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by podgaj 2107 days ago
I have spent hours mediating in graveyards.

Also helpful is the mediation on the 32 parts of the body to help you loosen your attachment.

https://www.imsb.org/contemplating-the-32-parts-of-the-body/

4 comments

I meditate regularly, but I think this type of exercise is misguided and betrays the body-denying/denigrating bias that can be often found in religious traditions world-wide. It encourages an ignorant attitude towards the body: instead of contemplating the miracles of the muscular system, see it as amorphous flesh. Amplify the spurious association of the skeleton with the malnourished body it resembles, instead of marveling at the ingenious way it serves it's (many) purposes, and so on.
I generally agree with you that a lot of lineages, particularly the Theravada derived ones here in the west, might go overboard with body denial practices. The meditations from the Satipatthana sutra are great, but I feel like you can get caught in trying to prove everything is suffering if you don’t have enough grounding in other parts of Buddhist teachings because of them. Like all of the sutras it can point you in a direction, but we shouldn’t be caught up in them.

Personally, in my meditation practice, it was completely transformed and deepened when I began a dedicated asana practice and focused on giving my body what it needs to be strong and in touch with what it is saying.

You are not your body nor your mind. That is a core tenant of most Buddhist philosophy.
Not everybody is a Buddhist. Convincing somebody who has different beliefs involves more than restating one's beliefs.
You can test it out for yourself.

You don’t need to identify as a Buddhist to come to the conclusion that you are not your body.

That's like saying you are not your car; while you're driving the distinction is less important than keeping between the lines and watching for pedestrians.
I am a Daoist like everyone else is a Gravitist. You all believe gravity because you feel it work and it was explained and named to you. You feel Daoism and Buddhism work as well but no one has explained to to you.
You made the stronger claim that I am not my mind either, though. You do have to identify as something in order to come to that conclusion.
Ha! The identification is the delusion we are all afflicted with! If you were your body why can't you tell it to live forever?
Elliot Dallen said: "Life is for enjoyment."

True. In other words you shouldn't do the 32 body parts contemplation if you are not yet ready to drop attachment to life enjoyments.

You reminded me of the close of one of my favorite Philosophize This episodes on Authenticity: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GfkJEWnsNy4
Thank you so much! I have Shaila Katherine’s book “Focused and Fearless” but not completed the reading. She is an amazing teacher.