From: hank@westford.ccur.com (Hank Cohen)
Subject: Transcendental Meditation
Reply-To: hank@westford.ccur.com (Hank Cohen)
Organization: Concurrent Nippon Corp. Tokyo  Japan.
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 06:11:03 GMT

There has been a lot of discussion on the subject of meditation in
this newsgroup under the heading of "Meditation was Re: the effect of
TM on the populace"  or some such.  Almost all of that discussion
has been about Zen meditation.  While many people may assume that all
meditation techniques are about the same in practice and effect this
is not necessarily the case.  Specifically TM is not very much like
Zen meditation at all.  To clarify matters I would like to try to present a
rather complete picture of the Transcendental Meditation technique,
I will present the mechanism that the TM technique uses and the
effects that one can expect from practice.  This includes a bit of
philosophy but not too much the emphasis will be on mechanics.
Sorry but the posting is rather long.

Let me begin with a disclaimer.  I am not affiliated with the TM
organization nor am I a teacher of meditation.  I have been practicing
the technique for 19 years so I am familiar with the technique and
it's effects.  None of what I say should be taken as the official
position of the TM organization.  In particular if I write something
like maybe "Zen is bunk" then please understand that this is my own
opinion and not the official position of the TM organization.  In this
case it is in fact not the official position at all.  In most of the
discussion however I will not deviate far from the official party
line.  If anyone from MIU is on the net they are invited to correct me
if I stray too far from the party line.

TM is taught by starting with the experience and then adding an
intellectual understanding of the process and the goal.  Since the
purpose of this posting is not to teach TM I will reverse that
sequence.  I will begin with a discussion of the nature of the goal
and the process.  If anyone is interested in the experience they
should learn the technique from a qualified teacher.  I strongly
recommend this to people with a serious interest since without the
experience the discussion may not make much sense and the goal cannot
be achieved.

The goal of TM is the perfection of the mind and body.  That is a
simple statement of a profound objective it is nonetheless true.  This
state of perfection is also called Enlightenment.  I will not spend
too much time now on this but we may come back to it.  For now it will
suffice to say that we assume that this state of perfection is not an
unnatural state at all.  Rather it is the natural state that the mind
would have were it not for the debilitating influence of stress.
People who prefer the classic language might prefer to use the term
"binding influence of action" or "karma" or desire rather than my phrase 
"the debilitating influence of stress"  the meaning is the same.  I mean
this phrase to be taken literally, stress is debilitating.
Consider that we have the experience in our everyday awareness that
when we are well rested our perceptions are clearer, our thinking
better and our emotions more positive.  When we are tired all aspects
of awareness are dulled.  This is debilitation, a reduction in
function.  I assert that this same debilitating effect of fatigue 
extends to the deeper stresses that are acquired during one's lifetime 
but never released by sleep.  It is therefore stress that prevents us 
from experiencing the full potential of our minds.    These stresses 
are stored in the body both as memories and mental associations and 
also as physical lesions in the muscles and bone.  This notion is not 
unique to the TM movement.  It was also proposed by Dr's Alexander 
Lowen and William Reich.  We don't advocate orgone boxes but they 
were mistaken only in their technique not in their understanding of 
the debilitating influence of stress.

One more point on stress is that stress is finite.  Different people
may have different amounts but the amount is finite and can be
reduced.  Specifically I make the claim that for meditators the 
rate of stress release exceeds the rate of stress acquisition 
leading to a gradual reduction in overall levels.  
TM provides a technique of deep rest whereby such deeply rooted
stresses can be cleaned out of the nervous system.  There is a
tremendous volume of physiological research that verifies that TM provides
a profound state of rest and leads to more a more efficient and 
healthy physiology and psychology if anyone is interested the TM
organization can provide references.

Now that we have a preliminary idea of where it is we want to go i.e.
the perfection of the mind and body through the elimination of stress,
we can start to examine how to get there from where ever we happen to
be.  TM does not depend on any intellectual knowledge
of the goal to be effective.  We don't act in some special way, we
don't have to believe anything and we don't have to start out in any
special state of consciousness.  TM is intended to take people from
whatever state they are in into progressively better states of consciousness
culminating with the perfection of Enlightenment.  The technique will
work for anybody that takes the time to practice it.  That time works
out to about 20 minutes morning and evening.  That may seem like a lot
of time to some people and it may seem like a small amount to others.
In either case 20 minutes twice a day is the measure of devotion that
TM requires.   The technique does not require any change of lifestyle,
diet, clothing, hairstyle etc.  It does not depend on faith, a sceptic
that practices the technique as instructed will derive the same
benefit as a devotee.  There are two points that are crucial to the
effectiveness of TM.  These two points also serve to distinguish TM
from virtually all other techniques of meditation that are being
taught these days.  These two points represent the purification of the
tradition that was realized by Maharishi's teacher Guru Dev.  They
are:

1. TM is not a technique of concentration.
The objective is not to harness or control the mind.  We do not try to
force any particular experience or idea during meditation.  We do not
try to focus the mind on any thing.  TM is a technique that depends on
a natural ability of the mind to gain rest and eliminate stress.  To
concentrate the mind interferes with that natural process.  So just as
you don't concentrate the attention when you breathe we do not
concentrate during meditation we let the process proceed without any
forcing.  
Personal opinion: Zen is a technique of concentration.  If your 
concentration wavers someone will come along and hit you with a
stick.

2. TM is not a technique of contemplation.
We do not think about any thing.  That is there is no idea that is
held in the mind during meditation.  There is no meaning involved.  
If we focus the mind on any idea then we lock it in to a level of
conscious thought.  We will see that TM seeks to go beyond that level.
It would be like going to a big department store and getting stuck on
the first floor, there's a little bit of everything there and it's
very interesting but to experience the full richness you have to go
upstairs.
Personal opinion: Most Christian and Jewish prayers involve
contemplation.  If you attend a Christian church service and there is
a moment of "meditation"  it is usually some sort of contemplation.

TM uses a sound called a mantra which I will discuss more later but 
for now we should understand that the mantra is meaningless and it 
is not an object of concentration.

So if meditation is not concentration and it is not contemplation the
questions remain; what is it and what does it have to do with
consciousness? 

The answer is that TM is an effortless  technique for achieving a state 
called transcendental consciousness or pure consciousness.  In vedic 
philosophy this is called samadhi (sp?).  It is very difficult for me
to discuss this state without a basis of shared experience.  One way to 
approach it is to see that we all have some experiences that indicate 
that such a state is plausible.  Since belief in this state of consciousness 
is in no way a prerequisite for the effectiveness of TM I will limit myself
to some plausibility arguments.  I will also propose one postulate in
this discussion, that consciousness is a first principle and not a
derived quality.  That is I assert that consciousness gives rise to the
complexity of the world and not vice versa.  This will be a necessary
point when we come to talk about things like universality of
consciousness and pure consciousness as a field of infinite potential.
Such statements cannot be made if we hold that consciousness derives
from the complexity of the nervous system or from some other physical
cause.  Again I want to stress that  the acceptance or rejection of this
philosophical understanding is irrelevant to the effectiveness of the
technique.

So how do we reason that a state of transcendental consciousness is
plausible.  We appeal to our experience.  Most psychologists do not
question the existence of sub-conscious mental activity.  There have
been studies that show that even though we may not be paying attention
to the information of our senses the mind is nonetheless processing
the data.  Most perhaps all of us have had some experience of solutions
to difficult problems popping fully formed into our awareness often as
we are lying in bed falling asleep.  We explain these phenomena by
proposing that a thought that bursts into our awareness did not just
originate there but had a history.  That it was born deep in our
subconsciousness and was developed below the level of awareness into a
fully formed idea.  This outward flow of thoughts from their origin
through the subconscious and out into our awareness is the direction
that dominates our usual waking state of consciousness.  We propose
that if you reverse the direction and follow a thought in the other
direction from the level of awareness down through the subconscious we
can arrive at the origin or source of thought.  This is the level of
pure or transcendental consciousness.  

We claim that this state of pure consciousness is an unbounded source 
of energy as well as ideas.  To see that we can also appeal to experience.  
Most people have had some experience of being fatigued and taking 
a short rest closing the eyes for only a few minutes but coming out 
with a new energy and clarity.  In those few minutes perhaps for 
only a second or two the mind has made contact with the field of 
pure consciousness and come out refreshed and reenvigorated.  This 
is the most pleasing and most common experience of TM.  For me it 
has always been this reenvigoration and refreshment that has made 
it worthwhile to continue a daily practice that is often inconvenient.  
It is important to note that this ability to contact pure consciousness 
and derive a direct benefit is not something that comes from practice.  
The technique is effortless and natural and everybody becomes an expert 
from the first day.  The benefits accrue over time but they begin immediately.  
Most people who start TM report remarkable changes in the first month.
Often they are dissappointed a little later as those benefits that they
noticed so strongly in the first weeks become their common experience. 
You don't get better at meditation but your nervous system will get
better as stresses are normalized.  This steady progress beginning
at whatever state your nervous system happens to be in and progressing
bit by bit is the road to Enlightenment.

So what is the technique?  I gave the outline of the technique two
paragraphs back when I said that we reverse the outward flow of
thought and follow a thought backward from the level of awareness down
into the subconsciousness until we can transcend thought and arrive at
the level of pure consciousness.  The guiding principle involved we
call charm.  It is a natural tendency of the mind to jump from one
thought to another always seeking greater charm, greater fulfillment,
greater pleasure.  Proponents of concentration techniques often claim
that this tendency is the enemy to be conquered.  They believe that
the mind should be held down and forced or directed into some
particular state.  It was the great gift of Guru Dev to realize that
this tendency that some may call hedonistic is actually our greatest
ally in seeking states of higher consciousness.  It is this natural
tendency of the mind that we harness in TM.  We do this by providing
the mind with a very special thought that has the property that it
becomes more and more charming to the mind as the mind settles down
into quieter and more settled states of consciousness.  Not just any
thought will do though and the thought must be used in the proper
manner.  The thoughts used in TM are called mantras.  The mantra is a
meaningless sound that when repeated silently to oneself can lead the
mind down through all of the subtle levels to the source of thought,
pure consciousness.  While the mantras are meaningless they are not
random.  They are passed down from the Vedic tradition of ancient
India and predate both Buddhism and Hinduism.  This ancient tradition
can be seen as an experimental verification over hundreds of
generations of the mantra's effectiveness.  That's all that I have to
say on the subject of mantras.  I do not know any mantras besides my
own and I am not going to tell anyone my mantra.  These things are
taught in private and are kept in private.  

When the process of meditation begins the mantra is introduced into
the concious mind.  The mantra leads the mind inward to subtler levels
of thought.  As the mind settles down so does the body settle down
since the mind and body are intimately connected.  As the body settles
down a state of deep physical rest is attained.  In this relaxed state
stresses can be released.  The release of stress from the body is
a physical activity that gives rise to a mental activity and some
thought comes up.  This causes the awareness to come up to grosser
levels.  So meditation proceeds with the mantra leading the mind to
quieter levels which leads to release of stress that brings the mind
back out to grosser levels and then again the mantra is used to go
back down.  This inward and outward activity together make up
meditation.  Both are beneficial.  As more stress is released the mind
can stay for longer lengths of time at quieter levels.  The charm of
the mantra is so great and it's action so efficient that it is not
necessary to remove all intermediate stresses in order to experience
pure conciousness.  Maharishi has called this 'tiptoeing past the
heard of sleeping elephants.'  The ability to slip past the
impediments in the nervous system to experience the bliss of pure
conciousness.  However because there are stresses remaining in the
system the mind cannot stay for long in that state of pure
conciousness.  Soon one of the elephants will wake up and stir up the
dust popping us out of pure conciousness and back up into the level of
thought.  As the mind and body are purified and more normal
functioning is restored the experience of pure conciousness can be
held for longer and longer.  Eventually it can be maintained even
while other mental activity is taking place.  This ability to hold the
experience of pure conciousness in the mind at the same time as other
thoughts is called Cosmic Consciousness or Atman, I believe, using the
terminology of the Veda.  This is what we refer to when we talk of
Enlightenment.  Maharishi has described higher states of conciousness
beyond Cosmic Conciousness as well but unless someone wants to persue
that I don't want to go into it here.

It is very important that if someone wants to use this meditation 
technique that they be properly instructed by a qualified teacher.  
It would not be enough to know a mantra, it is also necessary to know
how to use it and how not to use it.  The technique is exceptionally
easy and effortless but it is also easily distorted so that some
effort can slip in and destroy it's effectiveness.  To prevent that
Maharishi has established a very structured and systematic method for
teaching the technique.  It is not necessary that the teacher be an
enlightened holy person but it is necessary that they follow the
method of teaching that was laid out by Maharishi.  For this reason
you cannot learn TM on a streetcorner or from another meditator.
Learning to meditate is not the same thing as learning to teach
meditation at all.

I am sure that I have overlooked many details but I believe that this
is a generally accurate representation of the TM technique.  I am
looking forward to seeing what kind of response this posting will
stir up.  I only hope that I will be able to find time to keep up with
the responses.

-- 
Hank Cohen
Concurrent Nippon Corp.  	Shuwa yanagibashi Bldg. 5F
Yanagibashi 2-19-6 Taito-ku 	Tokyo 111, Japan
Denwa: 03-3864-5714 	Fax: 03-3864-0898