..續本文上一頁lowing down, relaxing, softening, and centering give me space to ask the questions: Do I need this
Do I really want it
Who will it benefit
Awareness gets a toe-hold and wisdom gets a chance. Can we discern between technology that feeds greed and technology that frees from greed
I wonder how many in our culture ask these questions. During my two decades in Thailand, I saw both speed and greed revved up and Buddhism downsized in many people”s lives. They went along with the flow pushed by the elites, governments, and global institutions. Here, having lived with speed and greed more intensely, and for much longer, I suspect many intuit the questions but are afraid to face them straight on. Good questions challenge too many assumptions about the good life and our purpose as Americans — all those familiar habits, desires, and identities. So how will we pop the question to ourselves and our culture
Learning how to breathe deeply, peacefully, wisely, and healthily is a good start. Cultivating the mindfulness, natural intelligence, and kindness needed to breathe this way takes us further. These open up frames of reference that show Samsâra in another light. May that light grow wisdom.
Technology of mindful breathing not only has all these wonderful benefits, it is cheap and simple. Breathing and mindfulness can be applied anywhere. They”re free. This technology is fun and playful. Everybody can do it. That makes it “real tech” in my book, beyond mere hi- and low-tech.
It wasn”t for nothing that the Buddha hung out in “the dwelling of ânâpânasati” and taught it in more depth than any other meditation practice.
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[1] Actually, “Thailand” means the same thing, so I”ve returned from one “Land of the Free” to another. I wonder if they are the same kinds of “free”
[2] The Ânâpânasati Sutta (M. 118) and Satipatthâna Sutta (M. 10) are primary examples of this teaching. See also various suttas in the Ânâpânasati-samyutta of the Samyutta-nikâya and Buddhadâsa Bhikkhu”s Mindfulness with Breathing (Wisdom, 1988; tr. Santikaro Bhikkhu).
[3] Published in a ReVision issue on “Spiritual Responses to Technology” (Spring 2002, Vol. 24, No. 4).
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