Q3-19840920-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-buddhas_ancient_med_path_a_modern_challenge_part_ii-1515 Leandra Tej

Talk: 19840920-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-buddhas_ancient_med_path_a_modern_challenge_part_ii-1515 Leandra Tejedor Start_time: 01:19:57 Display_question: It sounds like this practice is more pragmatic and is about everyday life? Keyword_search: Insight Meditation Society, Ruth Dennison, United States, transformation, Buddhist, Himalayas, religion, political activist, Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Christopher Titmuss, self-understanding, self-knowledge, worship, universal energy, God Question_content: Questioner: I'm one of the ones that hasn't had much experience…fairly new to it. A few weekends ago, I was at the Insight Meditation up in Barre…and on the weekend. Larry: With Ruth Dennison or… Questioner: Yes. She said some of the things, that you said tonight, which has been interesting. In so far as, it seems that what both of you are saying are… you don't have to have the robes, and do kneeling, and cross legs. And its sort of a… pragmatic approach, to bringing it into… everyday use. And I think that I’m having so sort of a…this may be a transformation that's going on now, in the United States, or the world. And this is the method, where things like meditation, are going to go out to businesses…or to someone who doesn't normally travel in meditation circles. And it's a very effective approach because it's pragmatic. I can…I can deal with that… in my prime existence. And so… I'm excited about that. It’s an opportunity for me to work with that. Larry: I think you've put your finger on something extremely important. One way to look at it, and I'm not a scholar, you know, in the sense of total history of religions, and history of the world. I've done a little of that, particularly in the Buddhist tradition. But it seems to me that this… perhaps overemphasis on… spiritual practice being carried out by special people, with special clothes, in special conditions, has been a disaster. Because what it has done, is that some of the most sincere, dedicated people have cut themselves off from life, and have gone into retreats. And you know this is all insanity. I don't want any part of this… Himalayas or wherever. And as a result, maybe what's desperately needed is, what you're saying. My hearing you anyway, to spiritualize daily life, because the quality of life on the planet, is perhaps at an all time low. I don't know if it's an all time low. It's low. We're… on the edge of destroying ourselves. Break_line: And that's, of course, another thing that is…. political action, it seems, is absolutely essential for that split. Oh, I'm a political activist, therefore I don't meditate. Oh, I'm a meditator, I don't bother with political action. That's another false dichotomy, which is now beginning to dissolve. There's something called a Buddhist peace fellowship. And there's particularly a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who's been leading the way. And there's a teacher, at Barre, named Christopher Titmuss, who particularly developed along these lines, of bringing social action, and contemplative life together. So there's no split. So, I think if it is feeling good for you, that's good. Now, one of my teachers…predicted the following, and I don't know we can all watch… is that all the major religions are really exhausted, and that it's over. It's just a matter of time. They have done their job. That is, the world religions, as they're presently set up, and that the symbols, and rituals, and ceremonies, et cetera, are no longer appropriate for the planet, as the planet is. It's such a small planet. And that the religion of the future, is self understanding, or self knowledge. That is, each individual… taking responsibility for those who want to do it, you see, because that, in a way, is the essence of religion. Not what you wear, or the building that you go, or going every Sunday or Saturday. It has to do with a quality of…being. Break_line: And, for example, you could worship something in a building. But what if it turned out that we started to worship each other? In other words, real worship was that we understood that this universal energy was manifesting, or God was manifesting, through each one of us. And that you don't have to pray to an icon, because in really respecting… your neighbor, your husband, your wife, that's a religious activity, if you understand what it means. In other words, if you go deeper, because they're an expression of total truth. If you don't, you get locked into the level of personality, I like her, or him. I don't. And then it's still a valid realm, and has to be understood, but it can be deepened. End_time: 01:24:30