{"id":184,"date":"2008-07-28T11:03:30","date_gmt":"2008-07-28T11:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onecity\/2008\/07\/proust-as-dathun.html"},"modified":"2008-07-28T11:03:30","modified_gmt":"2008-07-28T11:03:30","slug":"proust-as-dathun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2008\/07\/proust-as-dathun.html","title":{"rendered":"Proust as dath\u00fcn?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This was in the works before Ethan Nichtern\u2019s recent allusion to Proust, but I think it\u2019s an appropriate follow-up.
\nIn the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, dath\u00fcn<\/em> is the word for a month-long session of practice in retreat. In the Shambhala community to which I belong, dath\u00fcns have been an essential part of the path of practice since the first one was held in 1972. In our context, the core of dath\u00fcn practice is always simple shamatha, with the cycles of the breath as the primary object of meditation. As the great scholars Kamalashila<\/a> and Jamg\u00f6n Kongtrul<\/a> outlined, shamatha practice is intended to further the development of a pliant, supple, workable mind.
\nWhat might one expect in the course of that process? Recently I\u2019ve been reading the work of Marcel Proust, and I came across the following in a reader review of In Search of Lost Time<\/em> on Amazon:
\n
\nHis work has attuned me to the importance of paying attention, resisting the dulling effects of habit, slowing down, finding meaning in the ordinary rhythms of life, accepting the painful inevitabilities of existence, laughing at my own foibles.<\/em>
\nI\u2019ve never read a better description of the dath\u00fcn experience. Indeed, reading In Search of Lost Time<\/em> very much recalls the dath\u00fcn experience for me. Hopelessly boring for long stretches, but boredom with the potential to settle and pacify and become \u201ccool boredom,\u201d which, in The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation<\/a>, Trungpa Rinpoche describes as \u201crefreshing boredom, boredom like a mountain stream.\u201d Rinpoche continues, \u201cthere must be some sense of discipline if we are to get beyond the frivolity of trying to replace boredom . . . As we realize that nothing is happening, strangely we begin to realize that something dignified is happening. There is no room for frivolity, no room for speed. We just breathe and are there. There is something very satisfying and wholesome about it.\u201d
\nIt is certainly taking me a lot of discipline and exertion to maintain the level of attention needed to stay with Proust\u2019s sentences, as he strings together more subclauses than I would have thought possible. But as I read in the park on my lunch break, I\u2019m finding that it\u2019s the perfect anecdote to the way I\u2019m accustomed to reading most of the time (and the state of mind engendered thereby). As refreshing as a mountain stream to be sure. And, in a further dath\u00fcn parallel, it\u2019s even taking me a month of steady effort to get through Swann\u2019s Way<\/em>.
\nWhile the process of reading Proust involves shamatha discipline, the novel itself mirrors the mind observable in meditation\u2014one encounters long, discursive digressions occasionally punctuated by penetrating, ripe insight. The narrator spends a considerable amount of time reliving various slights, faux pas, and fantasies. Anyone who has meditated recognizes this all too well. But he also slows down enough to see his world very precisely and with great appreciation\u2014glimpses of vipashyana, in Buddhist terms.
\nHaving resolved to read for a certain duration of time, I found myself checking my watch with anticipation, hoping it was time to stop. Until the drama finally got started, that is\u2014now I\u2019ve worked up some enthusiasm. Nonetheless, I\u2019m not planning to sit another dath\u00fcn anytime soon, and neither am I gearing up to read In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This was in the works before Ethan Nichtern\u2019s recent allusion to Proust, but I think it\u2019s an appropriate follow-up. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, dath\u00fcn is the word for a month-long session of practice in retreat. In the Shambhala community to which I belong, dath\u00fcns have been an essential part of the path of practice…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":193,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-and-media"],"yoast_head":"\nProust as dath\u00fcn? - One City<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2008\/07\/proust-as-dathun.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Proust as dath\u00fcn? - One City\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This was in the works before Ethan Nichtern\u2019s recent allusion to Proust, but I think it\u2019s an appropriate follow-up. 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In the Shambhala community to which I belong, dath\u00fcns have been an essential part of the path of practice…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2008\/07\/proust-as-dathun.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"One City\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-07-28T11:03:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Greg Zwahlen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Proust as dath\u00fcn? - One City","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2008\/07\/proust-as-dathun.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Proust as dath\u00fcn? - One City","og_description":"This was in the works before Ethan Nichtern\u2019s recent allusion to Proust, but I think it\u2019s an appropriate follow-up. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, dath\u00fcn is the word for a month-long session of practice in retreat. In the Shambhala community to which I belong, dath\u00fcns have been an essential part of the path of practice…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2008\/07\/proust-as-dathun.html","og_site_name":"One City","article_published_time":"2008-07-28T11:03:30+00:00","author":"Greg Zwahlen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2008\/07\/proust-as-dathun.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2008\/07\/proust-as-dathun.html","name":"Proust as dath\u00fcn? - One City","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-07-28T11:03:30+00:00","dateModified":"2008-07-28T11:03:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/#\/schema\/person\/6aede7186f63611a529a4a16cce5df54"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2008\/07\/proust-as-dathun.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2008\/07\/proust-as-dathun.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2008\/07\/proust-as-dathun.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Proust as dath\u00fcn?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/","name":"One City","description":"The Interdependence Project","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/#\/schema\/person\/6aede7186f63611a529a4a16cce5df54","name":"Greg Zwahlen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/706\/7066c07c9d69ab14d18489c3b85d90d2x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/706\/7066c07c9d69ab14d18489c3b85d90d2x96.jpg","caption":"Greg Zwahlen"},"description":"Greg Zwahlen began practicing meditation and studying Buddhism in 2000 and joined the ID Project at its inception in 2005. 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He has undertaken advanced study over the past few years at the Rime Shedra Rime of New York City, the Mipham Academy under Khenpo Gawang, and the Nitartha Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/author\/gzwahlen"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/193"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}