29.04.09
The fate of meditation
Comment on Buddhism in decline
James said,
29.04.09 at 4:36 pm ·
“You get up and meditate in the same posture, at the same time, everyday, day after day.”
Actually, I think the problem is that 98% of the Sangha is made up of scholarly monks who just read the sutras without actually understanding what any of it means in terms of meditation practice. The practice of samadhi fell out of favor centuries ago (as a result of the commentaries) and “dry insight” vipassana became the established method (even though the Buddha said that the path wouldn’t work unless you can attain a strong state of absorption and samadhi/vipassana are considered to be unified practice). I think the Thais did well in the early 20th century because they purged everything and went back to the early texts, but then again they lucked out with Ajahn Mun:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfx-k0H5vhs