Three Gates to Meditation Practices

David A. Cooper

Description

A spiritual memoir by the author of God Is a Verb.

"This book is a treasure map, but not like any you have seen before. Most people believe that the object of a treasure hunt is to find a chest of gold. The mystical approach, however, is that the search itself is the treasure…. Here is an invitation to begin an exploration of the treasure fields of your own mind…the most exciting and rewarding adventure you will ever take."
—from the Introduction

Here is an insider’s look at a spectrum of mystical traditions—by someone who is remarkably fluent in the language of each. Three Gates to Meditation Practicechronicles more than fifteen years in the spiritual journey of "post-denominational" Rabbi David A. Cooper and his wife Shoshana—years that led the Coopers everywhere from a secluded mountain hut in New Mexico to the Sinai desert, from chanting Sufi dhikr and meditation with Buddhist masters to studying Kabbalah and esoteric Judaism in the Old City of Jerusalem.

The Coopers’ story is an intimate account of what intensive spiritual practice is like, with an ultimate message that is supremely inspiring: The spiritual path is completely within our reach, whoever we are, whatever we do, as long as we are willing to try.

Sujets

• Santé et bien-être
• Bien-être émotionnel
• Bien-être émotionnel
• Sufi
• Philosophie et théologie
• Shoshana
• Religion
• Islam
• David Cooper

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 06 octobre 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781594733925
• Langue: English

Extrait

Three Gates to Meditation Practice: A Personal Journey to Sufism, Buddhism, and Judaism
2000 by David A. Cooper
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publisher.
For information regarding permission to reprint material from this book, please write or fax your request to SkyLight Paths Publishing, Permissions Department, at the address / fax number listed below.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cooper, David A., 1939-
Three gates to meditation practice : a personal journey into Sufism, Buddhism, and Judaism / David A. Cooper.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-893361-22-5 (pbk.)
1. Meditation. 2. Meditation-Sufism. 3. Meditation-Buddhism. 4. Meditation-Judaism. I. Title.
BL627.C684 2000
291.4 35-dc21
00-061871
10 9 8 7 6 5 43 2 1
Manufactured in the United States Cover design by Drena Fagen
SkyLight Paths, Walking Together, Finding the Way, and colophon are trademarks of LongHill Partners, Inc., registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Walking Together, Finding the Way Published by SkyLight Paths Publishing A Division of LongHill Partners, Inc. Sunset Farm Offices, Rte. 4, P.O. Box 237 Woodstock, VT 05091 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] www.skylightpaths.com
CONTENTS

Introduction
1. Beginning the Spiritual Journey
2. Knowing by Not-Knowing
3. Founding a Sufi Community
4. Lucid Dreams and Other Realities
5. Honeymoon in Jerusalem
6. Melting into God
7. The Temple Mount
8. Cycles of Fate
9. Mysteries of Life and Death
10. Now and Forevermore
11. Life in Jerusalem s Old City
12. Being vs. Becoming
13. Giving and Receiving
14. The Taste of Eternity
15. Pilgrimage to Mt. Sinai
16. The Summit Retreat
17. The Inner Mentor
18. Spiritual Inheritance
19. The Rebirth of Jewish Meditation
Epilogue
Notes
Acknowledgments
About SkyLight Paths
Copyright
INTRODUCTION

My earlier works, Silence, Simplicity, and Solitude and A Heart of Stillness (both SkyLight Paths), are guides to help individuals discover their inner voices through the process of spiritual retreat. Many readers of these books asked me two fundamental questions: (1) What was my personal journey? and (2) What teaching could I share with people who are prepared to explore advanced meditation practice? Three Gates to Meditation Practice is an expanded edition of a book originally entitled Entering the Sacred Mountain , in which I attempted to answer these two questions. Thus, this is not simply a spiritual autobiography, but a guidebook for those who wish to learn about methods of meditation designed to reveal the core of consciousness and the essence of awareness.
Many books on meditation give readers the ABC s of a particular contemplative discipline. My approach has always been somewhat more eclectic. I have found it useful to explore the similarities that cross the boundaries of different traditions, while at the same time to appreciate the unique offerings developed by each spiritual discipline. The investigation of Sufism, Buddhism, and Judaism has offered me a rich selection of meditative insights in terms of techniques, foundations of practice and goals. These insights have proven enormously beneficial for appreciating the bigger picture of the variety and value of meditation in general.
Students of history have found signs of cross-fertilization between these three traditions in the development of teachings that lie at the heart of each. As a result of nurturing one another, a depth of wisdom has arisen for all in a way that none of them alone could have provided. I feel quite fortunate to have lived in these times in which we have access to the world s wisdom traditions not only in books, but through the active transmissions of dozens of teachers who are willing to share their experiences with us.
Although this book delves deeply into the nuances of advanced meditation practice, it should not be in the genre of how to books. Advanced work is more focused on immersion in the meditative process than in specific techniques. This is why advanced meditators often undertake extended periods of weeks and sometimes months of silence in controlled settings. When sitting in these intensive meditation sessions, often the most elementary techniques are the keys to mastery.
People study the world s wisdom traditions for inspiration and guidance, but often these teachings are lofty or inaccessible, implying the necessity for superhuman efforts. However, as we gain more direct individual experience with wisdom teachings that have been transmitted over many centuries, ordinary people like you and me give each other permission and encouragement to explore our own inner realms-and the results are extraordinary. We are able to have similar experiences to those described by spiritual seekers for thousands of years. The more we have our own experiences, the more we validate the potential for human beings across the planet. We are all mystics on one level or another-and now we are discovering that our capability for individual spiritual growth may be limitless.
One of our main tasks as we enter into the domain of mystics and illuminated beings is to learn how to discern the difference between extravagance and honest reporting, poetic license and faithful rendition, fiction and truth. This is not an easy job, because whereas the material world lends itself to physics, chemistry, biology, and other sciences that have methods to observe and test things, the mystical plane is metaphysical, subjective, and unverifiable. So we are left to wonder: Did this person really experience such profound states of mind, and if so was he or she a special being with a gift for attaining something beyond the reach of mortals, or is this level of awareness something available to all of us?
The best we can do is appraise our own experiences honestly and share these with each other in the hope that our collective knowledge will open the gates to these mysterious realms. My own discovery has been that almost all limits of spiritual inquiry are self-imposed; we need only be aware of the experience of someone with whom we can identify to break out of these imaginary limits into a world of indescribable potential.
I once sailed my small sloop from the Virgin Islands to Newport, Rhode Island, stopping at Bermuda. It was my first ocean-sailing experience, and I was the skipper. When we arrived at Bermuda, my engine began spouting water in all directions, and I knew we were in serious trouble. The boat sat at the dock for many days while I pondered how I was going to deal with this crisis. I needed a working engine to continue the voyage, but I had only forty dollars in my pocket, and this was already allocated for other, necessary supplies.
I had never had any technical training. When I purchased this boat in St. Thomas, my mechanical education could be summed up in my ability to change the oil. I had learned about engines as I began to maintain my boat, but solving this problem seemed beyond my capabilities. One day a stranger came on board, diagnosed what was wrong, and then looked at me and said the magic words: You can do it. In those brief moments I felt myself change from an inept, bumbling, all-thumbs dimwit to a self-confident, methodical, skillful mechanic. I tore apart the entire engine, replaced the damaged freeze plug-a fifty-cent item-and then reassembled everything in its proper working condition. The simplest lessons in life are the most profound: You can do it. Almost twenty years after this event, I continue to carry that damaged freeze plug on my key chain as a constant reminder.
The idea that You can do it is at the core of many changes that have taken place during the last two centuries, and particularly in the last thirty years. Our current trend toward democratization not only is happening in government, politics, business, and social values; it also is a noticeable phenomenon in the world of spiritual inquiry.
Sharing my personal account in a way that will encourage others is the incentive for this book. Fortunately, I have kept journals during dozens of retreats-short retreats of a few days, and longer sessions that lasted between forty and a hundred days. These notes consolidate the best instruction offered by a wide variety of teachers and include guidance regarding the enlightening process gleaned from hundreds of books. I do not wish to imply that retreats of forty to a hundred days are necessary for spiritual work-most people do not have the time for this-but that whatever spiritual practice one undertakes, the potential for attaining new levels of awareness is probably greater than most people imagine.
Many spiritual teachings have endured for centuries because of their intrinsic truth-a truth that penetrates to the essence of the soul. These teachings touch us deeply when we encounter them in our normal frame of mind; but when we spend extended periods on silent retreat-or when we engage in other serious spiritual exercises-we often enter different states of consciousness, and then these truths have the power to shatter and transform lives.
This book, then, is designed to communicate my retreat experiences over a twenty-year period and to show how dramatically they affected my wife and me as our spiritual lives deepened. Each retreat is like a voyage into unexplored terrain, and each has its own personality. Retreats often take us on strange adventures, filled with visions and fantasies, bizarre dreams and impassioned mind states.
I have been selective in excerpting from these diaries. Frankly, the choices were difficult to make. I was concerned that the reader might think a selection was pretentious or petty. Moreover, as distinctive mind states develop du