Wherever You Go There You Are: A Review

Kabat-Zinn’s Message to the Beginning Meditator

In meditation circles there are a handful of books seasoned practitioners refer beginners to, Jon  Kabat-Zinn’s Wherever You Go There You Are is one of them, and for good reason.  Kabat-Zinn developed the system of practice known as Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, based on eastern meditation practices.  In this book he essentially lays out the basics of that practice and theory in an easy to read guide for anyone with an interest in the subject of meditation.  This review will discuss what beginning meditators will most likely find of value in Kabat-Zinn’s work, and discuss portions of the book that readers might want to take more lightly.

Helpful Meditation Instructions

Wherever You Go There You Are is split into three sections.  An introduction section with more of an emphasis on the state of mind or attitude with which to bring to meditation practice; a practical session with detailed instruction for a variety of meditation practices, and accompanying postures; and finally a much more philosophical exposition of how meditation and mindfulness practice fits into the world.  Beginning meditators will likely find the first two sections on attitude and practice most useful.

     Paradox of Practice

In terms of attitude, Kabat-Zinn stresses the paradox of practice.  Although most activities in life are propelled by an expectation of getting somewhere or something in the end, meditation is not one of those.  The reviewer found that Kabat-Zinn’s instructions to let go of trying to get anywhere at all, were particularly helpful.  (16).  The pull of cultural forces emphasize a constant need to be a better person, to get somewhere in life, but Kabat-Zinn emphasizes to “let things be just as they are”.  (98).  This line of thinking is a good first step in subduing the greedy tendency of the mind to accomplish and conquer.

     Don’t Look for Anything

Of course Kabat-Zinn gives helpful advice on precisely how to allow things to be just as they are, “Sit down and enter into your breathing, if only for a few minutes. Don’t look for anything. . . .”.  (99).  This reviewer has found that bringing a few moments of mindfulness to any situation, especially the unsatisfying ones, adds a dimension of sanity and reasonableness that can become the foundation for a state of wellbeing.
Put the Welcome Mat in Front of the Meditation Cushion
Another useful aspect of the practice laid out by the author is the emphasis on bringing awareness to whatever experience arise in the mind, without added baggage, “If you put the welcome mat out for them and investigate their qualities and let them be, you may learn a lot about what is strong and unwavering in yourself.”  (126).  Not only does this practice calm the mind, but it has the power to transform situations that would have drained all the meditator’s psychic energy, and allow them to see that whatever comes up is just fine.

     Trust in Awareness

Finally, in all of this Kabat-Zinn reminds us, as the title of the book suggests, that where ever you are, just trust in that.  You do not need to ask “’is this what is supposed’ to happen”.  (130).  Rather, you can learn to trust your awareness.  In meditation, all that you really need to know can be found in this experience of the body, in this breath, in this moment.

Less Helpful Teachings

Although Wherever You Go There You Are is a great book for beginning meditators, they should keep in mind not to take everything the author says at face value.  Examples of unhelpful meditation structure include concepts that are too vague and amorphous to be useful.  These concepts are not necessarily vague but Kabat-Zinn seems to dodge the doctrinal underpinning of these teachings, which make them easier to understand.  The reason is most likely because he wants to avoid association with new-age thought, or that he wants to be seen as more impartial to Buddhism.

Teachings on Karma

What Kabat-Zinn explains as karma can just as easily be attributed to neurological conditioning. (222). He avoids discussing that even single actions in the past can ripen into later occurrences.  He also avoids any discussion of rebirth, which is essential to the philosophy of Karma in both Buddhist and many Hindu sects.  On the other hand, some contemporary teachers argue that the Buddha taught rebirth as a metaphor, Kabat-Zinn may be advocating for this approach in his work.

Eachness and Suchness

It seems that Kabat-Zinn attempts to describe emptiness using  the zen notions of suchness. (230).  Interestingly he relies more heavily on passages from wise men of the past in this section than in any others, probably because he realizes that his explanation of something as profound as he is attempting to explain will always fail as a result of the inadequacies of language.  But, the biggest problem of this section is that the short quotations are so ambiguous that can be interpreted really any direction, can seem contradictory, and at worst may look like nonsense.  For example, “the chickadee hops near to me.” And midnight. No waves; no wind, the empty boat is flooded with moonlight” could be simply describing in a poetic way, an image.  A more philosophical rendering could be that the chickadee and the observer are one but second quote could be taken to mean that we are all without an essential self.  So its very unclear and without further exposition, simply confusing especially to a beginning meditation student.

Lake and Mountain Meditations

Although some readers might find that the addition of the visualization heavy meditations on the lake and mountain useful,  The reviewer found these meditations resulted in an undisciplined proliferation of mental imagery rather than a stable steady continuity of mindfulness.

Too Many Meditation Tools

Finally, in a point related to the previous note Kabat-Zinn was perhaps a little over-ambitious in including so many different techniques in this single book.  Any single meditator could be overwhelmed with knowledge, and find herself jumping from technique to technique.  Although Kabat-Zinn warns against this, (197) the warning is somewhat hidden and is made in connection with looking for special experiences.  The bigger concern is that jumping from technique to technique can simply happen because a meditator thinks that is what is needed to practice stillness.  On a related note the reviewer would have liked to see a more robust explanation in the introductory section about the necessity of having a good meditation teacher.


In Defense of Kabat-Zinn

Kabat-Zinn likely had convincing reasons to leave in these more philosophical forays into karma and emptiness.  Admittedly the practice seems really incomplete without some discussion of this.  Further, Kabat Zinn likely sees through his experience that yogis need some idea of what to do once they have been meditating for a while and still feel lost in the world.  This philosophical underpinning in the book can give them some direction of wholesome avenues of life direction.


Conclusion

Wherever You Go There You Are is a stimulating and wholesome read.  New meditators will find a systematic, but not dogmatic, method of practice.  As a more experienced meditator I found the book to be a refreshing look at the basics.  I still find myself getting caught proliferating on events in my life that I find to be unfair, and lapse into really greedy or deluded mind states.  But if I practiced everything that Kabat-Zinn teaches in this book with more regularity, those mind states would soon become less appealing to me and eventually no longer bother me.

Teachings from a Venerable Monk and Former Midwest Lawyer: Review of Questions from the City- Answers from the Forest by Ajahn Sumano Bhikkhu

There are only a handful of books that I read with such captivating interest as Ajahn Sumano’s Q&A book. I first heard of Ajahn Sumano while perusing through Youtube videos, I watched one of the Ajahn Chah videos and saw a video titled “Monk in the Mountain” in the sidebar. That video relayed a portion of the life story of this monk and contained compelling and novel answers to some of the basic and more intermediate questions in Buddhism- what is happiness, what do I when I see through the emptiness of materialism.

Ajahn Sumano graduated from law school in Chicago (not sure which) and was a successful businessman before giving up the worldy life and donning the robes. But what is more fascinating than his life story are AS’ teachings. Throughout the book AS takes great care to provide answers not fashioned solely from Buddhist texts and doctrine, but rather from insightful and personal life experience. The depth of his wisdom echoes in aphorisms such as: “simplicity is sanity” and “You have to remember that whatever you do, wherever you go, you go there and do it with the mind as is.“

AS reiterates throughout the book that most people do not understand the real meaning of Dukha or stress/suffering because most people have no idea of how much of their live is spent floundering in unskillful mental states such as doubt and anxiety. He criticizes the conventional world for promoting outward knowledge and ignoring or giving short shrift to the importance of the cultivation of inner wisdom. He even sometimes refers to it, in the strongest terms, as a conspiracy (he uses this term in another book Monk in the Mountain), or at least an ultimately incorrect conventional understanding. For example when a student asked why bother meditating when the mind spins wildly Ajahn Sumano answers that a meditator should not be discouraged from the thought that it is a waste of time because time does not exist. AS says once one trains themselves in this way the mind will automatically begin to settle down and will learn to more effectively deal with agitation and disturbance in the mind. This makes practical sense and also corresponds with the axiom in neuroscience: “neurons that fire together wire together.”

The difficulty in reading Questions from the City is that AS' perspective is so unconventional and goes against the grain so much that you may have to take (if you accept at all) some of his propositions on respect for his authority, especially his opinions on karma and rebirth. Nevertheless, even those who do not believe in rebirth can also interpret his rhetoric as encouraging mediators to abandon their preconceptions about the cycle of life and death. Another core theme throughout this book is to encourage sincere inquiry into the reality of life, without extra desires, anxieties, or delusions. AS’ wisdom reminds the reader to abandon their preconceived notions on what meditation should be, and even how life should be, and instead just  focus on understanding the fundamental truths of life: all experience is inconstant.

In all this is more of a perspective widening book rather than a meditation manual. I strongly encourage Questions from the City- Answers from the Forest to anyone interested in reading a perspective from a meditator who clearly has a tremendous experience and wisdom.