WHAT IS JEWISH
MEDITATION?
Jewish meditation is a profound spiritual path that
is rooted in the history of Judaism. It
seeks the possibility of finding a link with Universal Oneness where "The
end is embedded in the beginning."
For me, my path has been circuitous, which is not
unique. The path of many followers of Jewish Meditation match mine. My journey
began with the late Dr. Ainslie Mears. He helped me to tune into my body
rhythms and breathing. Relaxation soon followed, with its concurrent feelings
of warmth and pleasure. That was in the late 70's. From this beginning, my
search for meditation with a spiritual base began. It was not until 1981, when
my late husband died, that I was introduced to Hindu meditation. I was looking
for peace. My connections with Muktenenda's Ashram lead me to visit their
International Centre in India. After returning to Melbourne, my practice
continued for another three years.
One day during a lecture at the Ashram, the word
"One" came up in the talk, with the emphasis that everything in the
world is related to this "Oneness". I said to myself, "Where
have I heard that before?" "Of course, in the Shema." By
coincidence, the next time I went to synagogue, the Rabbi also spoke of the
"Oneness". I had come home again,
to my Jewish heart.
I thought, ”Why should I be meditating using Hindu
words when Hebrew is my heritage?”
However, it was not until my second marriage, to Bern
Boas, in 1992, that my yearning to learn more about Judaism began. I became the
facilitator of a Jewish Meditation group at LBC. In 1997 and I celebrated my
Batmitzvah
The saying that "All roads lead to Rome,"
is true of Jewish Meditation. There are many similarities with other forms of
meditation found in Buddhism, Sufism, Hinduism and Christianity. One commonality is noticing the breath. Practices begin with focused breathing.
What distinguishes Jewish Meditation from other forms
of meditation is the study of Torah, and the use of Hebrew language (which
gives a deep meaning to mantras) and some specific chanting, rituals amd
prayers. All these practices are
interchangeable.
Jewish meditation changes us. As with any other spiritual practice, this
may take months, years or decades.
Some people report that they have found a place of
inner security that has been missing.
Others say that they finally have a sense of meaning after a lifetime of
alienation. It always shifts our
perception of the world.
There are there core meditations that can be
practiced; focused meditation, awareness meditation and emptiness
meditation. It is usual to begin with
focussed meditation.
For beginners it is recommended to stay with one for
a number of months before trying out another.
Over time, one learns what is best for oneself.
The use of effort is often equated with trying to do
something using energy to make something happen. The paradox in this striving is self-defeating.
The problem is how to have effort, without making
effort, so that a person will not be a victim of his or her own
expectations. The effort requires acute
attention on a level that transcends self-awareness, which is related to
attentiveness.
When we are deeply interested in something, we are
attentive without effort. Some call
this choiceless awareness; we just do it.
Spiritual mastery has the quality of diminishing the
identification of self.
Mastery is self- discipline, the ability to say no,
as well as the strength to override impulses and do just the opposite.
Dorothea Tropp-Boas
2006.
By Rabbi Kennard Lipman. See: http://www.innerjew.com/Selectedwriting.html
To meditate on 'impermanence' is to implement a
Buddhist view. Impermanence
is not just a platitude about how everything is
changing and life is short.
To 'meditate' on such a view is, as we mentioned
above, in some way to
assent to the truth of that view. I have had
considerable experience (first
of all, my own) about the consequences of taking up
'meditation' as
value-free technique, without understanding whether
one has really assented
to the view or not. Many problems can arise when
there is an unconscious
conflict between an individual's actual views, i.e.,
those they live by, and
those embodied in a meditation. By 'individual's
actual views' I mean deeply
valued ones inherited from tradition, which the
person herself may not even
be able to articulate.
At the very least, one needs to be aware of the
relationship between view
and meditation in taking up any practice. At most,
one needs to understand
that there are serious conflicts among the 'views'
which lie behind
'meditations' from different traditions. For example,
in the Indian
tradition there are different interpretations of the
meaning of 'oneness'.
In the most famous contemplative tradition of
Hinduism, the Advaita Vedanta
of Shankara, 'oneness' is understood as advaita ,
i.e., that Brahman, the
ultimate reality, is 'One without a second'. In
Mahayana Buddhism, 'oneness'
is understood as advaya , the 'non-duality' of the
ultimate truth, nirvana ,
and of the relative truth, samsara . In another
well-known Hindu school, the
'oneness' of advaita is qualified so as to contain
dvaita , 'twoness' or
duality. (4) As explained above, all these views have
consequences for how
one 'meditates'. How would one then talk about a
Jewish view of oneness,
such as that of the Sh'ma , that God is 'one'?
One very sophisticated view is found in Chabad
Hasidism, which is very close
to the Hindu 'dvaita-advaita ', 'duality in
non-duality' view. This example
will illustrate for the Jewish reader the practical
consequences of adopting
a view. According to Chabad, following the Zohar,
there are two
'unifications'. The 'upper unification' is known as
yihuda' 'ila'ah and the
'lower unification' is yihuda' tata'ah. In the upper
unification one
experiences complete negation (bittul ) of individual
self-conscious
existence (yeshut ) in the 'oneness' or light of God
(YHVH), like the rays
of the sun at their source where they cannot even be
referred to as 'rays'
(5). This seems quite similar to a variety of Indian
views of the ultimate
reality or truth.
However, the Chabad philosophy has something quite
remarkable to say about
the 'lower unification', which makes it more similar
to the Hindu view of
'duality in non-duality' than to the Buddhist view of
'non-duality'. The
'lower unification' is done from the perspective of
duality, as an
individual, self-centered being. One maintains a
knowledge of the 'higher
unity' without annihilating the dualistic
perspective. Furthermore, Chabad
tells us that while the 'upper unity' nullifies
individual self-centeredness
('ego'), it does not change its perspective. It is
the lower unification,
operating at the level of duality, that can change
the perspective of the
'ego'. This change is called 'refining' or 'sifting'
good from evil (birur).
Birur leads to the notable, and I would add
characteristically Jewish,
conclusion that, "There is a tremendous
advantage to the service of
refinement, because the source for the body and
animal soul [which exist on
the level of yeshut ] is higher than the source of
the Godly soul [the level
of the higher unification]. Therefore, [their
refinement] contributes an
added dimension of light and life energy to the Godly
soul." (6) What is
characteristically Jewish here is the respect for
duality and the necessity
of working on the dualistic level in order to reveal
a unity even greater
than the upper one. The reason for this respect for
duality is, as I have
indicated at the beginning of this discussion, that
it is a willful creation
of the Creator, and not some accident, illusion,
appearance, mistake, etc.
To illustrate the practical consequences of views,
let me give an example
from the world of psychology, where there has also
been much contemporary
interest (and there are many Buddhist-Jewish
psychologists!) on the
relationship of Buddhist meditation to psychotherapy.
(7) People involved in
this work have noted that some individuals in therapy
may require 'building
up' their fragile egos before they can engage in
Buddhist 'non-self'
meditation. Hence the slogan coined by Jack Engler:
"You have to be a
somebody before you can be a nobody." What I
point out here as
characteristic of the Chabad view (and Judaism in
general, I would argue),
is that both the work of becoming a 'nobody' and
becoming a 'somebody' are
sacred work.
There is a difference between studying the structure
of the self and its
development from an ultimate point of view, and
studying it from its own
perspective as a developing self. Furthermore, one
work does not necessarily
come after the other, with no-self as the goal. In
the Chabad example, the
work of becoming a somebody leads to an even greater
sense of completeness
than the 'nobody-work' of the upper unification.
Obviously, this is a complex discussion which goes
beyond the limits of this
brief essay, but I bring up this question of
different types of 'oneness' to
alert the reader to what is involved in entering into
the 'garden of
meditation'. We should bring just as much
sophisticated knowledge and
reflection to this subject as we (post-)modern Jews
do to other contemporary
political, social, cultural and religious issues in
Judaism.
In summary, while one may wish to adopt and practice
certain forms of
meditation from outside the Jewish tradition (which
would not be something
new for us), it is essential to understand that
meditation practices
implement a view or a way of seeing. This means that
meditation literally
builds worlds and determines behavior. Assenting to a
view through a form of
meditation that one does not fully understand could
in fact, as an
epiphenomenon, make one feel better about oneself and
behave more carefully
in the world. But it may also further remove people,
in subtle and profound
ways, from the Jewish practices that they so
sincerely wish to recover and
renew.
Rabbi Kennard Lipman
http://www.innerjew.com/Selectedwriting.html
Metivta--Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man's L.A. contemplative
school for Jewish wisdom
<http://www.metivta.org/>
Jewish Mysticism, Meditation and Kabbalah
KAVANNAH: Jewish Mystical and Meditational Resources
(Michael Sidlofsky)
<http://kavannah.org>
NY Center for Jewish Meditation and Spiritual
Practice: a program of the Academy for Jewish Religion
<http://www.ajrsem.org>
Retreat Centers and Conferences
Elat Chayyim--Jewish Renewal Retreat & Program
Center, upstate NY <http://www.ElatChayyim.org
Last updated by Webmaster Fred Tropp v.2 31/1/06
\what is jr meditation