- seCtIon tHRee: BoDY AnD WoRLD
2008; Lippelt, Hommel, and Colzato, 2014). Some schemes distinguish active from
passive techniques (Newberg and D’Aquili, 2001), but, as we shall see, there are
active and passive aspects to them all. Sometimes both methods are used within
the same tradition or even within the same session for different purposes. Paying
attention single-mindedly for long periods is not easy, and the various methods
can be seen as different ways of making it possible.
OPEN MEDITATION
Open or receptive meditation means paying attention equally to everything that
is happening, whether that is perceptions, feelings, or thoughts, but without
responding. This is usually done with the eyes open or half-open.
Mindfulness meditation is a form of open meditation derived from Buddhism,
and in particular from the method of shikantaza, which means ‘just sitting’. With
practice, this deliberate, present, nonjudgemental openness to everything leads
to what is called choiceless awareness, bare awareness, or bare attention.
One of the first effects that new meditators notice is how different this is from
their normal state of mind. They have ‘the piercing realization of just how discon-
nected humans normally are from their very experience’ (Varela, Thompson, and
Rosch, 1991, p. 25). You will not, however, be so ‘disconnected’ if you have already
been doing the practices in this book. Although not obvious at the start, you may
now see how they have been building up your attentional skills and making you
more familiar with your own mind. Indeed, even the first question, ‘Am I conscious
now?’, is a way of bringing yourself out of distraction and into mindfulness. We
hope this process will continue as you read the rest of the book.Mindfulness is a direct and simple technique, but difficult to do. When thoughts
and distractions arise, the task is to return to the present moment, but this is not
easy when the present moment is full of pain in the legs, memories of unhappi-
ness, anger at yourself or someone else, or anticipations of future pleasure. One
solution is to meet all these distractions with the attitude ‘Let it come, let it be, let
it go’. These are the three reminders given to Zen students by British psychologist
and Zen master John Crook (1990).
‘Let it come’ means letting a thought, feeling, or perception arise without trying to
block it. ‘Let it be’ means not reacting to it, trying to get rid of it, or judging it good or
bad. ‘Let it go’ means letting it come to its natural end without either holding it back
or engaging with it. Although mindfulness is primarily a meditation technique, it can
be practised at all times, and for some Buddhists the aim is to remain fully present in
every action and every moment of waking life, and even during sleep. This means
never giving in to distraction or desire, never dwelling in the past or future, and being
attentively open to everything, all the time. This is a radically different way of living.CONCENTRATIVE MEDITATION
Concentrative meditation means paying focused attention to one thing without
distraction, rather than remaining open to the wider world. In a famous study
in the early 1960s, American psychiatrist Arthur Deikman rounded up a group
of friends, sat them in front of a blue vase, and asked them to concentrate on it
for half an hour, excluding all other thoughts, perceptions, and distractions. The‘the long path of Zen
involves a “letting go” ’
(Austin, 2009, p. 48)
‘let thru – let be – let go’
(Crook, 1990, p. 160)