Category: Transcendental Meditation

Belfast Trauma to Zen Buddhist Meditation – The Middle Way

—An Interview with Frank Liddy—
This is a brief meditation interview with Frank Liddy of Black Mountain Zen Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Frank shares the traumatic circumstances behind his search for another way that led him to the middle way of Buddhism and meditation.


Frank: My name is Frank Liddy and I belong to the Black Mountain Zen Centre. I’ve been informed that you are looking for interviewees. If you’re interested I’m interested.

Meditation How: I am interested. Thank you for offering to interview. How long have you been practicing meditation?

Frank: Thirty years.

Meditation How: Under what circumstances did you discover meditation?

Frank: Under traumatic conditions as I’m a Belfast guy born and survived the so called troubles.

Meditation How: Can you go into details please?

Frank: Well it kinda goes like this, being a Belfast boy brought up in the troubles one can’t escape the trauma of these terrible times, if you know what I mean. One evening a friend and myself went into a pub in Belfast to say goodbye to some pals as we were destined for London. Well the pub was a bit packed and my buddy Mark was a bit on the claustrophobic side and decided to leave. I joined him, we walked round the corner and bang or boom up went the pub and I was the first person on the scene and what I seen introduced me on a crash course on trauma. Anyway this propelled me into another way being the middle way and that was the beginning of my search, which lead to Buddhism and meditation.

Meditation How: Can you share the details of how you managed out of this to be introduced to the ideas of meditation? What was it like before you found meditation, and what was it like when you found it?

Frank: Before meditation practice there was insanity, craziness, fear, uncertainty, out of control, a storm. After meditation- the same was around but my reactions changed I began to weather the storm.

Meditation How: How did you learn of the existence of meditation, and what type of meditation did you learn?

Frank: Through searching for another way and my first serious taste was through Transcendental Meditation. I was one of the first people in Belfast to practice Transcendental Meditation.

Meditation How: How did you learn Transcendental Meditation? What did you experience in Transcendental Meditation that made it clear to you that meditation could make a difference for you?

Frank: I would say that in some way Transcendental Meditation gave me a taste of meditation and to be honest- how can I describe the taste? It would be like asking you if you hadn’t tasted a kiwi before that it was like the taste of a kiwi fruit. I learned Transcendental Meditation through the Belfast TM centre.

Meditation How: I understand. What you experienced that made a difference for you is hard to describe. Is it fair to say that it brought you relief or some kind of peace? If you knew someone who you believed might benefit from meditation as you have, how would you go about encouraging them? How would you describe the benefits?

Frank: To be honest, I’m not sure as I believe we all have to discover who we are and that only happens when one is ready. Like the old saying when the student is ready the teacher will appear. That’s definitely been the case for me. When it comes to encouragement it’s hard to beat the four noble truths. I would like to think and hope that my encouragement would come through kindness and a warm smile. My description of the benefits would be kindness and a warm smile.

About Frank: Frank Liddy belongs to the Black Mountain Zen Centre in Belfast Ireland. Black Mountain Zen Centre is based in Belfast and has groups throughout N. Ireland. The practice of Black Mountain Zen Centre is Soto Zen in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi.

Meditation Experiences, The Mind, True Nature, Intuition

—An Interview with Doreen on TM, Part Three—
>>> Part One: TM Mantras, Meditation – Transcendental, Just Sitting

Meditation How: As the chosen subject of this meditation interview is Transcendental Meditation, I want to ask you if you can remember anything more about this, the mantra, or any other pertinent experiences around the initial introduction. It sounds as if TM kick-started your entire experience with inner life.

Doreen: Now, what comes to me as the key elements of this initial TM experience are 3-fold. No expectations. A combination of mystery and “so-called science” A memorable and lasting experience within a group setting…. energy, peace…and even though I did not realize it… I had an inherent “ability” to reach this peaceful state quite easily.

My mind told me that I didn’t have this because I could not maintain the discipline I believed (at that time) was required…. for “whatever?”… I really think, I was “tagging along” with my friend….initially! LOL! (of course we’d known about the Beatles in India… what year was that?).

What has come to me to say regarding your last question is this: It feels hugely complex in a non-mind way, a mysterious and miraculous way, in a sense. This is what I know: The mind wants only to judge and mute the most ‘spiritual’ experiences in our lives that come most naturally. (It is ALL spiritual!!) In a sense, we can only move toward pleasure, not pain. This has not been understood in very deep way, by the mind. I am not speaking of pleasure in a light way here.

I am saying that our true nature is to feel deeply satisfied… to feel the Full-ness of Life Itself… that we always have, this fullness, we just don’t know it…and thus the egoic mind has been unaware of what lies deep withIn Us All.

So, in saying that… I realize that over the course of my life I began, at some point, or through certain experiences to trust “my” intuition… the truth being… I did not “need” to sit in meditation twice a day, on a schedule… for any purpose! I always felt “unintelligent” in contrast to the friends that I had. I never felt any satisfaction, knowing that I wasn’t intelligent, enough! (even though, I “had the school grades,” etc.)… …. until meeting the Universal Intelligence…’face to face’….aHA!!!

Meditation How: I think this works as a natural conclusion this interview. I’d like to invite comments from those who can speak more on the current state of Transcendental Meditation, and if the method has grown or changed in any significant ways over the course of time. Thank you so much Doreen for sharing your experiences with TM.

Doreen: Thank You…. I real-ly love this process.

About Doreen: Doreen is an extraordinarily Ordinary woman who profoundly experienced her True Nature in 1981. Retrospectively, she became aware of what had occurred beginning in 2005, when another catalytic awakening experience catapulted her In to the Awareness of Life, Itself. She says of this: Waking up to the Truth of Love…Who We Are! Re-connecting to the cellular body memory of knowing who “I AM”…the Beauty of every being We encounter comes through Grace as the Way It Is.

Doreen’s Blogs:
Vessels of Love
Effortless Endeavor
Creation of the Creativity
Here and Now

Read Doreen’s Five-Part Meditation Interview.

Transcendental Meditation – TM – Mantras – Mystical Experiences

—An Interview with Doreen Connors, Part One—

In this five part meditation testimonial Doreen Connors shares her understanding and experiences with Transcendental Meditation, Mantras, Awakening, Non-Doing, Surrender, Paradox, Eckhart Tolle, Waiting for Answers, , Spiritual Growth, Inner Light, Consequences to Spiritual Awakenings, , Shining Light, Patience, and Compassion.

Meditation How: What do you consider to be your most effective type of meditation?

Doreen: Random knitting while in nature; taking time to truly look at trees, birds, insects, sky… and getting lost in it. Ok, that is the simple answer… do You want the long version, too? That might get ‘complicated’…because the form is always changing, in my meditation.

Meditation How: Let’s get complicated. Is it always your knitting?

Doreen: No. I feel that I have to go “back to the beginning” to explain. I had a very brief stint with formal meditation at age 16, via Transcendental Meditation. I never forgot “my” mantra. A few years ago (in 2004) I resurrected it…just for fun. This precipitated a radical turning point in my awakening experience…which led me to: Listening to Eckhart Tolle on CDs, on a daily basis, until relatively recently.

Meditation How: It was the TM mantra that triggered this awakening experience?

Doreen: Well, connected to it!! I playfully used the mantra to meditate during this time period. I was inspired to meditate by something that a friend told me that she was doing. These meditation sessions included: lighting a candle and being near a fresh flower or plant. I felt like: “Why not?!!” It is important to understand how very lighthearted I felt about the entire process.

Transcendental Meditation- Mantras, Experiences in Awakening

It was as if I was “being called” by a force within me to awaken. Primary to this experience, as I began these sessions, instead of meditating I “had to” sleep… a very drugged-like-feeling, induced napping! And during these napping “meditations”… I experienced a few lucid dreams. Dreams which contained powerful images…and apparent messages.

Over the years, if ever I found myself in a situation to meditate, I automatically “used” my mantra. I could easily get in to a deep meditative state… trance-like, I suppose. For example, I took Yoga classes briefly, at one point, and whenever we would meditate at the end of a session… I thought of the mantra.

Meditation How: I’m not sure I understand much about mantras. For myself, I have felt empowered when using a few words to remind me of a powerful perspective. Would it be okay for me to ask about the nature of your mantra?

Doreen: I tell You, I know nothing about mantras. The whole experience, with the mantra, “I think” is because I never “believed” in it/them…though, I knew that the experiences I had, when using it, were deep, indeed!! When one is initiated in TM, one is told never to reveal the actual mantra. And one is told that one’s mantra has been carefully selected specifically for oneself. In retrospect, I can see that this mystical experience (at a young age)… along with the scientific “proof” that was presented during the TM classes was an important ‘experience,’ for me.

Also, I participated in a group meditation, at that time, that I shall never forget! I sensed that the energy of everyone there contributed to the depth of connection I felt, and yet it would take years before I understood, so to speak, that experience. It remained in my heart. So, with all this said. And some research I did, a few years ago, about the “un-truth” of the mantra… I am willing to reveal my mantra. IMA (i-mah) I have not used it since 2004. I seems like it was a vehicle that re-hearted the body or heart-space of this peaceful state. I have never had an expectation of something I was attempting to achieve— Love-ly…when intuition is allowed to be.

Meditation How: I started this interview with a question about what form of meditation do you find most effective. What I get from your last response is that you have no real expectation for achievement. Would you say you are eager to routinely do anything because of how it brings you into contact with your divinity– or a state of blissfulness?

Doreen: No. Non-routinely I knit/create art pieces. And spend time sitting outside, or looking out the window. I feel the contact with this divine state most of the time in the background of all my endeavors. So…I have to say, that I “channel” the energy of bliss into my artwork.

Continue with Part Two:
Non-Doing – Doing Nothing – Thinking Process – Surrender – Paradox