When you take LSD, it’s necessary to have a sober trustworthy person around so you don’t think “cars aren’t real” and go wandering into traffic. The same goes for mind-altering meditation with similar effects. If I had common sense, I would have kept going to the Zendo. That way I’d have been around kind, experienced people who could remind me that cars are real. Instead, I thought to myself, I don’t need teachers. I’ve taught myself lots of things before. I can traverse this territory just fine myself.
I’m sorry you had to go through a lot to realize what you already realized but didn’t believe at first.
This is one of the big drums I keep beating with rationalists and EAs and other sorts of nerds who want to get into meditation. You might think you can do it alone, and some of you can, but even if you can it’s not fully practicing the dharma.
This seems to be a trait common in almost all Buddhist traditions, going back to the earliest stories where the Buddha tells Ananda that good spiritual friendship is the whole path. And even in Zen, which literally starts with dudes sitting alone in caves, treats such solitary practice as something to be done temporarily by experienced practitioners.
I’m glad you came through it okay, and it certainly seems like it was ultimately a necessary if painful part of the path for you.
I’m sorry you had to go through a lot to realize what you already realized but didn’t believe at first.
This is one of the big drums I keep beating with rationalists and EAs and other sorts of nerds who want to get into meditation. You might think you can do it alone, and some of you can, but even if you can it’s not fully practicing the dharma.
This seems to be a trait common in almost all Buddhist traditions, going back to the earliest stories where the Buddha tells Ananda that good spiritual friendship is the whole path. And even in Zen, which literally starts with dudes sitting alone in caves, treats such solitary practice as something to be done temporarily by experienced practitioners.
I’m glad you came through it okay, and it certainly seems like it was ultimately a necessary if painful part of the path for you.