Ronald E. Purser is the author of the new book Mind Space: Discovering Meditation Without the Meditator. His other books include McMindfulness. He is the Lam Larsen Distinguished Research Professor of Management at San Francisco State University.
Q:
What inspired you to write Mind Space?
A:
After the publication my previous book, McMindfulness, people have continued to
ask, “Alright, you’ve pointed out the problems with how meditation has been
marketed. What alternatives do you propose?” That was an unsettling question to
face, since critique, by itself, does nothing to cure anyone’s suffering.
However,
there was more than merely a demand for stress reduction behind the question.
There was a deep-seated hunger—a yearning for connection with something
tangible, expansive, that gives a sense of purpose to the existence of
humanity. People are not simply burnt out; they are deprived of meaning,
alienated from their own depth, severed from those areas that allow the human
condition to be rich and alive.
Tarthang
Tulku, a Tibetan Buddhist teacher and writer, described this years ago: “We
suffer,” he said, “from a fundamental lack of space in which to live, of time
to utilize it, and of knowledge to appreciate it.”
This
is not a problem of stress; this is a deeply spiritual issue.
What
we need is not another method to cope with the world, but rather, a true
expansion of the ways in which we experience reality, and thus, recover the
openness, aliveness, and meaning that are our birthright as humans. When I
realized this, I was brought back to a book that had shaped my life for decades
quietly.
As
a college student in the early 1980s, I discovered Tarthang Tulku’s unusual and
challenging book, Time, Space and Knowledge: A New Vision of Reality (aka “TSK”).
It was unlike any other book I had ever experienced--neither Buddhist
philosophy nor psychology nor metaphysics but an original investigation into
the nature of reality.
Tarthang
Tulku presented TSK as a “gift to the West,” an entirely new form of inquiry
and practice, which was written in a style which spoke to scientists,
philosophers, and seekers in general. Adamant that this was not Buddhism in
disguise, this teaching could be approached without a need for faith,
conversion, or any kind of cultural translation.
I
found TSK fascinating and enrolled in a one-year intensive program at the
Nyingma Institute in Berkeley. We studied the book line by line; practiced its
exercises; and spent extended periods of time in retreat. That process quietly
redirected the course of my entire life.
However,
I was young, and as with so many seekers during that period I followed the
larger arc of exploration -- sitting in Zen halls, dabbling in other Buddhist
traditions, and eventually becoming an ordained Korean Zen teacher.
Those
traditions offered a great deal of depth. However, a major limitation began to
emerge over time: the very format of goal-directed practice contains a subtle
contradiction.
Once
we take a sit down to meditate in order to obtain something – whether it be calm,
clarity or even liberation -- we place a seeker at the center who is working
towards achieving a result that will always exist in a future that does not
ultimately arrive.
The
effort required to achieve a specific goal will reinforce the dualistic
separation it aims to cure. I found myself repeatedly observing that the
intentional effort put forth in meditation will often act as a barrier to the
openness that is sought. The persistent striving for what exists right now will
only drive it farther away.
However,
after some time passed, a new development occurred. I was given the opportunity
to begin teaching TSK at Dharma College. It was at that point that the vision
became clear. In 2022, Tarthang Tulku wrote to us with an essay encouraging us
to write new commentaries to make this vision available to a greater audience.
That was the impetus I needed.
Mind
Space is my attempt to make that vision breathe — not as a scholarly commentary
but as a direct invitation. It doesn’t ask you to adopt a new practice or
philosophy. It asks something stranger and simpler: to stop overlooking what
has never actually been absent. The ease, the openness, the sense of
sufficiency we keep chasing — it turns out they were never elsewhere to begin
with.
Q:
The book’s subtitle is “Discovering Meditation Without the Meditator.” Can you
say more about that?
A:
Yes, the subtitle really captures the heart of what the book is pointing
toward. Most meditation still harbors a subtle subject-object duality: there is
always someone here doing the meditating—watching the breath, monitoring
thoughts, evaluating progress.
Even
when we manage a moment of calm, an inner manager sneaks in to claim it: “Yes,
you’re doing it right!” Or it berates: “You’re distracted!” Either way, a self
remains at the center.
Mind
Space is about looking at the structure of meditation when the meditation is
simply awareness aware of itself - without any “one” being aware. Then the
effort required to meditate falls away, leaving us with a simplicity and
naturalness, an uncontrived intimacy with whatever is.
This
is actually similar to how young children relate to the world prior to learning
to separate themselves from their experiences. As such, there is no separation
between life and awareness. This is meditation without a meditator--not a
technique to be mastered, but a recognition and embodied understanding that
openness is immediately available and unconditional.
Q:
Why do you think it’s difficult for some people to meditate?
A:
I am convinced that the biggest problem we face in meditation is the way we are
instructed to do it. We sit to “be still,” to “stop our minds,” to “see things
clearly.” That creates a big fight right away between parts of our minds,
making meditation into an inner civil war.
What
is also not so apparent is that the inner manager that directs our actions (the
one pushing, judging, evaluating whether we succeed or fail) is exactly what we
are trying to free ourselves of.
Another
reason we have such a hard time with meditation is because we consider our
thoughts to be intruders. The most typical direction is “still the mind,” as if
the act of thinking is a flaw that can be overcome.
But
our thoughts are natural manifestations of the energy of awareness -- just as
waves arise out of the ocean. There is no need to banish them any more than
there would be to eradicate the clouds from the sky.
And
the whole idea that awareness has somehow been “obstructed” by the presence of
thought is a great confusion. Awareness has never been obstructed; it’s more
like the sun behind clouds, from the ground the sun appears to be hidden, but
the sun itself has never ceased to shine. We confuse the limitations of our
vantage point with the totality of the view.
But the biggest problem is this: each time we make an effort to meditate, we
reinforce the dualism that limits us. As soon as we tell ourselves “I should
relax” or “I need to stop thinking, I need to stop being distracted, I need to
pay attention,” we create a self-centered “doer” that will produce a result.
However,
the “doer” is not the source of liberation; it is the product of the same
narrowing that we are attempting to eliminate. The harder we try to meditate,
the more tangled we become. It’s just as if we tried to lift ourselves off the
ground by our own bootstraps.
As
soon as we give up fighting against our thoughts and find the space in which to
allow them to arise, everything changes. You’re no longer caught in the content
of experience; you are feeling the context -- the vast, living field from which
everything arises and disappears by itself.
When
we allow our thoughts to settle into their own space, they resolve themselves
naturally. Where once we called distraction, now we call it revelation --
awareness showing us its own natural power and vitality.
That
is why I call it “meditation without the meditator.” It is not a matter of
giving up on meditation or simply being inactive and doing nothing. Rather, it
is about understanding that awareness does not need a supervisor. It does not
need a manager.
What
seems to be a problem or challenge to us during meditation is really just a
recognition issue. The openness and freedom that we seek has always been
present, but that calls for a counterintuitive approach--one that is not based
on striving, effort, and seeking.
Q:
What do you hope readers take away from the book?
A:
My greatest expectation for readers is that as they read this book, they will
realize you do not have to wait for a “later” realization or accomplishment to
find what you are looking for. The freedom, the openness, the clarity that you
are seeking is available now -- right in front of you, closer than your breath.
This freedom has been present in your life all along.
In
addition, my hope is that the book helps readers understand that meditation
does not need to be limited to a cushion or formal discipline. When awareness
is no longer treated as a “project,” it can dissolve into the natural world of
living. The open space that appears while walking the dog, or doing the dishes,
or pausing in a difficult conversation, is available at every moment.
On
an even larger scale, I hope Mind Space helps readers begin to question many of
the basic (and often unconscious) assumptions about modernity, including the
constant push to produce, the feeling of never having enough time, and the
assumption that we are separate from the world that surrounds us.
These
are not simply individual problems. They are symptoms of a deeper blindness.
The view offered by Mind Space may provide a way of seeing that can not only
heal individuals, but also our relationships with one another, and with the
planet.
Q:
What are you working on now?
A:
Mind Space is actually the first volume in a trilogy based on Tarthang Tulku’s
Time, Space, and Knowledge vision, exploring the theme of Space. I’m already
working on the next two volumes, which will turn to Time and Knowledge. Each
builds on what came before, but they can also stand alone.
Next
fall, I will be teaching courses on Mind Space at Dharma College in Berkeley,
California. It’s been wonderful to see a new generation of students discovering
this vision. In many ways, it feels like this teaching is coming alive again
for our time.
Q:
Anything else we should know?
A:
I will be speaking on a panel at the Bay Area Book Festival in Berkeley on
May 31. If you’d like to stay connected, you can visit my
website
for updates on events, courses, and the upcoming volumes (https://ronpurser.com/).
I’m also active on social media and always
happy to hear from readers who want to share their own experiences with the
vision.
Lastly,
I want to say that writing this book was an act of gratitude. Tarthang Tulku
gave us an incredible gift with the Time, Space, and Knowledge vision, and it’s
been quietly transforming lives for nearly 50 years. My hope is that Mind Space
helps carry that gift forward to a new generation.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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