignorance of the subject.

Centering Prayer is Christ Centered Prayer. Anything else is some one’s own invention.

Jim

 

[Brendan_64]

Centering Prayer is Christ Centered Prayer. Anything else is some one’s own invention.

Which is very different from meditation which aims to focus on nothing. And not even that as focussing on nothing would be to focus on something. It becomes meditation without focus. Emptiness is deified, nothing is of any value.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

My understanding of Buddhist Meditation is to focus on your presence in the moment.

Many many years ago when I was a young teenager, I read the Beatles book on Transcendental Meditation.

From what I remember, as you’re meditating, you might think of an event, like pitching a baseball.

You imagine yourself, doing the windup and throwing the ball to the catcher. At the end of the event and the return to consciousness, there is a gap of nothing. The focus is to widen the gap,

Anyway, it never worked for me and was Hindu meditation, not Buddhist from what I know.

Jim

 

[BlackFriar]

Agreed.
I was taught this also by Buddhists.
The correct technique is not to bind one’s consciousness to the “monkey mind.”

The “emptiness” that Buddhists speak of is not European “nothing” for such is impossible.

 

[Brendan_64]

I think it’s empty from a spiritual point of view.