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Zusammenfassung von The Quiet Mind

Name: The Quiet Mind
Rating: 3.9 (161 reviews)
Author: John E. Coleman

John E. Coleman

The firsthand account of a CIA agent who traveled the Eastern world in search of mindfulness

3.9 (161 Bewertungen)

28 Min.

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Buddhism Eastern Philosophy

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The Quiet Mind
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What’s in it for me? A spiritual trek across the Eastern world.

In the 1950s and ’60s, author John E. Coleman was a United States intelligence agent stationed in Thailand. For years, the nature of his work forced him to live a double life full of deception and isolation from friends and family.

Coleman’s work experience and particular stresses were undoubtedly unusual. But really, everyone in the world deals with conflict and stress on a daily basis, from the high school student trying to achieve good grades to the CEO managing an international company.

However, despite this universal facet of human experience, most of us spend a huge amount of time trying to avoid conflict through diversions or distractions. We turn to various forms of entertainment, like television, junk food, and illicit drugs, all in the hope of obtaining happiness. But these methods can only provide temporary relief.

The power to quiet the mind lies within all of us, as Coleman finally discovered after traversing many countries throughout the Eastern world. In these blinks, you’ll accompany him on his long search for inner peace.

Along the way, you’ll learn

what hypnotism and meditation have in common;
how the author accidentally met a famous philosopher; and
where you should go to quiet your mind.

In Thailand, Coleman realized that hypnosis and meditation could induce unusual brain states.

Throughout the West, Thailand is known for its dramatic natural beauty. Aside from its landscapes, Thailand is also home to over 16,000 temples and is celebrated for its status as a seat of Buddhist tradition.

In the late 1950s, John E. Coleman was stationed in Bangkok, serving a three-year term as a security advisor to the Thai government. One day, at the invitation of a Thai friend, he attended a meeting of a psychic research group. The experience was a revelation, giving Coleman a taste of the human mind’s potential.

The key message here is: In Thailand, Coleman realized that hypnosis and meditation could induce unusual brain states.

The psychic research meeting took place at a wat, or temple, and the attendees consisted of an obstetrician, an anesthetist, and a psychiatrist, among others. All were interested in the potential similarities between hypnotized brains and brains in meditation.

At the meeting, Coleman witnessed some of the strange effects of hypnotism. In one instance, a young boy was hypnotized and had cotton pads taped over his eyes. He then stood behind a blackboard while someone else wrote random words on it. Incredibly, the boy was then able to redraw exactly the same symbols on his own side of the blackboard.

This experience sparked Coleman’s desire to delve deeper into the subjects of both hypnotism and Buddhism; it seemed to him there was a link between hypnotism and the ancient Buddhist practice of meditation.

One particularly hot and stressful day, Coleman made a social visit to a member of the psychic research group, Dr. Charoon. As many Thais do, Dr. Charoon had completed his professional studies and was now spending a few months as a monk. When Coleman entered the temple where Dr. Charoon was staying, Charoon told him he looked stressed and insisted on hypnotizing him to help him relax.

While Coleman was lying down and in a trance, something strange happened. Unbeknownst to him, his right arm began to rise into the air and then lower itself back down repeatedly.

Dr. Charoon was startled. There was only one other person in the room, a Thai naval officer who was sitting and meditating. Agitated, Dr. Charoon asked the man what was happening. The officer grinned and said that he was mentally suggesting that Coleman raise and lower his arm.

In disbelief, Dr. Charoon asked the officer to perform the trick again. The officer obliged, telepathically commanding Coleman to move various combinations of all of his limbs up and down. Somehow, it worked!

Finally, Dr. Charoon brought Coleman out of his hypnotic state and explained what had happened. Both wondered: What strange power was there in hypnotism and meditation?

The quiet mind is powerful.

Coleman’s experience at the temple in Bangkok left him reeling. But before he could delve into it further, his work brought him back to America. There, he had the opportunity to meet Professor J. B. Rhine. Rhine was a self-identified parapsychologist, a scientist studying supernatural phenomena.

Rhine gave Coleman a peculiar set of ESP, or extra-sensory perception, cards. Instead of faces, the cards were each marked with one of five symbols. They were used for a kind of guessing game in which one person drew a card and his partner then attempted to guess the symbol on it.

Coleman’s first few experiences with meditation were unsuccessful.

To Coleman, it seemed that his first step should be to try out meditation for himself upon returning to Thailand. To that end, he set off for Wat Mahatai, a temple in Bangkok.

At the temple, he first learned to meditate in the lotus position, in which the legs are crossed so that each foot rests on the opposite thigh. Next, he was instructed to focus on his breathing by looking down at his belly and observing its constant rise and fall. This, the instructor said, would give the mind something automatic and constant to latch onto.

Krishnamurti helped Coleman see spirituality in a new light.

Disappointed that he hadn’t been able to achieve his desired results with U Ba Khin’s training, Coleman flew to India in search of other gurus. During a layover on the way, he happened to share a table with an Indian man in a white suit. The man introduced himself as Krishnamurti. He was, he said, “a sort of philosopher.”

The conversation that ensued between the two men would have a profound effect on Coleman’s views on spirituality.

Tibetan Buddhism and Tantrism didn’t resonate with Coleman.

During one particularly hot winter in Bangkok, Coleman sought a break from the scorching heat in a short trip to Darjeeling, a town nestled in the Himalayan region of Northern India. There, he met Sherpa Tenzing, the famous mountaineer who accompanied Sir Edmund Hillary in scaling Mount Everest for the first time.

Though ethnically Nepalese, Sherpa Tenzing subscribed to Tibetan Buddhism. His faith, he told Coleman, had helped him push forward during the difficult climb up Everest.

Buddhadasa Bikku introduced Coleman to orthodox Buddhism and Zen.

During his time in India, Tibet, and Nepal, Coleman was put off by the theatrical forms of worship that seemed to deviate from the Buddha’s original teachings. But was it just his Western mind preventing him from understanding Eastern practices?

It would seem not. Krishnamurti, for one, also felt that focusing on mantras was a distraction, and that any “schoolboy” could train his brain to become better at concentration. One of Thailand’s leading contemporary Buddhist monks, Buddhadasa Bikku, shared this belief.

Modern Zen requires strict discipline.

A few months after studying with Buddhadasa, Coleman traveled to Tokyo for a business trip. There, he was able to schedule a meeting with renowned Zen master Dr. D. T. Suzuki. At the time, Suzuki was in his nineties and hard of hearing, but his wit and wisdom were as sharp as ever.

Dr. Suzuki explained to Coleman that Zen is not a philosophy or an intellectual pursuit – it’s something that must be practiced. Through that practice, it’s possible to experience satori – a sudden realization of your true self and your relationship to the universe. Normally, this self lies hidden, buried beneath all of our preoccupations with wealth and success. Emptying our minds of these false values, however, allows us to unlock our inner benevolence and creative power.

Coleman didn’t find any Western meditation practices fruitful.

Coleman began his investigation of Western meditation at the training center for the Spiritual Regeneration Movement in Kensington, England. The center’s protocol was based on the teachings of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who had risen to fame in the West thanks to the support of his most famous students, the Beatles.

At the center, Coleman was given a mantra meant to focus his mind. While repeating it was relaxing, however, it didn’t really quiet him mentally. What’s more, a single session at the center cost an entire week’s worth of Coleman’s wages. He chose not to continue attending, but since he was now staying in England with his wife, he decided to investigate something entirely new to him: Western meditation practices. The results were less than spectacular.

Coleman finally experienced his awakening at U Ba Khin’s meditation center.

At this point in his journey, Coleman felt as if he’d tried every style of meditation in the book. Yet he was no closer to achieving a lasting inner peace. Frustrated, his thoughts returned to U Ba Khin and his meditation center in Yangon, the capital of Burma.

The author decided he needed to return to U Ba Khin and try the course again. The last time, he had spent too much time intellectualizing the practice of meditation. This time, he was determined to free his mind.

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Worum geht es in The Quiet Mind?

The Quiet Mind (1971) is the firsthand account of an American intelligence agent who traveled the Eastern world in search of inner peace. Throughout his remarkable life, author John. E. Coleman explored a wide breadth of spiritual paths, from Thai Buddhism to Zen to Quakerism. Ultimately, he found the greatest success with vipassana, a type of meditation he later imparted to his own students.

Bestes Zitat aus The Quiet Mind

QUOTE: Dont believe me – look to yourself for the truth. -Jiddu Krishnamurti

—John E. Coleman

Wer The Quiet Mind lesen sollte

The spiritually open-minded
Those looking to understand the differences among several Eastern philosophies
Admirers of D. T. Suzuki, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and U Ba Khin

Über den Autor

John E. Coleman was an officer with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), stationed in Thailand throughout the 1950s and ’60s. During a trip to nearby Burma (now Myanmar), he studied the vipassana meditation method of renowned Buddhist leader U Ba Khin, under whose tutelage he finally reached enlightenment. Eventually, Coleman began to conduct his own ten-day meditation courses all over the world. He died in 2012.

Kategorien mit The Quiet Mind

Biography & Memoir Mindfulness & Happiness Religion & Spirituality

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