Originally Posted by
Pa3s
Somehow, this is some kind of anti-meditation. If you meditate, you try to free your mind from any thoughts, by repeating a mantra which has no meaning. However, you do not try to eliminate your thoughts in autogenic training, but actively use them for your purposes.
No. You've just repeated christian propaganda against buddhist and hindu contemplative practices, which xian detractors often claim produce a spiritual vacuuousness that invites the infiltration of demonic spirits. In other words it's silly shit to scare peasants and children. And even if one were to chase all thoughts away it would only be with another thought, just as exhaling underwater produces bubbles by using one substance to temporarily displace another.
In the way that I learned meditation, one:
- approaches it with direct purpose
- remains situated in the immediate experience of the moment by focusing on the breath
- allows thoughts to arise and depart — as they naturally do — without attempting to stifle or become attached to any of them
- maintains a central guiding idea
The following is adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satipatthana:
In the Buddhist tradition,
satipaṭṭhāna refers to the establishing, foundation, or presence of "mindfulness". The four foundations of mindfulness are:
- mindfulness of the body
- mindfulness of feelings (or sensations)
- mindfulness of mind (or consciousness)
- mindfulness of mental phenomena (or mental objects)
Mindfulness is a way of implementing "right mindfulness" and the "right concentration" parts of buddhism's Noble Eightfold Path. Mindful meditation develops the mental factors of insight (vipassana) and calm (samatha). It is practiced most often in the context of Theravada Buddhism although the principles are also practiced in most traditions of Buddhism which emphasize meditation such as the Sōtō Zen tradition.
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anapanasati_Sutta#Benefits
So as you see, contrary to stereotypes, meditation is very intentional and meaningful.
This autogenic training you've mentioned looks like an antiseptic Occidental co-option of Oriental practices that have been established for well over two-thousand years.