Quietude

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Dorena

Quietude, also known as shamata or samatha (Sanskrit), shi-ne (Tibetan), samatha (Pali), and calm abiding, is defined as:

The single-mindedness that is imbued with the exceptional bliss of practiced ease due to deep, single-pointed meditation on its object.

Shamata is considered the mental platform necessary to achieve insight into reality and the direct experience of emptiness or ultimate reality. Shamata is characterized by pleasant physical sensations, effortlessness in holding one’s meditational object in awareness, the ability to move fluidly and intentionally between objects and the occurrence of this state as soon as one sits down to meditate. It is a bright, vivid, and exceptionally calm state and not trance like in anyway.

Meditators progress towards shamata by passing through nine stages starting with complete scatter-mind, moving to the ability to hold the object in awareness at all times, then the disappearance of narrative or discursive thoughts and increasing calm until finally shamata is achieved.

Self

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Dorena

The self is defined as an essence of things that doesn’t depend on others; an intrinsic nature.

The self is similar to the Western concept of “soul”. It is a permanent unchanging thing.

The self is the gakja, or object denied in Buddhist thought.

Here is an exercise to “find the self”.

Gakja

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Dorena

Gakja is a Tibetan term that refers to “the object we deny”. It is something that does not exist and could never exist (ultimately). It is critical to understand the gakja because this is the “thing” that everything is empty of.

If I see you in the hall, coming out of a room and I ask you, “Is the room empty?” how do you know what to answer? Perhaps you say “yes” but then I peek in and what I see makes me disagree. The room we are talking about has a carpet and furniture, but no people. You say it is empty because “your” gakja is people. “My” gakja is furniture and I see the room as full because it is full of furniture.

People talk a lot about emptiness in Buddhism and sometimes I think people start thinking that it means nothing. One cannot talk about emptiness unless they define what they are denying exists. This is the gakja. This is the thing that everything is empty of.

In each school of Buddhism the gakja is defined differently. Here is the breakdown of the different ancient Indian schools of Buddhism followed by a concise definition of their gakja.Functionalist Gakja: the self that has no causes

Independents Gakja: the self that exists independent of its parts

Consequence or Implication School Gakja: the self that exists independent of my thinking about it or naming it.

The Enlightenment & Simple Living Institute

Category Archives: dictionary

Quietude

Self

Gakja