Addiction

A guide to beating addiction through Zen meditation.

Disclaimer
Information given on this page is a personal opinion and is not professional medical advice. NtK do not accept any liability resulting from the use of information contained within or without.

How to beat addiction
Please follow and read the links in their entirety, otherwise this page will not make much sense! They also contain the techniques of Zen meditation.

Repeatedly ingesting chemicals is not addiction.

'Addicted' is another word for 'I want', or 'I like', or 'I like a lot', or 'I like a great deal'

Addiction can be described in terms of two components:

- the desire to alleviate e.g. unhappiness.

People tend to obtain addictions when they feel unhappy, "depressed," or tense.

- and the desire to repeat a pleasant experience.

An addiction forms when a relation between an action and an increase in pleasant feelings is established. It is not the chemical which the mind is addicted to, but the emotions produced.

When I tried to quit smoking through force of will, a nagging craving would remain and eventually triumph.

Logic - that the costs in terms of health and wealth were great - was never sufficient motivation.

An addiction is essentially an electrical pattern stored in the brain. The claim that it can be bludgeoned to nothingness through willpower, ignoring it until it hopefully disappears, is I think unlikely to be accurate. The conscious, rational desire to quit is a necessary but often not a sufficient condition.

The human intelligence (soul) observed in its entirety is not a uniform entity and is composed of many competing urges, of which the logical/rational facility is but one. Nor, when action is taken, are the competing urges often to be found in unanimity. The decision-making process appears to me to consist of competitions for dominance that are based on sheer strength, not one which is arbitrated by the rational facility 'choosing' between different urges and its own logical evaluation. When a person verbally expresses their intention to follow a course of action, but then does not take it up or desists after a while, it is often said that they are of weak willpower. That may be true. What is often not considered though, is the simple fact that their rational facility has come up against an urge even stronger. If willpower cannot be increased any further, then the only available course of action for the rational facility is to diminish the strength of its opponent.

In the example of addiction, one could increase one's general happiness and/or one could decrease the happiness producing effects of the drug. There is a method to do both!, and it is called Zen meditation. When an addictive action causes one to rapidly feel unhappier then the addictive relationship is broken and the craving vanishes, the pattern deleted.

A lot of human unhappiness is caused by negative interpretation of past perceptions and expectations of what future reality will "be." Whilst I was addicted I habitually interpreted reality as "bad." My excuse was self-pitying: "I am doing this because reality is bad."

The perception of reality as good or bad is entirely false. Reality just "is." Heaven and hell exist only in the mind.

Start by practicing the meditation described here. This type of meditation is useful for any situation where one is not using language. I will call this "active meditation" from here on.

Aim for a still, quiet mind. Cease thinking in words. Let reality wash over you and learn to "just let go." Let thoughts and emotions rise and leave naturally, do not cling to them nor attempt to block them. The next link provides further guidance.

Words can be useful. Learn to switch between modes of thought. Remain aware of the limitations of language. Switch to a deeper appreciation of reality when you do not need to use words.

Here are some selected quotations from the Lankavatara Sutra attributed to Shakyamuni Buddha:

Words rise from discrimination as their cause
False-imagination teaches that such things as light and shade, long and short, black and white are different and to be discriminated.
neither words nor sentences can exactly represent meanings, for words are only sweet sounds that are arbitrarily chosen to represent things, they are not the things themselves, which in turn are only manifestations of mind.
Words...cannot express highest Reality. Moreover, in highest reality there are no differentiations to be discriminated and there is nothing to be predicated in regards to it.
People grasping their own shadows of discrimination become attached to this thing and to that thing and failing to abandon dualism they go on forever and thus never attain tranquility. By tranquility is meant Oneness.
There is another, highly productive method called sitting meditation, called zazen by Buddhists.

Sitting meditation is a vital discipline which requires some persistence. It is useful in conjunction with active meditation as the two tend to reinforce each other. When trying to quit addiction, it is probably the more essential of the two.

Breath control is an important discipline which facilitates concentration and relaxation. To improve breath control, practise the 'healing breath' zazen described in the previous link. I find meditating on sound is the most productive form, and it is the form recommended by Shakyamuni a couple of millenia ago. I use a hybrid of the 'healing breath' and sound meditation which you also may find useful:

Create a space for this zazen. Position a loud ticking clock [or anything that provides a suitable substitute] close to where you will sit. Arrange an altar [something to focus/rest your eyes upon] as you will be meditating with your eyes open. This could consist of - images/statues of the Buddha, images of Christ, scenes from the Torah, verses in Arabic, photos of your friends or family, prints by artists you like, arrangements of rocks, or pretty much anything else. I find turning off the lights and lighting candles to be useful, the lower brightness is more conducive to meditation, and the changing flickering light gently stimulating, especially when particles of dust float slowly across the field of vision. Place cushions to raise your spine as described in the link, and a soft mat or other furnishing to rest your folded legs upon. Rest your hands upon your lap. Let your eyes settle on the altar. Relax, let go of everything and take in the moment. Practise the healing breath for ten minutes [work out beforehand how many cycles this will take and count them on your fingers.] Set the duration of the breath cycle at a level you can manage without feeling excessive strain. Count the seconds using the clock. Breathe in and exhale slowly and gently, feeling the movements of air and lungs. Breathe in twice as fast as you breathe out. Finding the optimum volumes to inhale and exhale is a matter of experience and slow adjustment. When you feel discomfort, do not try to ignore it. Recognize its existence in a dispassionate manner, as you would recognize the ticking of the clock and the flickering light. Do not identify it as part of you, view it as just another part of the whole reality. Above all, don't panic. The more you relax the easier this will become. Concentration put into the meditation will also alleviate discomfort. When holding your breath, meditate on the ticking sound. Aim to hear the sound in its most detailed entirety, from the moment it begins. When exhaling, meditate on a feather placed 5 cm (a couple of inches) from the end of your nose, as is described in the link. Try to vividly picture this feather, and take utmost care not to ruffle it with your breath. After finishing the healing breath then spend 20-30 mins or however long you feel meditating on the ticking sound. Try to keep your attention on the sound and not let your mind wander. Try to hear the sound, as previously, in the utmost detail and clarity. Let go of notions of ego, of a 'you' as distinct and separate from sound, and enjoy reality in forms of pure sensation without worrying about this or that.

You may at some point try to analyse your technique. By striving you may cease to meditate effectively.

Here is a description of a good attitude toward meditation.

Sitting meditation is similar to taking a drug in that the effects are persistent. In my experience, effects produced by 40 minutes of sitting meditation last for more than 24 hours. It is different in that the effects increase with practise - meditation is a skill. Sometimes the effect is described as being "up in the clouds" - the implied mental state of wandering aimlessly, blown by the winds amongst abstract forms. From the height of clouds one can see greater distances, by meditating one obtains a greater awareness of surroundings than when one's mind is continuously directed toward objects of desire or obsessed with itself. One is not distanced in terms of awareness, meditation is an increased awareness and a detached concentration. One becomes less emotional, but this does not mean less responsive to the needs of others: you may find inter-personal relationships improve as you become more aware. You may also find you deal with personal needs more effectively through rearranging priorities.

Consuming chemicals disturbs a quiescent mental state like a stone dropped into clear, still water held in earth. The consciousness becomes rippled and muddied, and this translates into one feeling physically worse, less in control, confused and agitated.

In trying to live this life we often lose sight of life itself. Meditation alters one's very relation to reality. Ending addiction is only the beginning.

An online translation of the Lankavatara Sutra is available here.