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 deff
just relax
Registered: 05/01/04
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 study, reflection, and meditation 
#15788469 - 02/10/12 12:56 PM (3 months, 17 days ago) |
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just came across this excerpt from the text "the centre of the sun-lit sky" about the three phases of the buddhist path - study, reflection, and meditation (something that came up in another thread). i thought it was worth posting, maybe someone will find it worthwhile to read 
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Traditionally, the paths in all Buddhist schools or vehicles are presented as threefold--study, reflection, and meditation--or fourfold if we add conduct to the list. The relation between study, reflection, and meditation was highlighted in the introduction, so an example by The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche of how they represent an interconnected process may suffice here. He compares this process to baking chocolate chip cookies. First, we have to read a recipe for such cookies in a cookbook to see what the ingredients are and get an overview of the procedure. This obviously corresponds to the phase of study on the Buddhist path. Next, we make a shopping list and buy all the necessary ingredients. Now we can begin actually preparing the dough, heating up the oven, and so on. Depending on how well we have studied the recipe, we can do this from memory or we might have to consult our book from time to time. Once the cookies are in the oven, we will soon start to smell their appetizing scent. Thus, we arrive at the first direct experience that results from our efforts. At this point, the cookies are no longer just some letters in a book but are about to become delicious food that is a part of our immediate experience. All of this corresponds to the phase of reflection, in which we actively process the things that we have studied and gain some personal experience of them. Finally, the cookies are finished and we can eat them. To relish and assimilate this product means that the actual cookies are directly experienced and become a part of our body. This is the phase of meditation, during which we gradually experience and integrate our studies and reflections into our whole being. This analogy is quite fitting, as the original meaning of the Sanskrit term for meditation--bhavana--is one of scent fully pervading something like a cloth and actually becoming inseparable from it. In the same way, one might say we "perfume" our mindstream with liberating insights.
Obviously, the baking process and the resultant quality of the cookies will depend on how well we have followed the recipe. We will be able to enjoy the result of this process--the cookies--only by doing everything properly. Likewise, the efficacy of our reflection depends on how extensively and well we have studied the relevant materials. Consequently, our meditation practice is subject to the certainty we have gained through systematic reflection. This does not mean we should exclusively study for many years, then only reflect on all this for even longer, and then finally--if we are still alive--meditate. Rather, Gampopa said that the best way to practice is to do all three steps in an integrated manner: to study a topic, reflect and meditate on it, and then go on to the next topic. Also, Buddhist study should not be approached like a school curriculum in which various topics are studied just so they can be crossed off the list and are never looked at again. Since Buddhist study and practice are meant to change some of our most ingrained habits, they need to be personally worked on and integrated into our whole being. Thus, they are necessarily processes that involve repetition and training until these things become natural and effortless, much as one learns to play an instrument. Processing the same issues again and again enables us to discover new and larger perspectives and understandings each time. This is also the point where conduct comes into play, since conduct in Buddhism basically means taking the insights and experiences that we gained during the more formal phases of studying, reflecting, and meditating and applying them to our daily lives. In summary, such Buddhist rehearsal has the effect of bringing us to increasingly deep levels of experience and realization.
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from this text: http://www.amazon.com/Center-Sunlit-Sky-Madhyamaka-Tradition/dp/1559392185
(i really recommend it if anyone is interested  )
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