Diana Winston

Summary:

1. Definition of meditation: Meditation is about perceiving without conceptual framework.

2. Meditation has to be trained like a muscle, one cannot expect that thinking of nothing will work at the first time. At the start, it will usually only work for a few seconds at a time.

3. Meditation is commonly associated with practices that derive from the cultures where the art of meditation has been primarily developed, but which are only accidental to meditation. Namely: (A) The yoga seating poses are felt as the most comfortable ones in many eastern countries, but for the western cultures this may correspond to sitting on a chair in an upright manner. (B) Focusing on the breath is the most common technique in meditation, lending its name -directly or indirectly- to spirituality (that is, the occupation with breath, or with the soul); but even this is not essential to meditation. Breath is merely a very useful anchor to focus on, in order to avoid focusing on all the other things.

4. Two meditations for beginners:

4.A. Breath meditation. One can focus on either stomach, chest, nostrils, or all of them. It is important not to focus on them in a conceptual way, for example, don't think "Now I'm inhaling/exhaling.", but just to observe it without comment.

4.B. Body meditation. Focus on all parts of the body (and relax the muscles in them), starting from toes, going up via all limbs to the jaw and face, with all the detailed steps in between.

5. Meditation can be used to deal with pain or negative emotions. The idea is that observing the pain/emotions distances one from their first-order experience. Pain and negative emotions are very pervasive, so it may be useful to resort to some step-by-step recipes: Basically, the pain/emotion is first observed, then its cause is inquired and understood, and then some distancing takes place.

Comments:

(Ad 1.)

A. This definition is very helpful, but also not. It would be more consistent to say that meditation is about observing one's perceptions (that is, on some meta-level). In some passages of the book it sounds as if meditation is about just perceiving the perceptions (as caused by flow, drugs, or being a little child), but I think this is not what is meant by meditation in general or in the other parts of the book.

B. Eckhart Tolle writes that meditation can also be about observing one's thoughts, as opposed to just thinking them. That idea is not explored in this book. If we take the idea into account, we can say that meditation is not so much about not thinking, but about being on some meta-level about one's everyday experience -- be it perceptions or thoughts, or -in between- emotions. (Perhaps, then, it may be easier to be on a meta-level about perceptions than it is to be on a meta-level about thoughts, justifying why the book encourages one to suppress the thoughts during meditation.)

C. Still an open question is whether the mentioned meta-level should include only observation, or whether it may also include thinking. Part of the answer may be that meta-level thinking can help to distance oneself from the first level perceptions and thoughts, thus supporting a subsequent pure meta-level observation of the first level.

(Ad 5.) The described step-by-step technique is well known not only to help against pain and negative emotions; but also against other evils, such as religion or objectivist ethics.

Review:

The chapters are usually made of a science section and of an applied section. The science sections are full of trivia, and I skipped most of them. The authors acknowledge that meditation is about first-person experiences that moreover vary among humans, and that empirical psychology (understandably) still struggles to make sense of these in a satisfactory way. But the scientific attitude of the authors is very useful in that it ensures that the applied sections are also comprehensible for muggles.… (meer)

Many of today's teenagers are tired of the pressure to compete and consume and are looking for a different way to live their lives. This book addresses such relevant topics as peer pressure, emotional difficulties, stress, fostering peace, and protecting the environment. It offers advice on: discovering truth in a world of hype, finding peace amid the ups and downs of life, accepting ourselves, working with difficult emotions, how to meditate, dealing with temptations, making the right decisions about sex and drugs, and on volunteering.… (meer)

"Through acts of compassion, our wisdom grows - we see interconnections more clearly - " (Winston, 2003, p. 258)

Buddhism is not a simple topic to tackle, especially for a beginner. But, this terrific book by Diana Winston, does a great job of connecting to adolescent readers. The language and concepts of Buddhism can be complicated, but Winston is able to deliver the material with fitting and appropriate language and examples to suit her audience - teens. This is a great 'gateway' book for teens and beginners interested in world religions, and specifically Buddhist philosophy and practice.… (meer)