Genpo Roshi :: Big Mind Excercise

Watch full interview at www.enterthemandala.com/genpo....
American Zen master Dennis Genpo Merzel Roshi (www.bigmind.org) leads a Big Mind exercise with the Transcendent Nation Foundation, December 17, 2008.
Produced by the Transcendent Nation Foundation non-profit, this clip is part of a larger interview that can be seen at enterthemandala.com.
The primary aim of the Transcendent Nation Foundation is to promote the possibility of world peace by means of personal realization and holographic action. This is based on the simple idea that when a critical mass in the body of humanity awakens, the whole collective will be awakened.

[@jpapare]

This was the first time I saw one of your videos and it was so rewarding. It helps me now and will continue to help me in the future. It is totally right thinking.

[@squamish4244]

I've been doing a great deal of really tough practice and purification over the past decade, and while many things have changed, unfortunately I have not had any decisive breakthroughs on the path, and it really affects my motivation and I get intensely frustrated often. This could perhaps help me to get that breakthrough and at the very least remove the doubt that constantly plagues me about whether there really is a state free from suffering. Btw, apparently a research study of a number of non-practitioners found that most of the participants reported significant positive results from one session of the Big Mind process.

[@squamish4244]

+Counter Culture I have heard that, yes. It is a rather brutal brute force method however. I just hope we innovate more in the spirit of Dennis Merzel or even technological means that are more efficient for others so they don't have to endure this sort of thing :) How has your experience been? Did you try this practice? I can't find it close to my area, although there are similar techniques around such as Sperry Andrews' Group Awareness Process, which I've heard is very powerful. I am worried that like many practitioners I could just keep purifying for many years but without breaking through that 'ceiling', not as effectively as I could.

[@squamish4244]

***** Skeptical Mind is very strong in me. Part of it is the recognition that if Buddhism had employed more Skeptical Mind in the way the scientific method has, we would be WAY ahead of where we are now in terms of the speed and efficiency of the path. 2500 of development and enlightenment is still confined to a handful of elite practitioners. 500 years of science and it has gone from Galileo to supercomputers in our pockets. Now if the two were combined...well, I see Merzel's efforts as part of the beginning of that, but there is a great deal more potential there.

[@squamish4244]

***** Well, I listened to his 2.5 hour talk on YT right after viewing this, so not long :) It was interesting in the manner of how he did it, but not really anything new to me. I have done a lot of mindfulness and insight practice and have seen all of these various "voices" in myself many times over the years. When I am sitting, the skeptic comes up, the controller, the protector, etc., not in so many words but I know who they are. Ten years ago I had a horrendous psychedelic experience in which I saw very clearly the artificially constructed nature of my personality. The shock was almost incapacitating. Integrating that ever since has not helped me to fundamentally benefit in the profound ways I have heard reported though. I haven't had the claimed kensho experiences that people at his retreats report after one sitting. So I'm befuddled.

[@squamish4244]

***** I do indeed think that my association of fear and terror with egolessness is a stumbling block. I was also an anti-anxiety drug addict for years and that backed up a lot of processing and screwed up my brain chemistry. I've also had struggles with wild kundalini energy. It may be that the threshold for a major shift is therefore very high in terms of the kind of prior purification, untying of psychic knots and physical grounding that I have to do. I have a lot of help in this work, thankfully. Ten years ago I had an unusual dream. Visually, it was pure blackness. But I heard my own voice tell me, "It's going to get worse before it gets better, and then you will know God." It certainly got much worse! So we'll see if the other half of the dream is correct as well, with as little attachment as possible :) I'll keep you posted. Thank you for engaging in this discussion with sincerity. Perhaps in the future we can share further wisdom as the world of spirituality continues to grow and change.

[@squamish4244]

***** I'm not sure I believe all those things, but I appreciate the sentiment. And I absolutely agree that the work I am doing is very powerful. Thank you and best of luck to you as well.

[@QED_]

These leading questions by Genpo Roshi . . . are a little formulaic. Not sure I'd feel particularly warm and fuzzy about him if he were relating to me in this way . . .

[@jpapare]

@teemingup Thanks so much for your reply. How do I find this "doing..." ? Is it on youtube? What is the rest of the title? Thanks.

[@hemlock501]

He looks like Marshal Applewhite the heavens gate founder.

[@meditationgio]

Interesting psychotherapeutic technique. Nothing more than that.

[@meditationgio]

By observation.

[@meditationgio]

Is everything you say absolutely true? No, there is always a chance that your observation is wrong. But that doesn’t prevent you from sharing a point of view, does it? So let's not be hypocritical here. We are in a public forum, and we share our views according to how things appear to us at that moment.

[@jpapare]

@teemingup When you say robes, does that mean he was a priest? I am guessing that the students in question were young, but also adults. I'm still not sure of what your original reply means--that I should check out his "doing". Thanks for trying to help me.

[@jimanHK]

how can u be a zen master if u cannot control ur own desires, mr merzel?

[@AirSandFire]

@problyout You don't have to "defeat the Ego"; you just have to see the essence of your mind. Seeing reality as it is is enough. If your false self is seen as a phantom creation, what need is there to "defeat" it? Just observe it. Who are you?

[@Samadhijunkie]

thought or thinking is not the problem :-}

[@squamish4244]

Big Mind is interesting, but Genpo Roshi (now only referred to as Dennis Merzel) has gone off the deep end.

[@vincenzoaiden5383]

InstaBlaster...

[@MrAvidLearner]

he kinda looks like Thomas Merton

[@markbrad123]

Thinking = ^ = Thinking of talking to my clothes, avatars are such funny things LOL

[@jpapare]

@jpapare Oh, Sorry! I found Brad Warner's blog in which he fully discusses the Genpro situation. According to him, Genpro, a Buddhist monk was cheating on his wife, the worst part being sexual misconduct of any kind is one of the biggest Buddhist monk no-no's. He must be some character because it seems he is still teaching his Big Mind stuff for a fee of $50,000 per student, from which he has amassed a few homes and lots of other goodies. Quite a story. I still think the video is very good.

[@AdamsTubing]

Honestly the Big Mind videos were one of the most powerful exercises I have ever experienced to lead you to knowing self. very disappointing to see whats left here. i guess he wants be paid like everyone else.

[@AirSandFire]

This is not Zen. Just sayin'.

[@jimanHK]

thinking plays no part in zen way

[@CaptainPhilosophical]

jiman dont know, how do Koans fit into your statement?

[@phlchung]

This is not Zen believe me, just a reported zen master using old nlp reframing techniques. Zen consists of meditation and koan study

[@wattyofthewattykins]

After meditating and studying koans, I've concluded that there is no zen in meditation and studying koans. Believe you me, I've done it and there is no such thing as zen that can be found using these techniques. If you really want zen then you are grasping at straws because there's none to be found.

[@phlchung]

I also done about three hundred of them and meditated for 5 years. I meant zen culture, when I was referring to zen as a teaching system. There are no straws to be grasped, no hand to grasp with and no one here that the hand you refer to belongs to.

[@wattyofthewattykins]

phil chn I think Genpo Roshi would agree with you, it's certainly not the zen he studied. Why did he change the practice? He must think he understands the dharma better than the patriarchs! That, or maybe he's trying to open the teaching up to meet people where they are. A lot of people complaining about Genpo's teaching are just clinging to the form: A form that serves as an escape from their regular lives, that allows for an immersive experience, wrapped up in the robes of exotic orientalism.

[@phlchung]

I have often had same thoughts and curiosities about what you mention. I sometimes wonder if it's better to stick to tried and tested methods or whether people are right in modifying dharma methods slightly to open up to today's culture at the risk of diluting some of efficacy.Although who could really say which bits could be changed? Although I personally prefer old fashioned "shock" methods in preference to ones that involve alot of talking and rationalizing. The one Genpo Roshi is doing in this video is a bit like psychotherapy/NLP. I don't mind as long as the heart is in the right place and it doesn't add to people's confusion. I feel there's too much confusion in the world right now.

[@wattyofthewattykins]

phil chn What really inspired this practice was essentially the level of spiritual bypassing that was taking place within the zen community. People could get all the way Roshi without addressing or developing aspects of the self in a healthy way. A way in which allows the self to become a boon rather than a hindrance to practice and life in general.