This section is still a work in progress
Here I’d like to share why I believe meditation is important. I’m thinking of explaining the origins of my interest in meditation, buddhism and the enlightenment project (in the eastern sense). I’d probably start with a personal story, explain my motivations, and then share useful links.
Book references: <Waking up> by Sam Harris, <The Mind Illuminated> by Culadasa, as well as some writings by Scott Alexander Siskind. I’d also probably include Tyler Cowen’s podcast with Donald S. Lopez Jr. and the book Donald S. Lopez introduced <Buddhism: A Journey Through History>. I’d probably also add a note about Yuval Harari’s interest in meditation, and why he meditates 2 hours a day. Robert Wright’s book <Why Buddhism is True> would also be a good reference. <Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body> by Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson for those interested in the science of meditation. Thich Nhat Hanh is also a fascinating guide.
I’d also add my understanding of Buddhism as it is understood in China, its long tradition in the country and all its different varieties.
Additional interesting leads: Goenka, Thich Nhat Hanh and his legacy the Plum Village, Zen Buddhism, Chan (Chinese version of Zen Buddhism), The Insight Meditation Society, Dr. Matthew D. Sacchet and his research team: https://meditation.mgh.harvard.edu, Robert Waldinger (director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development) https://www.robertwaldinger.com/nothing-to-fix/. For my christian audience, I’d add Douglas Harding’s book <The hierarchy of heaven and earth> which has a forward written by C.S. Lewis calling it a work of highest genius.
For those living in Cambridge, MA, I’d recommend people visit the Cambridge Zen Center or the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center.
Poem by Thich Nhat Hanh
Title: Please Call Me By My True Names
Don’t say that I will depart tomorrow—
even today I am still arriving.
Look deeply: every second I am arriving
to be a bud on a Spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.
I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
of all that is alive.
I am a mayfly metamorphosing
on the surface of the river.
And I am the bird
that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.
I am a frog swimming happily
in the clear water of a pond.
And I am the grass-snake
that silently feeds itself on the frog.
I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks.
And I am the arms merchant,
selling deadly weapons to Uganda.
I am the twelve-year-old girl,
refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean
after being raped by a sea pirate.
And I am also the pirate,
my heart not yet capable
of seeing and loving.
I am a member of the politburo,
with plenty of power in my hands.
And I am the man who has to pay
his “debt of blood” to my people
dying slowly in a forced-labor camp.
My joy is like Spring, so warm
it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth.
My pain is like a river of tears,
so vast it fills the four oceans.
Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and laughter at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.
Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up
and the door of my heart
could be left open,
the door of compassion.
