Summary of the book "The thousand faces of meditation"

 The authors are Roberto Fantini e Cesare Maramici. See: https://www.edizioniefesto.it/collane/lumen/665-i-mille-volti-della-meditazione  If someone is interested in the text,  can contact me by e-mail: maramicicesare4@gmail.com      

Nowadays oriental disciplines are very popular in the West, among them yoga and meditation. This text  reflects the outcome of the meetings I have had with great meditators, many of whom I have followed courses with.
People often choose a particular path in meditation without getting information on the relevant context. This book aims at throwing a light on a multitude of proposals.

According to Matthieu Ricard, "meditation is not about emptying one's head, but about gradually becoming a better human being. It is necessary to practice meditation in order to identify the causes and mental toxins which are disturbing, and to free ourselves from inner conflicts" (p. 71).

There are essentially two paths: the first one requires a very serious engagement in a well-structured tradition, with initiation ceremonies, discipleship, etc..., while the other path is a little lighter;  through meditation, one usually looks for moments of peace and serenity and above all, well-being. Nowadays it is the pursuit of well-being that is taking hold in our society, a well-being at any cost and to suit everyone's budget.
The book is mainly structured around the three most popular meditation proposals in the West, Tibetan Buddhist meditation (see the Dalai Lama), yoga meditation (which is a step along the way of samadhi) and Mindfulness meditation (a secular meditation, purified of any esoteric aspect and the results of which are evidenced by scientific research). The main characters around which the text is developped are: Matthieu Ricard (a buddhist monk), Christophe Andrè (a psychiatrist) and Amadio Bianchi (a yoga master). The book begins with their interviews where they answer  a series of questions about meditation. Then there is a simulated interview between an experienced meditator and a sincere researcher; through a series of questions and answers, an attempt is made to guide the reader into the world of meditation. What is meditation, what are the main techniques of meditation, etc.

We refer to meditators who are still, almost all of them, alive (many are part of the Italian and French universe) and could be a reference point to start a path. We will also introduce personalities who have tried to find a meeting point between the various spiritual paths (see p. 111). Among these, Father Anthony Elenjimittam and the mandala of the eight paths,  Father Mariano Ballester who created the non-profit association 'Deep Meditation and Self-Awareness (MPA)', and Father Antonio Gentili.

The Dalai Lama invites us continuously to experience various paths and choose the one we feel closest to, and above all he reminds us that discipline and perseverance are needed to get results. Westerners often enquire which is the form of meditation that can bring out results in a short period of time and above all at little cost (p. 60). The Buddha himself told his disciples: "Try one path and see what happens, if it works out for you, use it, otherwise discard it and look for something else".  All researches have confirmed that people need practicing for long periods to get results. Researchs also confirmed that our brain possesses a fantastic property called neuro-plasticity: the ability to change shape and function even in later life. This was demonstrated, among other studies, by the famous case of Phineas Gage, a worker whose prefrontal area of the brain was destroyed in an accident (1848). In 2000, Matthieu Ricard, who  obtained a doctorate in molecular biology, agreed to undergo a series of scientific experiments with Richard Davidson (p. 43), thus creating a bridge between Buddhist meditation and scientific research.

What are the benefits of meditation? The results of these studies are as follows: meditating produces greater activation of the left prefrontal cortex, the one associated with positive emotions, resilience and well-being. It strengthens immune system responses - demonstrating a relationship between the brain and the immune system. It reduces the activity of the right prefrontal cortex, which is linked to negative emotions. Other research has shown that meditation helps develop qualities such as focused attention, empathy and compassion, which are characteristics of Buddhist meditation (p. 43).
Another important aspect is that all these techniques, once considered esoteric, such as meditation, hypnosis, holotropic breathing, listening to sounds and mantras, rituals or shamanic psychology, techniques that combine breath, evocative music, bodywork focused on energy release, artistic expression and group integration, are now accepted in scientific medical circles. Meditation and hypnosis are often offered to cancer patients, and often accompany the patient in the convalescence phase.                                                                                                                                                                   Jon Kabat-Zinn and Christophe André have been using mindfulness techniques in hospitals for many years. Mindfulness has an effect on the body and a favourable impact on health, which is why meditation has been integrated into medical care in Western society today. Moreover, in recent decades it has been introduced in schools, prisons, and companies, as it brings improvement on an emotional level. Meditation also slows down the ageing process. Indeed, the positive effect of meditation on telomeres has been scientifically evidenced. Telomeres are protective caps at the ends of chromosomes that become shorter with each cell division.

There are some important milestones in the development of the relationship between science and meditation: first the creation of the Mind and Life institute, then the experiments conducted with and on Matthieu Ricard in the first brain scans, as well as on another monk Yongey Mingyur Rimpoche, who was subject to brain scanning for 15 years (p. 45). The study that was published by Live Science in 2020, revealed that Mingyur Rinpoche's brain ageing process appeared to have slown down. The European community has allocated around 7 million euros for a project called Sylver Santé to test with reliable data whether meditation can delay the ageing process.

Now let us try to get into details about meditation using the words of Amadio Bianchi (he is the President of the European Yoga Federation and has contributed to a few paragraphs of the book):  The word meditate is often misused; for the Westerner, meditate refers to "mens" , the mental and its activity. Instead, for the Easterner, the practice gets at going beyond the mental, in order to reach higher and extra-ordinary states of consciousness and contemplation and to get in touch with the most spiritual part of our being, to our true Self. We live identifying ourselves with the contents of our mind, created above all by emotions; it is an experience shaped by the mental; distorted images are produced which are mistaken for reality, and so we move away from an objective vision. 

How can meditation help us? Meditation can help bring man back to the present. The most important practice is to develop detachment, to contemplate our mind without being involved in it: it is called the way of knowledge, to observe our thoughts and return to the present reality. Meditation, however, is a means to better experience the present. Meditation, by reducing mental activity, helps regenerate us, as our cells achieve almost complete immobility. Meditation can increase our ability to focus and concentrate; we are able to achieve physical and material results, but above all, it helps us reconnect with our self. The path is difficult, and it takes trust, perseverance, and an approach to meditation devoid of expectation.

What does a person need to meditate? One needs a suitable environment, dimmed light, silence, finding the right time, having completed one's daily duties, and  a blanket because there is a slowing down of body activities. Meditation is an invitation to prepare oneself to listen, it involves an awakening of the state of attention, attention will turn into awareness, and awareness will lead us to consciousness. Life consumed without awareness is like  having never lived through it, or having lived  in the dream state; the moments of meditation are the most intensely experienced moments .

First, meditations must be divided into two types: meditation of suggestion and meditation of knowledge;  meditations practised in the West are suggestion meditations and are not in line with oriental meditation. These sound-accompanied guided meditations are considered propaedeutic, they produce the right conditions to eventually go further and can help  bring about the qualities necessary for knowledge meditation. During this later meditation, the meditator is alone, not even with a teacher. The senses are totally annihilated and one uses the only suitable instrument - consciousness -, to get to know the reality which is our Self. The Self is the part of us that we have in common with all manifestations, it is the only reality; everything else is impermanent and does not belong to us, nothing belongs to us, we leave everything behind when we die. We only leave  with the drop called our self. And with this drop, man goes to meet his divine part, he tries to come into contact and know this divine part, this is the goal of knowledge meditation.

The correct path would consist of three steps with practical exercises:
- awakening of attention;
- attention that transforms into awareness;
- awareness leading to consciousness; consciousness is the appropriate tool provided by nature for the practice of meditation.

Disidentification. You should become a spectator of the body, of the breath, become aware of the emotions,  of your thoughts and the content of your mind. "I am not the body, I am not the breath, I am not my emotions, I am not the mind, but I am also the mind, the emotions, the breath, the body". The next degree is to become aware of being aware. The one who is making this statement is the witness within you. The witness is a quality of your self, recognise the self and repeat 'I am the self, I am the self, I am self'.
Buddhist teachings aim to demonstrate impermanence, non-self (or inconsistency of self) and nirvana (elimination of suffering or dukkha). Any teaching that does not bear these three principles cannot be considered as a buddhism teaching. Nothing has a separate existence or a separate self. Everything has to interact with everything else. 

Nirvana means extinction, especially extinction of ideas - the ideas of birth and death, existence and non-existence, coming and going, self and other, one and many. All these ideas make us suffer. 

The Four Noble Truths are:
- The Existence of Suffering.
- The Emergence of Suffering.
- The ending of Suffering
- The Emergence of Well-Being. 

There is a noble path (the Eightfold Path) that leads to well-being.
They specify that in Buddhism there are two paths: that of relaxation, samatha (mental calmness) which should be associated with deep insight, vipassanā. (pg.151) - Only through calmness,  one could access to a state of deep vision, to get directly in touch with true reality,  and thus understand and accept it for what it is. Both are based on attention and breath control. At first, the mind observes the breathing or the movements of the body, then it becomes one with them.
Following the Western point of view, the central point of meditation consists of three stages: concentration, i.e. focusing all attention on an object which is usually the breath, then letting the mind calm down and then moving on to introspection.

Citations.  "Meditation is a path to connect with the sacred, our divine part, with our true Self".

 "Meditating is a great opportunity, an open door to infinite possibilities and potential. Something, moreover, that is within the reach of everyone, young and old, educated and less educated, healthy or unhealthy. To all, meditation brings benefits, physically, mentally, spiritually. Through meditation it is possible to rediscover oneself, recover harmony and embark on a very specific path of self-realisation' - Paola Giovetti (p. 9)

"At the end of the 20th century, meditation was a sleeping beauty: it was only practised in the silence and secrecy of monasteries, or in small groups of initiates or the exalted. Today, in the third millennium, everything has changed: meditation has become a fashionable phenomenon and a social fact. It is practised in full view of everyone, in hospitals and schools, in companies and artistic or political circles' - Christophe André (p. 12)

"Most of the time, our instinctive and clumsy search for happiness is based on deceptions and illusions, rather than on reality, and so we wear ourselves out trying to shape the world to make it fit our fantasies, or we artificially alter our states of consciousness. Would it not be better to transform our minds?"  -  Matthieu Ricard (p. 15)

"Never forget that your life passes so quickly, like a flash in the summer sky or a hand sign. Now that you have the opportunity to practise, do not waste a moment. Consecrate all your energy to the spiritual path”. - Dilgo Khyentsé Rinpoche (p. 31)

"Meditation or other disciplines enable man to access, step by step, the way, his true nature, the Buddha nature, and through this path man can liberate his true Being. It is a path to the highest state of consciousness to which man can attain, and through which he opens himself to contact with the living Absolute in its essential core. It is through severe discipline and humbly repeated action without ceasing that man gradually becomes imbued with the living Essence of all things in the unconscious depths of his individual self and prepares himself for the Great Union with the Whole" - Karlfried Graf Durckheim (p. 34)

"Awareness of the interconnectedness of the whole with the whole can only lead to deep and compassionate civic and social responsibility." "In meditation there must be no separation between subject and object, between inside and outside. So when we sit in zazen, we are already inside, there is no inside and outside, and we recognise ourselves as One with the whole" - Dario Doshin Girolami (p. 90)

"Let our message be our own life." "Mindfulness is the full awareness of the present moment". "Meditation is not an escape from, but a peaceful encounter with reality" - Thich Nhat Hanh (p. 93)

 'In reality, you are also your thoughts, your beliefs, etc., but not only those: you are above all the consciousness in which they appear. You are Everything: the observer and the observed, what changes (thoughts, perceptions, sensations) and what does not change (consciousness), you are the sea and the waves'  - Mauro Bergonzi (p. 118)

For Pope Francis, in fact, meditating must mean "going to the encounter with Jesus, but always guided by the Holy Spirit". In short, some methodological experience coming from other religious universes may well be welcomed within the practice of Christian prayer, but this must not in any way introduce different doctrinal perspectives, nor insinuate theological doubts, nor contaminate or languish the dogmatically defined contents of the Catholic Creed. (p. 111). 

Meditation is the medicine of the mind, a technique for returning from the artificial state (the mind that lies) to the natural state (p. 120).

In presenting the various meditators, as well as putting them in context, we have tried to point out the various nuances of meditation.

People like Tony Parsons, one of the most radical exponents of non-dualism, have a simple, clear and direct message: there is no one within the body-mind called 'me', there is no individual, but there is a single Self that lives through different forms (p. 122).

For Eckhart Tolle, the goal of meditation is this: to re-discover Presence, the light of Presence in us, in our inner reality. This allows us to see thoughts, feelings, etc. in a detached way, 'to be aware, that we are aware' (p. 138).

Some meditators depart from the three most common approaches to meditation teaching: the first consists of observing the thoughts that pass through our mind without dwelling on them; the second consists of trying to control the mind, to empty our thoughts through techniques of focusing on a precise point, e.g. a statue, a candle, the breath, etc., to the exclusion of all else; the third approach is to merge with the divine. They propose a different and revolutionary approach to meditation, sitting without expecting anything, without anything to seek. They propose developing an attitude of full presence and letting go of the emotions you are experiencing here and now  (p. 140).

The book also talks about the role of the teacher in meditation, the relationship between meditation and science, between Buddhism and science, and the relationship between meditation and death.

Meditation certainly helps us to face death as it urges us to live life to the full, whether we are young or old. What really matters in existence is to use the time we have left as fruitfully as possible, for our own good and that of others. I quote the thought of Gampopa, a Buddhist sage: 'At the beginning, one should be haunted by the fear of death like a deer escaping a trap; halfway through, one should have nothing to regret, like the farmer who tilled his field with care. In the end, one should be as happy as one who has accomplished a great feat' (p. 53).

A possible meeting point is the fact that both Buddhism and science have experimentation as their main focus. Richard Feynman said: 'The principle of science is as follows: The text of knowledge is the experiment; it is the sole judge of scientific truth'. And here is how the Dalai Lama echoes him: 'When the question of validating the truth of a certain assertion arises, Buddhism places the greatest authority in experience, then in reason, and lastly in scripture' (p. 163).

The goal of meditation is to arrive at a state of awakening, to perceive reality differently and to an experience known as enlightenment, which involves a perfectly clear vision of things. 

The regular practice of meditation leads to a personal condition described by all meditators in terms of four elements: the absence of a kind of outer self, emptiness, the absence of a kind of inner self and impermanence. (p. 168). This approach converges with Buddhist thinking of the lack of a controlling self. It is also possible to see a correspondence between this theory of forms in modern psychology and the impermanent character that Buddha attributed to the five aggregates. In Buddhist doctrine, the five skandhas or aggregates are the constituents of the empirical person, namely: form (rūpa); sensation (vedanā); perception (saññā); karmic formations such as habits, unconscious reflexes, (saṅkhāra); consciousness (viññāna). 

Relationship between science and meditation. Many great physicists and Nobel laureates of the 20th century consider consciousness as the foundation of the world, something that includes everything.

"Absolute knowledge is a totally non-intellectual experience of reality, an experience that arises from a non-ordinary state of consciousness, which can be called a meditative or mystical state" - Fritjof Capra (p.169). He wrote the Tao of Physics and sentences from this text are written at CERN in Geneva (The European Organisation for Nuclear Research) under a statue of Shiva Nataraja donated by the Indian government.

John Hagelin (1954 -) is a world-renowned American quantum physicist, and says: "We must assume the existence of a conscious, intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter."                           Max Planck (1858-1947) asserted: "The consciousness is the main  basis and matter is a derived from consciousness. We cannot go beyond consciousness and everything we talk about, everything we consider to exist, postulates consciousness."   

David Bohm (1917-1992), an American physicist and philosopher wrote, with Jiddu Krisnamurti, the book Where Time Ends. He said: "Consciousness is the vessel that contains everything, absolutely everything that happens in the universe, and outside of it nothing exists".  

Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961), Nobel Prize winner for physics came into contact with Indian philosophy around 1918, through the writings of Schopenhauer. He said 'Consciousness is the foundation of existence beyond the brain and whatever we can imagine, hypothesise or intuit'.                Amit Goswami (1936 - ), Indian quantum physicist, is the pioneer of a multidisciplinary scientific paradigm based on the primacy of consciousness, known as 'Science within consciousness'.  

Werner Karl Heisenberg (1901-1976) was a German physicist. and one of the main originators of quantum mechanics.  Fritjof Capra says about him: In 1929 Heisenberg spent time in India, as a guest of the famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, with whom he had long conversations about Indian science and philosophy. This introduction to Indian thought brought Heisenberg great comfort, he told me. He began to see that the recognition of relativity, interconnectedness and impermanence as fundamental aspects of physical reality, which had been so difficult for him and his fellow physicists, was the very basis of Indian spiritual traditions. After these conversations with Tagore, he said, "some of the ideas that had seemed so crazy suddenly made a lot more sense. This was a great help to me'. 

 Fred Alan Wolf wrote the text The yoga of time travel: How the mind can defeat time.                           Albert Einstein in 1930, met Nobel Prize winner for literature Rabindranath Tagore in Berlin, thanks to their mutual friend Dr. Mendel.