A young boy standing in front of the yogi stepped back suddenly in fright—stomping right on the yogi’s bare foot. The yogi, angered and in pain, raised his walking staff to strike the youngster.
What did he do all those years? Seems a bit absurd to me.
I guess he went back into the cave because he thought he didn’t meditate enough because he wanted to hit that dude after he accidentally stepped on his foot? What was he like before he started meditating? How does meditation help him solve the problem of wanting to hit someone because they accidentally stepped on his foot?
How does meditation help him solve the problem of wanting to hit someone because they accidentally stepped on his foot?
The story is vague on the exact meditative practices he was pursuing, but e.g. some styles allow you to create more distance between an emotion and the response to it, so you might for instance feel the anger but also make the choice to not raise your staff in response.
The reference to samadhi sounds like he was mostly pursuing concentration meditation, which can also help you maintain pleasant states of mind and prevent emotions such as anger from arising. Though practicing it without a chance to expose yourself to triggers and learn to deal specifically with them may end up being relatively ineffective for the purpose getting less emotionally triggered—as the story illustrates.
Yes I think exposure to triggers are very important in validating progress, just like how real skill level is measured by real work produced. That’s why I don’t really have much of a problem with the methodology employed. Triggers work both ways though if you are open-minded about who’s teaching who. You can trigger me but I can’t trigger you is bit of hypocrisy though. I don’t really mind the one-sided dynamic. All I can say is good luck for the next decades and centuries.
What did he do all those years? Seems a bit absurd to me.
Meditate, apparently (“samadhi” is a state of concentration achieved through meditation).
I guess he went back into the cave because he thought he didn’t meditate enough because he wanted to hit that dude after he accidentally stepped on his foot? What was he like before he started meditating? How does meditation help him solve the problem of wanting to hit someone because they accidentally stepped on his foot?
The story is vague on the exact meditative practices he was pursuing, but e.g. some styles allow you to create more distance between an emotion and the response to it, so you might for instance feel the anger but also make the choice to not raise your staff in response.
The reference to samadhi sounds like he was mostly pursuing concentration meditation, which can also help you maintain pleasant states of mind and prevent emotions such as anger from arising. Though practicing it without a chance to expose yourself to triggers and learn to deal specifically with them may end up being relatively ineffective for the purpose getting less emotionally triggered—as the story illustrates.
Yes I think exposure to triggers are very important in validating progress, just like how real skill level is measured by real work produced. That’s why I don’t really have much of a problem with the methodology employed. Triggers work both ways though if you are open-minded about who’s teaching who. You can trigger me but I can’t trigger you is bit of hypocrisy though. I don’t really mind the one-sided dynamic. All I can say is good luck for the next decades and centuries.