When we meditate, our minds often want to do something other than the meditation instructions we've been taught. When that happens repeatedly, we may feel frustrated to the point of abandoning meditation altogether. Jason Siff invites us to approach meditation in a new way, one that honors the part of us that doesn't want to do the instructions. He teaches us how to become more tolerant of intense emotions, sleepiness, compelling thoughts, fantasies—the whole array of inner experiences that are usually considered hindrances to meditation. The meditation practice he presents in Unlearning Meditation is gentle, flexible, permissive, and honest, and it's been wonderfully effective for opening up meditation for people who thought they could never meditate, as well as for injecting a renewed energy for practice into the lives of seasoned practitioners.
Unlearning Meditation
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“A creative and illuminating approach to meditation practice.”—Joseph Goldstein, author of Insight Meditation
“A radically illuminating book for practitioners to newly understand their meditation through loving interest in what is actually going on, beyond any instruction or ideal.”—Jack Kornfield, author of The Wise Heart
“A wise, practical, and radical book that sheds new and wondrous light on dharma in the West.”—Joan Halifax Roshi, author of Being with Dying
“Jason Siff is one of the most distinctive and engaging voices of the emerging Buddhist culture in the West.”—Stephen Batchelor, author of Confession of a Buddhist Atheist
“Siff frees meditators from their own expectations, and ultimately, any guilt about not following the rules. With a gentle style that’s encouraging, wise, and even playful at times, Siff provides a very useful guide for those who want to meditate, but need to ‘unlearn’ in order to move forward. He blends his Eastern and Western experience to give the work spiritual rigor and grounding, while still appealing to a broad audience. Readers don’t need to be Buddhist, or even familiar with its philosophical concepts, to benefit from Siff’s clearly articulated, thoughtful advice.”—ForeWord Reviews
“A radically illuminating book for practitioners to newly understand their meditation through loving interest in what is actually going on, beyond any instruction or ideal.”—Jack Kornfield, author of The Wise Heart
“A wise, practical, and radical book that sheds new and wondrous light on dharma in the West.”—Joan Halifax Roshi, author of Being with Dying
“Jason Siff is one of the most distinctive and engaging voices of the emerging Buddhist culture in the West.”—Stephen Batchelor, author of Confession of a Buddhist Atheist
“Siff frees meditators from their own expectations, and ultimately, any guilt about not following the rules. With a gentle style that’s encouraging, wise, and even playful at times, Siff provides a very useful guide for those who want to meditate, but need to ‘unlearn’ in order to move forward. He blends his Eastern and Western experience to give the work spiritual rigor and grounding, while still appealing to a broad audience. Readers don’t need to be Buddhist, or even familiar with its philosophical concepts, to benefit from Siff’s clearly articulated, thoughtful advice.”—ForeWord Reviews
About the Author
Jason Siff is the head teacher of the Skillful Meditation Project. He teaches meditation and leads retreats throughout the United States and in Australia.
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58 of 61 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If "nothing arises in isolation" for Buddhists, why not let thoughts, images, and moods filter and float into one's meditative mind? Rather than resisting stories as tied to the ego, a receptive process allows practitioners to integrate narratives and reactions into their sitting. This increases gentleness, and eases pain, as tolerating one's experiences replaces suppressing or overcoming their influence. "Drifting off" can even help us "wake up."
This, Siff proposes, means "unlearning" meditation practices that stress silencing the voices and emotions within us. For a meditator facing inevitable impasses, he shows how "transformative conceptualization" can draw us patiently to examine "mental constructs" as a way towards non-conceptual understanding. This challenges the norm that such a non-conceptual realization comes only when the seeker has attained the goal of a purer sense-experience. This can be a tricky "concept" to comprehend, admittedly.
Siff takes his time in a couple-hundred pages to relate his own evolution from Tibetan and especially Vipassana training into a more fluid, open-ended direction. While grounded in the Theravada traditions, and using a lot of the samatha (calming)-vipassana (discerning) as the foundation for his path, he advises the meditator not to become attached to any one form, if that form becomes too "grounded" so as to discourage the seeker, or ossify the spirit. To me, this seems like a commonsense, slightly but subtly radical, existential attitude I like. He returns, softly, to the Pali texts, as does Batchelor, to revive the force of the earlier Buddha's impact, one concentrating upon ethical action and not dogmatic codification.
After all, he reasons, if we regard the Buddha's dharma doctrines "as concepts," well, "none of the teachings are true." But they remain self-improving narratives. This resembles Stephen Batchelor's "Buddhism without Beliefs" in its agnosticism, and his new study, "Confession of a Buddhist Atheist" (both reviewed by me), which complementing Siff mix reflection with autobiography and textual explication. Siff advances a meditative "Recollective Awareness Training" as a dharma-based response based not on beliefs or theism but "experiential knowledge."
He devotes the second part of his book to impasses and calm states. He looks at "samadhi" (conventionally "bliss," but here applied to being drawn towards tranquility), and how this state might be dipped into as the meditator does not resist "daydreaming" or even drifting off into semi-slumber. He intersperses journals kept by his students that illustrate well a variety of reactions to meditating. Instead of polished assurances of masters that usually provide the sole texts by which students can judge their own progress or shortcomings, reading average meditators record their struggles reveals much more accessible material by which a beginner or advanced student can compare his or her own situation.
This is not a primer on Buddhism, and Siff expects that even if a beginner, one has familarity with basic teachings. He uses a running analogy with being snowed in to show how sometimes we need to be patient, yet alert, for opportunities to succeed. The more meditation can link to the rest of one's life, and not be apart from it, the more its insights can smooth rough edges for ourselves and others. He lacks platitudes, luckily. His presentation shares suggestions, not prescriptions.
It's not technical, and not inspirational in the pat sense. It's suited more for those open to therapy and journal-keeping as compatible methods by which Westerners choose to confront (and make friends within) themselves. A couple of points, in my opinion, rushed by. While the whole book's an elaboration of the concept, I wish more space had been devoted to "dependent origination," simple to sum up if hard to grasp deep down as "When one thing arises, so does another." I was left uncertain about how Siff's approaches might work within Zen, and how "just sitting" might contrast or compare. Also, the half-paragraph distinction between the "connected process" of beliefs as this differs from wisdom as or as not originating in "unified states of mind" compressed this vast, phenomenological topic. I realize that for a short text, this may be recondite, but the discussion stimulated me enough to want more. Although accessible for those from any mindset, Siff tilts far more towards non-theism than theism for those pursuing his "unlearning" model; similar to Batchelor, he leans towards existential rather than faith-based philosophies or mentalities.
Siff touches on hypnagogic states intriguingly. These happen usually as we drift off into sleep. This "drop off" during reverie from awareness to inner peace, he suggests, matches the Buddha's own embrace of lights or images as perceptions not to be fought off but to be encouraged, for those so inclined. Siff favors fragmenting and wondering as positive passages towards a mental focus and deeper connection.
Contrary to the usual interpretations of meditation as an austere avoidance of distraction, Siff allows the aware meditator to "float off" towards a parallel entry way that aligns with our mind's constant movement as its own inescapable experience. Moment by moment, our minds change. As the fundamental Buddhist teaching of impermanence, Siff figures it's a less defensive, more accepting manner that we can take to ease our wayward minds into meditation.
Finally, he urges meditators not to get too attached to any one process. If it works, great; if not, let it go, mix it up, move on, blend, experiment. He compares this inventiveness to adding new ingredients to a favorite dish. He orders into three primary categories-- generative, conflictive, receptive-- and three developed ones (explorative, non-taking-up, connective) the goals of a looser, flexible, and forgivingly humane taxonomy of a meditative quest suited (it seems to me) for reluctant, restless, skeptical, and/or creative folks.
He concludes with the hope that this more accepting, less ascetic stance might loosen up practioners who tire of one approach, who feel guilt over one way not working, or who give up in frustration after not getting the big breakthrough promoted to the striver if forever delayed for many everyday seekers. What this does is empower the individual.
This book might supplement a student working with an innovative teacher, or enrich those meditating on their own. Siff impressed me with his ability to condense decades as a practitioner who does not preach. That is, he reduces thousands of his own "sittings" into advice that convinces you of his own authenticity even as his own story does not call attention to his own recommendations. Somehow, Siff exemplifies his profound advice without promoting himself as a role model or his suggestions as the only way to incorporate his example into one's own practice.
He does show, instead, his own convictions, based on the dharma rather than self-aggrandizement. He wraps it this steady, brisk (but never superficial or pandering) guidebook by boosting the confidence of those often kicking themselves for not meeting the exacting standards of master teachers. "You have developed greater trust and confidence in the meditative process, which is none other than trust in the path of inner awakening, otherwise known as the Dharma." (200)
This, Siff proposes, means "unlearning" meditation practices that stress silencing the voices and emotions within us. For a meditator facing inevitable impasses, he shows how "transformative conceptualization" can draw us patiently to examine "mental constructs" as a way towards non-conceptual understanding. This challenges the norm that such a non-conceptual realization comes only when the seeker has attained the goal of a purer sense-experience. This can be a tricky "concept" to comprehend, admittedly.
Siff takes his time in a couple-hundred pages to relate his own evolution from Tibetan and especially Vipassana training into a more fluid, open-ended direction. While grounded in the Theravada traditions, and using a lot of the samatha (calming)-vipassana (discerning) as the foundation for his path, he advises the meditator not to become attached to any one form, if that form becomes too "grounded" so as to discourage the seeker, or ossify the spirit. To me, this seems like a commonsense, slightly but subtly radical, existential attitude I like. He returns, softly, to the Pali texts, as does Batchelor, to revive the force of the earlier Buddha's impact, one concentrating upon ethical action and not dogmatic codification.
After all, he reasons, if we regard the Buddha's dharma doctrines "as concepts," well, "none of the teachings are true." But they remain self-improving narratives. This resembles Stephen Batchelor's "Buddhism without Beliefs" in its agnosticism, and his new study, "Confession of a Buddhist Atheist" (both reviewed by me), which complementing Siff mix reflection with autobiography and textual explication. Siff advances a meditative "Recollective Awareness Training" as a dharma-based response based not on beliefs or theism but "experiential knowledge."
He devotes the second part of his book to impasses and calm states. He looks at "samadhi" (conventionally "bliss," but here applied to being drawn towards tranquility), and how this state might be dipped into as the meditator does not resist "daydreaming" or even drifting off into semi-slumber. He intersperses journals kept by his students that illustrate well a variety of reactions to meditating. Instead of polished assurances of masters that usually provide the sole texts by which students can judge their own progress or shortcomings, reading average meditators record their struggles reveals much more accessible material by which a beginner or advanced student can compare his or her own situation.
This is not a primer on Buddhism, and Siff expects that even if a beginner, one has familarity with basic teachings. He uses a running analogy with being snowed in to show how sometimes we need to be patient, yet alert, for opportunities to succeed. The more meditation can link to the rest of one's life, and not be apart from it, the more its insights can smooth rough edges for ourselves and others. He lacks platitudes, luckily. His presentation shares suggestions, not prescriptions.
It's not technical, and not inspirational in the pat sense. It's suited more for those open to therapy and journal-keeping as compatible methods by which Westerners choose to confront (and make friends within) themselves. A couple of points, in my opinion, rushed by. While the whole book's an elaboration of the concept, I wish more space had been devoted to "dependent origination," simple to sum up if hard to grasp deep down as "When one thing arises, so does another." I was left uncertain about how Siff's approaches might work within Zen, and how "just sitting" might contrast or compare. Also, the half-paragraph distinction between the "connected process" of beliefs as this differs from wisdom as or as not originating in "unified states of mind" compressed this vast, phenomenological topic. I realize that for a short text, this may be recondite, but the discussion stimulated me enough to want more. Although accessible for those from any mindset, Siff tilts far more towards non-theism than theism for those pursuing his "unlearning" model; similar to Batchelor, he leans towards existential rather than faith-based philosophies or mentalities.
Siff touches on hypnagogic states intriguingly. These happen usually as we drift off into sleep. This "drop off" during reverie from awareness to inner peace, he suggests, matches the Buddha's own embrace of lights or images as perceptions not to be fought off but to be encouraged, for those so inclined. Siff favors fragmenting and wondering as positive passages towards a mental focus and deeper connection.
Contrary to the usual interpretations of meditation as an austere avoidance of distraction, Siff allows the aware meditator to "float off" towards a parallel entry way that aligns with our mind's constant movement as its own inescapable experience. Moment by moment, our minds change. As the fundamental Buddhist teaching of impermanence, Siff figures it's a less defensive, more accepting manner that we can take to ease our wayward minds into meditation.
Finally, he urges meditators not to get too attached to any one process. If it works, great; if not, let it go, mix it up, move on, blend, experiment. He compares this inventiveness to adding new ingredients to a favorite dish. He orders into three primary categories-- generative, conflictive, receptive-- and three developed ones (explorative, non-taking-up, connective) the goals of a looser, flexible, and forgivingly humane taxonomy of a meditative quest suited (it seems to me) for reluctant, restless, skeptical, and/or creative folks.
He concludes with the hope that this more accepting, less ascetic stance might loosen up practioners who tire of one approach, who feel guilt over one way not working, or who give up in frustration after not getting the big breakthrough promoted to the striver if forever delayed for many everyday seekers. What this does is empower the individual.
This book might supplement a student working with an innovative teacher, or enrich those meditating on their own. Siff impressed me with his ability to condense decades as a practitioner who does not preach. That is, he reduces thousands of his own "sittings" into advice that convinces you of his own authenticity even as his own story does not call attention to his own recommendations. Somehow, Siff exemplifies his profound advice without promoting himself as a role model or his suggestions as the only way to incorporate his example into one's own practice.
He does show, instead, his own convictions, based on the dharma rather than self-aggrandizement. He wraps it this steady, brisk (but never superficial or pandering) guidebook by boosting the confidence of those often kicking themselves for not meeting the exacting standards of master teachers. "You have developed greater trust and confidence in the meditative process, which is none other than trust in the path of inner awakening, otherwise known as the Dharma." (200)
31 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When I began reading Unlearning Meditation: What to Do When the Instructions Get In the Way I was expecting something more radical. After all, I was supposed to be unlearning, which I took to mean throwing away what I had learned. What I got were re-interpretations, alternative perspectives, and suggestions for bending the "rules" instead of fixating on them.
WHO IS IT FOR?
---------------------
Although beginners will surely find a great deal of value and interest in here, it is geared more towards those who have tried meditation techniques and, for one reason or another, found them difficult to continue, or unrewarding. I suppose that pretty much includes everyone who has ever tried meditating :) The writing is generally pretty clear, though there are sections that will be a little easier to grasp quickly if you have read other books on meditation, such as Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (Shambhala Library) (one of my favorites). My feeling is that in some places the author was writing with books like this in mind.
WHAT'S THE MESSAGE?
---------------------
Don't be a slave to the system. It's OK if you don't get much out of following your breath (or whatever practice you are having trouble with). You are not failing at it. He stresses that the meditation practices are there for you, and if they don't suit you, don't keep trying harder and harder to follow the "rules" and get it "right." Try another approach. What I took away from this book is the message that I should trust myself to adapt the practices to suit me.
SUMMARY
---------------------
I highly recommend this to those who want to re-invigorate their practice, and dare I say, his advice is applicable to the "rules" and "instructions" we encounter anywhere in our lives.
WHO IS IT FOR?
---------------------
Although beginners will surely find a great deal of value and interest in here, it is geared more towards those who have tried meditation techniques and, for one reason or another, found them difficult to continue, or unrewarding. I suppose that pretty much includes everyone who has ever tried meditating :) The writing is generally pretty clear, though there are sections that will be a little easier to grasp quickly if you have read other books on meditation, such as Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (Shambhala Library) (one of my favorites). My feeling is that in some places the author was writing with books like this in mind.
WHAT'S THE MESSAGE?
---------------------
Don't be a slave to the system. It's OK if you don't get much out of following your breath (or whatever practice you are having trouble with). You are not failing at it. He stresses that the meditation practices are there for you, and if they don't suit you, don't keep trying harder and harder to follow the "rules" and get it "right." Try another approach. What I took away from this book is the message that I should trust myself to adapt the practices to suit me.
SUMMARY
---------------------
I highly recommend this to those who want to re-invigorate their practice, and dare I say, his advice is applicable to the "rules" and "instructions" we encounter anywhere in our lives.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I've read a great many books on meditation. I'd rate Unlearning Meditation #1 in terms of its helpfulness to me as well as the potential I think it offers others. It describes an approach to meditation that acknowledges the subtle pitfalls that people are likely to encounter in mainstream approaches to the teaching of meditation, pitfalls that are typically neither acknowledged nor addressed. The unfortunate consequence of this lack attention to those traps is that many people come away discouraged from their attempts to meditate, feeling that they are no good at it. Others unknowingly lock themselves into patterns of meditation that "follow the rules" without finding out what works best for them. The approach described in this book helped me find my own way of meditating, one that continues to grow and evolve. I believe that the most useful review of the book I could offer is to briefly describe how that came about.
Disclaimer: for the past 5 years I've been a student of Jason's. He's not the only teacher from whom I learn, but he has become the principal one since I discovered his "Unlearning Meditation" workshop at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies 5 years ago (4 years before the book came out). At that time I had run up against a wall, feeling that I was "failing" at meditation because of my inability--after 35 years of trying in one way or another--to attain sustained periods of thought-free concentration. I had internalized this goal from instructions in various forms of meditation--from Transcendental Meditation to several schools of Buddhism--that pointed to getting "lost in thought" as a sign that one's attention had wandered, and should be brought back to, say, a mantra, or the breath. My inability to stop "thinking" seemed to be evidence that I just wasn't getting where I "should" get to. I discussed this with a Vipassana teacher at a retreat, who suggested that during my meditation for the next six months, I just count my breaths. I felt as if I had been instructed to put my head in an oven and turn on the gas! For a few weeks, I gave up meditation. But that felt even worse. Instead, I decided to abandon what I had been instructed, and instead set my own goals, defining meditation as whatever I did when I sat down on my cushion every morning to meditate.
About this time I saw the notice for the "Unlearning Meditation" workshop, which appeared to be aimed at people who were stuck. Jason offered a way of looking at my experience that enabled me to reframe it, seeing it not as failure but as an expression of the natural tendency of my mind. The solution that he suggested affirmed what I had intuitively arrived at on my own: in place of resisting my mind's tendency to think, he invited me to explore allowing my attention to go there, even engaging with the thoughts to the extent of "problems solving" or "planning," all the while striving to be aware of the choice I was making, with non-judgmental curiosity. I found this to be enormously freeing. Instead of berating myself with feelings of failure, I began to become aware of patterns in the ways my thoughts emerged and attracted my attention, gaining the insights that had eluded me in "insight" meditation. Ironically, I found that viewing my meditation in this way enabled me to have more sustained periods of concentration than before, when I had been trying to do so.
I believe that encountering Jason Siff's "unlearning" approach not only helped me get unstuck from a deeply discouraging impasse, but also enabled me to regenerate a practice that has since become more rewarding than it had ever been. There's much more to be said. But Jason says it in the book better than I could here. I couldn't recommend this book more heartily.
Disclaimer: for the past 5 years I've been a student of Jason's. He's not the only teacher from whom I learn, but he has become the principal one since I discovered his "Unlearning Meditation" workshop at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies 5 years ago (4 years before the book came out). At that time I had run up against a wall, feeling that I was "failing" at meditation because of my inability--after 35 years of trying in one way or another--to attain sustained periods of thought-free concentration. I had internalized this goal from instructions in various forms of meditation--from Transcendental Meditation to several schools of Buddhism--that pointed to getting "lost in thought" as a sign that one's attention had wandered, and should be brought back to, say, a mantra, or the breath. My inability to stop "thinking" seemed to be evidence that I just wasn't getting where I "should" get to. I discussed this with a Vipassana teacher at a retreat, who suggested that during my meditation for the next six months, I just count my breaths. I felt as if I had been instructed to put my head in an oven and turn on the gas! For a few weeks, I gave up meditation. But that felt even worse. Instead, I decided to abandon what I had been instructed, and instead set my own goals, defining meditation as whatever I did when I sat down on my cushion every morning to meditate.
About this time I saw the notice for the "Unlearning Meditation" workshop, which appeared to be aimed at people who were stuck. Jason offered a way of looking at my experience that enabled me to reframe it, seeing it not as failure but as an expression of the natural tendency of my mind. The solution that he suggested affirmed what I had intuitively arrived at on my own: in place of resisting my mind's tendency to think, he invited me to explore allowing my attention to go there, even engaging with the thoughts to the extent of "problems solving" or "planning," all the while striving to be aware of the choice I was making, with non-judgmental curiosity. I found this to be enormously freeing. Instead of berating myself with feelings of failure, I began to become aware of patterns in the ways my thoughts emerged and attracted my attention, gaining the insights that had eluded me in "insight" meditation. Ironically, I found that viewing my meditation in this way enabled me to have more sustained periods of concentration than before, when I had been trying to do so.
I believe that encountering Jason Siff's "unlearning" approach not only helped me get unstuck from a deeply discouraging impasse, but also enabled me to regenerate a practice that has since become more rewarding than it had ever been. There's much more to be said. But Jason says it in the book better than I could here. I couldn't recommend this book more heartily.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unlearning Meditation
Very interesting perspective on meditation. I am interested in applying it to my practice and exploring it's benefits. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Richard Steinberg
4.0 out of 5 stars
Just sit still
Siff relates his own evolution from Tibetan and especially Vipassana training into a more fluid, open-ended direction which he calls Recollective Awareness Training. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Joyce
4.0 out of 5 stars
being intimate during meditation
Unlearning meditation states a case for allowing meditation to be free of rules and expectations. Jason Siff helps meditation practitioners to become more open in their meditation. Read more
Published on March 28, 2011 by Barry
2.0 out of 5 stars
McMeditation
I started meditating twenty-five years ago, and the first forty to fifty pages of Siff's book resonated with my own experiences. Read more
Published on February 20, 2011 by jfpessoa
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent choice for any new age collection
UNLEARNING MEDITATION: WHAT TO DO WHEN THE INSTRUCTIONS GET IN THE WAY is for any collection strong in Buddhist thought, offering keys to approaching meditation in a new way. Read more
Published on October 18, 2010 by Midwest Book Review
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great beginning but then...
This book started out wonderful. The premise of the book is that we are often too rigid in our meditation practice. Read more
Published on August 18, 2010 by BuddingWriter
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unlearning Meditation
This is a "must read" for every person who practices meditation written by one of the country's most esteemed and respected meditation teachers, an American who spent several years... Read more
Published on August 6, 2010 by Allen P. Wilkinson
