During my years as a Buddhist monk, we regularly did two 90 day silent retreats(Summer/winter) and two 45 days (fall/spring) a year. It’s mostly a survival type period where you slog through the days, until you have a week or so of a breakthrough, with hyper awareness and enlightenment-like insights. They all pass and it’s back to surviving the rest of the retreat.
Very cool to see an ex-monk here. I've had a regular 2hr/day practice for a decade now but no retreats yet. What kind of meditation did you practice? Would you say that you achieved some level of Awakening, and that any of these insights/benefits have improved the quality of your consciousness in a permanent sense?
Sorry for not responding earlier, I rarely check hacker news.
We did Seon meditation (Korea) which is a form of Koan practice (Hwadu).
I’ve had a permanent change in perspective and have a “base” that I return to whenever my spiritual practice seem to fade away. I don’t hold onto any particular insights because any realization I’ve had in the past are purely conceptual now.
I spent around 7 years at 30 mins/day - I was happy with it there, it was more of a casual thing for me at that time. Then I read some books, starting with The Mind Illuminated, and increased to 1hr/day over 4-5 months.
I find the act of effort or willpower for me is starting to meditate in the first place. Once I'm meditating, 60 mins doesn't require any more discipline than 30 mins, in fact it feels better.
Sorry, I don’t really check HN. Breakthroughs in terms of understanding Dharma, the unending compassion for all sentient beings, and the overcoming of my own previous delusions and desires. They don’t last beyond the retreat - my takeaway is the most important thing in dharma practice is constant effort. (Sudden Enlightenment, Gradual Cultivation). There were so many instances where I thought I had something, only to have it slip away.
Some breakthroughs I had on my two 10-day silent Vipassana retreats that I did...
Every individual has their own distinct perception of "me". Additionally, my perception of their perception of me is almost definitely incorrect and moreso a reflection of my thoughts. Conclusion : why waste energy trying to play roles based on how I think people see me when it's highly unlikely to be true? There's an interesting novel called "One, No one and One Hundred Thousand" by Luigi Pirandello that touches on this! I also have stopped trying to define the people around me by their physical appearance or habits because I want to encourage them to feel like they can be fluid around me.
Similar to above, I had this revelation that I was putting energy into so many irrational habits just to try to please others. Holidays are a good example. I refused to participate in these traditions that were stressing us all out every damn year. It took me quite a while to actually find a compromise here because I wasn't going to give some arrogant speech to my family that they had to abide by my way, so for quite a while I just attended but hardly participated in the circus. I also no longer just buy random presents for people simply for the reason that I don't want to hurt their feelings if I don't. I've started being more creative and personal with my gifts. It was a bumpy road, I definitely offended some, but it has made the whole experience so much more fulfilling and valuable.
Something else that was interesting is I noticed how vocal I am when I feel shitty as a way to comfort myself and feel secure. I got the shits for a few days during one of the retreats and I didn't want to break the silence unless it was really necessary. I remember thinking crazy stuff like "what if I pass out on the toilet from dehydration and everyone just thinks the bathroom is always occupied when they pass by and I die?" Haha, I hardly ever complain now to people when I feel ill. I usually just analyze the sensation.
Finally, it was just crazy to see my body through that lens of just feeling sensation. Like one day someone mentioned during a group meeting that they were feeling their gums and even their teeth. Next time I meditated I focused on them and was like "Holy shit!! How have I never felt these before?!" (note: it's not TOTALLY silent, you talk once a day briefly in group and have the option to ask questions after lunch to the meditator for your gender who is overseeing the retreat.)
I consider all of these revelations to have kind of become integral to who I am, so in that sense they're benefits have been permanent. I have dealt with Hashimoto's thyroiditis in the past so the energy I save from not doing irrational habits has made a huge difference. I still have some issues in that realm, but I am always learning and improving more about myself based off my new way of observing myself.
I will say one thing that's important though. After my meditation I actually became quite depressed. This was largely due to having gotten a parasite (giardia) from traveling. After I took the medicine, which seemingly nuked my microbiome off the face of the earth, I suffered an immense cognitive dissonance. Despite having had all these revelations on the "surface" of my mind, it took a much longer time for me to modify my habits, which carried a lot of momentum with them, especially situationally, e.g., how you act differently when you're with a friend you grew up with. It really depressed me to watch myself performing old habits that were at odds with this new mindset. This took me years to come to terms with and I still have periods of difficulty, but I'm finally closing the gap between my thoughts and my actions and I'm way more forgiving and understanding to myself. Hashimoto's definitely made this more difficult. Ayahuasca helped me out a ton with these difficulties.
By the way, the Vipassana retreats I did (started by S.N. Goenka) are totally free! You get a room and fed 3x a day. They're all over the world too. You can go to www.dhamma.org to sign up if you're interested. You can donate at the end if you'd like. I personally think aspects of the teaching are a bit antiquated, but overall I'm really glad I did them.
(edited this a decent amount for clarity, almost gave up on posting because it was getting hectic, but I think it's coherent enough!)
Yep. Those were precious resting days and I took full advantage of them. Perhaps the lesson was death is nothing to be feared if life is 24/7 intensive meditation retreats.
I’ve read virology reports that the virus originated most likely from bats but through an intermediary source — as to which animal, that’s unknown.
Another thing I’ve been pondering is since bats have been the source of deadly, infectious diseases in humans for so long, that’s where the historical myth of vampires and the living dead come from.
There’s plenty of actual research into the ancient origin of vampires you can read without resorting to baseless speculation. There is no single myth or origin and eastern europe has no vampire bats—in fact, the bats are named after the myth. The connection is likely due to them simply being nocturnal.
EDIT: My tone came off as completely dismissing your thinking, which I don't mean to, I just mean to say that there's already a lot written on the topic.
Bat "bites" are only half the story. Bat scratches are really nasty. In ancient times they would look like bites and most always would become infected. Even today, in much of the world (ie usa) any contact with wild bat should be taken very seriously. The link between bats and disease is no myth.
Bats are also the common wild reservoir for lyssaviruses, like rabies. Bats are not highly susceptible to rabies, and can remain asymptomatic for long periods of time. If you wake up in a room with a bat in it, or if you find a bat in a room with a child, or otherwise disabled person, rabies post-exposure prophylaxis is called for, even if you don't find a scratch, or bite mark.
China has over 400,000 electric buses (99% of the world) and the longest high speed rail in the planet. High-speed rails carry twice as many passengers each month as the country’s airlines.
4.2% of new car purchases in China were electric vehicles in 2018. China has 250 million electric motorcycles/scooters (99% of the world's). These numbers are growing rapidly every year.
China is also the world's largest producer of photovoltaic power not to mention the world's leading installer of solar panels. Their literal stated goal for 2050 is to reach 1,300 GW of solar capacity, which is enormous. That would make it the source with the largest installed capacity in China.
China has a lot of problems, but fossil fuel addiction is not one of them.
Just by virtue of them being big, it is still a problem. Also said started goal is less than used for consensus "current" climate change target by IPCC which is considered optimistic and nets some 3.5 C rise as per model.
2050 is too late as well. To make a big difference the timetable for that capacity would have to be 2030 and all the baseline would have to be hydro or nuclear. This is unlikely to happen even if they really want to do it.
Now consider that we also have USA to handle who are notorious about ignoring climate change targets...
Now, even 5 C is not a cataclysmic event but it will be very bad on a global scale - mostly water availability and farming, related price shocks and social upheaval.
You don't get to redefine the word "civilian" to suit your politics. Merely working for a defense ministry doesn't make someone a member of the armed forces.
This is the same argument used by some to claim that Huawei is the extended arm of Chinese surveillance agencies (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20366883 ) and I don't think it's very convincing. Work for the government once, lose civilian status forever?
America’s been responsible for the death of 500,000 innocent Iraqi civilians since the start of the war not to mention countless Afghan and other middle eastern citizens. We currently hold tens of thousands of border crossers in detention camps where they are held in squalid conditions. Most of us still live here.
You should ask him about the World Bank and IMF debt traps to developing countries that have stricken those nations in poverty for decades. The Chinese are building critical infrastructure in many of these African countries, where there was none and immensely increasing ease of business and trade. Africa's going to be the next economic boom despite the West having done all they can to suppress African growth.
Brushing off TCM as pseudoscience is quite ignorant. There are plenty of legitimate TCM research and verified treatments that have improved the lives of many in the world.
Are you really claiming that TCM and other such pseudosciences have been a net positive for the world? Unproven treatments that may make problems worse, while also encouraging patients to stay away from tested treatments, should play no part in a modern society. If you're in any doubt about this, perhaps you should read 'Bad Science' by Ben Goldacre, which takes a whistle stop tour of such quackery, as well as the various unethical practices undertaken by pharmaceutical companies.
So Goldacre's finding is that unethical practices and unproven treatments exist both in mainstream pharma and "CAM" [1].
So why is your contempt reserved for "CAM"?
> Unproven treatments that may make problems worse, while also encouraging patients to stay away from tested treatments
I keep hearing this but I've only witnessed the opposite.
I've utilised "CAM" for conditions that mainstream medicine couldn't help with (after years of trying to get help from different mainstream practitioners).
Only a combination of treatments from "CAM" modalities (naturopathy, osteopathy, myotherapy, yoga/pilates, limited chiropractic & TCM) has enabled me to get properly well.
Every "CAM" practitioner I saw encouraged me to keep checking in with mainstream doctors, which I did and have continued to do.
My mainstream doctors now look at my test results and just say "whatever you've been doing, keep doing it".
I get that there are horror stories, as there are in many facets of life. But like much of what makes up mainstream news reporting, the very thing that makes them noteworthy is that they are exceptions to the norm.
As someone who has gone about as deep into researching health/medicine as one can without actually undertaking a medical degree, I'm comfortable that the hysterical reactions over "CAM" are overblown.
So, it would seem, are government regulators around the world who are actually looking at the data, otherwise there would be even more stringent controls imposed on practitioners than are already in place.
I know it’s hard to believe and to generalise beyond your own experience but you are one data point. You might have gotten better without any of the things that you mentioned. Most likely it was a placebo effect, strengthened by your own research and belief in the practices.
I’m not sure the lack of government regulation is a valid point. In my experience, and as you’d see if you read Goldacre’s book, government administrators don’t understand statistics. Even if they did, they don’t neccesarily legislate to maximise welfare.
I'm sure you're sincere in wanting to advocate positions that are good for the world. So you'll want to know how your arguments in this comment are flawed.
> Because CAM doesn’t even attempt to be correct.
Practitioners don't stay in business if they don't provide benefits. So unless you're asserting that most "CAM" clients like spending money for zero benefit, this claim doesn't hold up.
> I know it’s hard to believe and to generalise beyond your own experience
If you were committed to intellectually honest discussion, you'd have at least made further enquiries of me before making this assertion.
I have many acquaintances pursuing similar paths through their own health challenges, and have done for many years. I've examined many case reports and research studies, in order to understand the medical basis for what I've observed and experienced. So, yes, I'm one data point, but I've observed and researched many others.
> You might have gotten better without any of the things that you mentioned.
There's no basis for this. My health consistently declined for many years - for reasons that are now easily explained. And it started to turn around only after I started undertaking particular healing practices from the "CAM" sphere - but for reasons that are easily explained using scientifically sound medical knowledge.
> Most likely it was a placebo effect, strengthened by your own research and belief in the practices.
Serious question: do you suggest that my healing was imaginary, or that it was real but caused by beliefs/emotions rather than material factors?
People who invoke the placebo effect in this context often aren't conscious of importance of the distinction, but it matters a lot.
If it's the former, then I guess there's no more to discuss without knowing the details of my case - which you're welcome to enquire about.
If it's the latter, well then I agree with you that my healing has been influenced - indeed mostly driven - by changes in beliefs/emotions, as is the case with the version of the placebo effect that I subscribe to.
I've extensively researched the placebo effect and what is known about it, and how it may be relevant in my case, and I'm happy to discuss it further if it's a topic you're genuinely curious about.
> I’m not sure the lack of government regulation is a valid point. In my experience, and as you’d see if you read Goldacre’s book, government administrators don’t understand statistics. Even if they did, they don’t necessarily legislate to maximise welfare.
My point is not that there is a lack of regulation. There's a lot of regulation in most jurisdictions; professional bodies, health authorities, consumer protection authorities, criminal justice systems.
Governments may not legislate to maximise welfare but they are highly motivated to avoid horror stories on the front pages of newspapers, and the infrequency of such occurrences indicates that the level of harm caused by "CAM" is low.
Sure it would be great if it were lower, as is the case with all aspects of society where any harm occurs.
But striving for a world that only allows the practice of therapies that have been approved in advance by the mainstream medical establishment is not going to lead us to a better world than what we already have.
Do you have anything better than an appeal to tradition to justify your viewpoint, perhaps a book or study that comprehensively justifies TCM without falling into the basic traps of failed statistical reasoning?
Perhaps the missing point is that the TCM approach to illness or health is dramatically different from Western medicine.
Surgery or modern medicine (injection, pills) focuses on one particular manifestation of illness and targets a particular illness.
On the other hand, TCM is not targeting a particular illness, but rather, it sees illness as the symptom of something deeper going off track in the body. Hence it tries to regulate and balance the body so that it can correct itself, without too much intervention.
It's not something that you can quantitatively study easily and get concrete results, as it is more long-term and therapeutic rather than short-term result driven.
Dunno - stuff like acupuncture works for pain relief but is still part of TCM. If you have a bad back it probably has a lot less side effects than being put on opioids as is common in the US.
I was reading a few years back that they didn't have anything like double-blind studies on chiropractic medicine, in part 'cause double blind studies are much more difficult for procedures than for pills.
I mean, I'm not claiming to be an expert here or anything, it's just that last time I read up on that sort of thing it sounded like there was no evidence that chiropractic medicine or acupuncture was more than just placebo. Do you have citations?
To be honest my info was shaky but I just googled and it seems it's kind of like a placebo effect but a good one. There was one study where
>After eight weeks 60 per cent of patients receiving acupuncture, including with toothpicks, reported feeling better. Clinical improvements were reported by just 39 per cent of those who had conventional treatments.
The hard thing about all of this is that, as you pointed out, studies are hard to do. Even if they were funded to the same level as pharmaceuticals, it would be much harder to make conclusive findings. But in the absence of huge companies with profit motives or government bodies with political motives, there's not much funding around for thorough studies.
But some examples of where practices from TCM and CAM are achieving recognition are:
- The Nobel Prize awarded to Tu Youyou for finding artemisinin effective for treating malaria [1]
- A recent NIH review finding acupuncture, yoga and other non-drug therapies effective for common pain conditions [2]
- A study of a chiropractic technique to reduce the physiological effects of emotional stress/trauma [3]
But aside from these studies, surely the market is at least somewhat of an indicator of some level of benefit. Economists generally regard consumers of being capable of making rational decisions about how to spend their money in ways that most benefit them.
Of course it's not a water-tight rule, but nor is it completely false. Yet many people dismiss the entire CAM industry as being fuelled by nothing but stupidity, and dismiss the possibility that at least some of the industry's customers are capable of making rational spending decisions when it comes to their health.
Keeping in mind that some antibiotics were found originally in soil. So there's a good chance many random collections of stuff have produced useful medicine. The claim should be stronger than "it's not entirely valueless". How about: on average is it better or worse than modern medicine? Modern medicine is probably better then soil, on average. That's testable. And I'd wager it's better than any alternative effort. Even all of them put together.
All the meridians and whatnot don't lend more credibility over...soil, say. Until they're tested properly. After which Nobel prizes can be won.
> "on average is it better or worse than modern medicine?"
The vast majority of people using/practicing "CAM" are not claiming "CAM" to be "better" than modern medicine; they take a horses-for-courses approach.
Modern medicine is fine for acute illness where you need a medication or surgery to address an infection, break, blockage, etc.
"CAM" seems to be valuable for chronic non-life-threatening conditions like fatigue, pain, mild hormonal issues, mild auto-immunity, etc. It's also chosen by people who are quite healthy and want to keep it that way by optimising their nutrition, emotions, muscular-skeletal strength/alignment, etc.
So it's not a matter of what is better or worse than the other, it's a question of finding the right tool for the job. Every conventional doctor I've consulted in the past few years has endorsed that approach.
The point is, the parts of traditional medicine that work are adopted by modern medicine. Meaning, although they're still part of traditional medicine, they're no longer distinctive of traditional medicine. Traditional medicine is distinct from modern medicine only by virtue of the parts that don't work.
This is what is meant by the "traditional medicine that works is called medicine" soundbite. The soundbite on its own condenses the argument very imperfectly, and people should be wary of using it.
Please educate yourself with the term TCM (traditional Chinese medicine, 中药) before making such condescending comments. It's a very specific branch of medicine, not related to the generic English term "traditional medicine".
Your argument, to a Chinese person, is equivalent to "JavaScript is old because Java is old." It makes no sense at all.
Edit: It's also worth noting that in Chinese, TCM is simply 中医, which literally means Chinese medicine. I'm not sure who decided to add the "traditional" in front, but it's not actually how it's called in China.
> Traditional medicine is distinct from modern medicine only by virtue of the parts that don't work.
If you say it this way, then maybe we should stop using the term TCM and just call it its original name "Chinese medicine" so we can both be happy.
The sinophobia in these comments always makes me uncomfortable because it’s usually underlied with overall anti-Asian sentiment. It reminds me that I don’t belong in America, we still live in a white world.
This is really the main goal of these threads. It's your standard Two Minute Hate [1]: everybody gets together and signals their own virtue by spewing fact-free nonsense (apparently China's entire 11T is run by bribes and no foreign company ever made money there). There are two goals here: signal the ingroup but more importantly signal the outgroup. It's a concerted effort to drive away Asian programmers and, as I've pointed out before, it's working.
Note that despite these highly coordinated, anti-China circlejerks (seriously look at the other thread [2], just two down, all the same people and new accounts spouting the same exact nonsense, virtually all of it baseless propaganda) the moderators are to pounce on any "meta-commentary" that tries to pushback or highlight the stupidity.
Not that I recommend it, but if you read all my comments on this issue you'll see that people are accusing us of siding with "pro-China shills" much more than "anti-China bigotry" as you have. In reality, of course, it's neither: we're just trying to prevent HN from going up in nationalistic flames. What does it matter whether those flames are red or white or blue or some combo thereof? The point is not to burn to a crisp.
We need you to stop insinuating astroturfing in the threads ("highly coordinated"). People are simply divided on this issue and it's a gross violation of the HN guidelines to insinuate otherwise. All it does is escalate the toxicity and we don't allow people to do that here.
If you think this is not a coordinated effort than you are very naive.
It's worth pointing out what is actually happening here. This story about "massive internment camps" has been pushed relentlessly on HN for the past two weeks. There's been at least five stories on it.
Actual journalists investigated the story and proved quite clearly the story has been entirely fabricated [1].
I don't see any anti-Asian sentiment in any of these comments (everything is directed at the current Chinese government) and yes, the West is a white world, whether you like it or not.
