[Opinion] A Meditation Method?

[Xenophon]

I'm putting this in "Lounge" because it's not overtly occult. I was trying unsuccessfully to hunt up an old Texas compadre on line the other day and remembered an anecdote he told me. At some point he had lived on the West Coast and studied jiu jitsu with a Japanese sensei. He hung around long enough to get to know the instructor pretty well on a personal level. Seems the sensei had a nightly ritual/meditation. He'd get out the implements for seppuku and sit with sharp katana blade poised at abdomen for some longish while whilst meditating. After this, he'd dash off a short poem with brush and ink on the topic of death. He claimed, I am told, that the practice contributed to "habitual lucidity."

For whatever reason, my acquaintance demurred against taking up the routine. It might need a certain mindset. (The sensei was a very unreconstructed traditionalist.) Still I can imagine certain insights might be stimulated by the practice.

This being the 21st century, probably there should be a "trigger warning" here somewhere, but I don't do trigger warnings. I do "try it" exhortations.

 

[Promise]

There is a hairline difference between doing this in a healthy vs unhealthy way. I had a friend many years ago who would do a similar process each night with a loaded pistol ... one night it went off, and he is no longer in this world.

 

[Xenophon]

There is a hairline difference between doing this in a healthy vs unhealthy way. I had a friend many years ago who would do a similar process each night with a loaded pistol ... one night it went off, and he is no longer in this world.

It is easier to mishandle a firearm than even the sharpest blade, yes. Finger off trigger till threat looms (or decision to self-destruct taken) is Shooting Discipline 101.

A key part of the exercise is that it is undertaken by someone with every to reason to live. One cultivates keen awareness that everything can (and will) be lost. Indeed, under some circumstances, ought to be given up sans reproach.

 

[stalkinghyena]

"trigger warning"

loaded pistol

Finger off trigger

Okay, that's weird. Or I am weird, idk...

I am reminded somewhat of Hagakure where it says one should intensely meditate on every conceivable way one can be killed in order to inoculate one's self from the fear of death. Of course, "The way of the Samurai is found in death", as it says, so I guess it's occupational advice.
But I also recall that Crowley's 777 gives a column with a series of Buddhist meditations such as "bloated corpse", "rotted corpse" and "worm eaten corpse". I think I tried that a long time ago but then I started to get morbidly fixated, so I stopped.
No tools are involved in the above, so far as I know, but I could imagine a Samurai simulating seppuku so as to present good form should the time ever come to "pull the trigger".
No, you can't pull a trigger on a sword, I know that. But there are knives that shoot blades, but they are illegal where I live

 

[HoldAll]

Reminds me of Castaneda's advice to see death as an ally and a guide in order to stop wasting time with idle speculations and live in the moment which would not be a great help to someone who is tired of life already. Seems to me that the traditional samurai mindset encourages a readiness to throw one's life away casually according to some hallowed code of honous that takes precedent over the survival instinct. Even in that morbid context the contemplation of seppuku is extreme because it's such a horrible death. Maybe that jiu-jitsu sensei was like "Anything is better than this!" and enjoyed his life more as a consequence.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

I believe the original purpose of Christian baptism was to actually almost drown you so that you really WOULD start a new life.

 

[stalkinghyena]

Reminds me of Castaneda's advice to see death as an ally and a guide in order to stop wasting time with idle speculations

That's a good one. Pretty much forms the background of all of Don Juan's pep talks. But the emphasis is on "acting without believing" - meaning that the payoff (reward) is an impediment in itself.

Seems to me that the traditional samurai mindset encourages a readiness to throw one's life away casually according to some hallowed code of honous that takes precedent over the survival instinct.

They lived in and helped cultivate a highly ritualized culture which seems unique in its ethos, but you can see patterns in other cultures. Suicide over shame seems more acceptable to if reincarnation is in the mix. I heard some commentator refer to the idea that the samurai believed that their karmic punishment for being samurai was to be reborn as samurai.

I believe the original purpose of Christian baptism was to actually almost drown you so that you really WOULD start a new life.

If true, I'm sure there were probably Gnostic sects out in the desert who will never be known of because of this.

 

[Xenophon]

Okay, that's weird. Or I am weird, idk...

I am reminded somewhat of Hagakure where it says one should intensely meditate on every conceivable way one can be killed in order to inoculate one's self from the fear of death. Of course, "The way of the Samurai is found in death", as it says, so I guess it's occupational advice.
But I also recall that Crowley's 777 gives a column with a series of Buddhist meditations such as "bloated corpse", "rotted corpse" and "worm eaten corpse". I think I tried that a long time ago but then I started to get morbidly fixated, so I stopped.
No tools are involved in the above, so far as I know, but I could imagine a Samurai simulating seppuku so as to present good form should the time ever come to "pull the trigger".
No, you can't pull a trigger on a sword, I know that. But there are knives that shoot blades, but they are illegal where I live

Yeah, I recall reading various rotting corpse meditations in writings of the Dalai Lama. Even my morbid self couldn't get into it.

Post automatically merged: Apr 29, 2024

I believe the original purpose of Christian baptism was to actually almost drown you so that you really WOULD start a new life.

Like the old "Laugh In" skit where the minister ducks the convert three times with the latter shouting, "I truly believe!" After the third time, he shouts, "I truly believe you're going to drown me!"