I am not aware of that practice of staring at the wall as a meditation practice. But, I am more than sure that it is not going to work, especially for the beginners. Having said that, one can do that but only after crossing a certain threshold.
Closing of eyes is necessary because how the combination of human’s mind and body is supposed to work during the interaction with the world.
As we know that we experience the world with the help of our senses and then mind analyses those sensations and produces thoughts accordingly. For normal persons, the most important or default sense are eyes. That is precisely why when we awake from the sleep, which is a semi conscious state, first of all we open our eyes. We do not move our legs or hands as a first response but use eyes only.
This default sense would change in the case of blind persons, perhaps they use ears for that.
So, as we use this default process throughout our lives, mind also becomes habitual of concentrating on eyes as far as we are awake. But, in meditation, we need mind for different purpose but it refuses to go there where we want it to go as far as the eyes are opened. That is why we have to close our eyes if we want to meditate.
I do not think that it is impossible for an average person to meditate as you said. A half of an hour in a day would be enough and I do not see any reason why a person cannot spare that much time from his routine, if one wants, otherwise there is no dearth of excuses.
Lastly, this term of mindfulness is very popular with these new age spiritualists and western Buddhists and they use it a lot too. But, I do not think they understand what it exactly means or how it can be attained.
Mindfulness is not a starting point of meditation as it is perceived generally but it comes a lot later in the ladder. Mindfulness refers to the stage when one’ mind is full with one thought only, nothing else. And, that is not an easy thing to achieve but demands a lot of practice and patience.
I am not intelligent enough to understand what you want to say, how it is pertinent to the thread and how I should reply to it. Perhaps, you are mocking. Anyway, that is fine too.
This is probably also true, but I wouldn’t know from experience, because I practiced Zazen… after decades of practising standard Indian meditation for most of my life. Zazen helps with refocusing the mind back to centre…
_ What is the point of zazen?
Significance. Zazen is considered the heart of Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhist practice. The aim of zazen is just sitting, that is, suspending all judgmental thinking and letting words, ideas, images and thoughts pass by without getting involved in them.
Considering the number of people who subconsciously daydream, get triggered by traumas, or have anxiety issues, it seems that any meditating, especially merely staring at a wall with nothing to help them focus, is just a futile endeavor (much like being truthful in the USA). But for a short while it might give a few unemployed people something to do.
One benefit of the eyes open approach, is that you have the capability of choosing some object, a drawing maybe or a smudge on the wall, or some ornament, and use it to put all your focus on it and make that thing you are looking at the one thought that fills your mind. Inevitably, the thought acts like an unlocking mechanism that allows your mind to work for you, in a sense. The only thing you yourself are “doing” is focusing on that thing, that point. But your mind is a flurry of activity.
That’s probably the same reason movies work, all you are doing is focusing on the screen, so that your mind is unlocked to be carried by the stories suggested in the picture.
I took up Zazen during the most active years of my career… it helped ground me, and so become able to focus on the tasks at hand, better… which is a necessity in the Project-management department… and I was a daydreamer big time.
Try staring at a blank wall for 5 minutes. One’s natural instinct is to turn to the left or to turn to the right, so a person has to force themselves to keep staring straight ahead, until one day they don’t have to force it anymore, as it has now become automatic… due to prolonged practice.
MagsJ said: “ I took up Zazen during the most active years of my career”.
No Pedro… what part of ‘staring at a blank wall’ don’t you understand? Zazen is staring at a blank wall, with nothing to focus on whatsoever, hence why Zazen is considered a very harsh practice.
No.
Thoughts? Focusing on something? The mind as a flurry of activity? There are no thoughts to speak of, by the time One has finished with Zazen and it has finished with One.
I generally think it’s bad business to force practices or dogmas on people. If I like worshiping idols, that’s my business, no? Your way doesn’t have to be the only way, right?
Yes… but I’m channeling them, not worshipping them. It’s my new look… damn I look good.
I did say ‘the standard practice’ not ‘enforced practice’.
Now that my mind is void of past thought, I’m considering sticking money to the wall and idolising that, and see if it makes me more money-oriented, because I’m so not.
