The above post has made the rounds for a while now on the imageboards I frequent. This particular capture of it has an image of the hieromonk Seraphim Rose over it, for reasons I am unsure of (I am not terribly familiar with his writings). It seems that the AmaZen Booth was quashed by popular ridicule back in the spring of this year, but I have a few thoughts to give on this. I will focus on the idea of Buddhist meditation as an instrument of control, as I am not very familiar with Stoicism as of yet, though I would love to read a Classical Stoic's assessment of Modern Stoicism as sold in bookstores to businessmen, college students, etc.
First, a bit of metaphysics. In Krishnaite theology (as detailed in the Bhagavad Gīta for example), there are three fundamental forces in the universe: tamas, rajas, and sattva. Tamas is inertia and sluggishness, associated with the lowest humans, called paśu or "animals" (analogous to the gnostic idea of hylic people, who are "pure matter" lacking a soul). Rajas is vigorous energy, associated with an intermediate class of humans called vira or "men" (the gnostics call these people psychic in the sense that they at least have a psyche, meaning a spirit or mind). Sattva is luminous stability and balance, associated with the highest class of humans called divya or "divine" (the gnostics call these people pneumatic, indicating that they are directly ensouled). These forces, each one called a guna, manifest not just in people, but in food, music, art, professions, etc.
I contend that meditation may be imbued with (and thus cultivate) any of the three gunas, depending on the object one meditates upon.
In the traditional systems such as Theravāda Buddhism, Yoga (as outlined by Patañjali), Taoism, and so on, objects of meditation are properly sattvic. The Pāli canon of Theravāda, for example, lists forty kasina for the ascetic to contemplate: a color, an element, light, consciousness, etc. Incidentally, breath was also a popular object of meditation (pranayama) as it is today, however it was conceived of more as "the vital aspect", a stark contrast to the modern view that breathing is just a convenient source of white noise (traditional pranayama is absolutely silent, by the way). The activity of meditation, appropriately, is quite sattvic as well, with all such traditions prescribing their ascetics to quietly sit upright in a stable posture, sometimes with the hands sealed in a mudrā (gesture).
Later on, we find much more active forms of meditation, particularly in the Tantra sects of Buddhism and Hinduism, but also in later Taoism and in the Japanese sects of Buddhism. These correspond more properly to rajas, with the belief that it could be transformed to destroy earthly attachments and produce enlightenment (the slogan of Tantra: "turn poison into medicine"). This is where we find Hatha Yoga and Tai-Chi, systems of physical postures that we recognize today in Western gymnasiums and bookstores, but as with breath meditation the motivations are quite different. Furthermore, we find Japanese Zen teaches its contemplative attitude (the name derives from zazen, 座禅, the Sino-Japanese translation of Pāli jhāna, an advanced series of Theravāda meditations) to such classes of people as samurai warriors, sumō wrestlers, and other martial artists, who are nonetheless allowed and encouraged to continue their quite violent careers. In Japanese Shingon, as well as in Tibetan Buddhism and Śaivist Hinduism, we find virile rituals and contemplations of wrathful gods such as Acala and Bhairava.
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| (Please let us know if your next AmaZen experience has you burn an offering to one of these guys!) |
There are even quite taboo practices that involve meat, alcohol, and sexual intercourse, most commonly found in vāmacāra (Left-Hand Path) of Hinduism and Buddhism, but it appears Taoism prescribes a similar sexual practice involving coitus interruptus. As an aside, in the Classical civilizations, the mystery cults of gods like Dionysus and Aphrodite used intoxication and orgies for initiatic purposes as well.
Now we come down to the lowest guna, the slow and dull tamas. The foregoing methods of meditation simply will not do in this case. If you are, say, a manager or HR person at a company like Amazon, you do not want the other two gunas in your workers. Someone who cultivates the divine equanimity of sattva will be difficult for you to push around, and a fiery, rajasic worker may push back at you. Your ideal employee is a docile, thoughtless drone: tamas incarnate.
A brief aside: apparently the reason Amazon produced these Zen Booths was to help workers who were sad, stressed, etc. Even in some bizarre reality where a manager wanted to use the foregoing practices, the conditions are not right. The candidate for ascesis of either type described so far must be a healthy man. An aspiring arahant or zhenren cannot be troubled by excess stress nor depression, nor indeed by the unsafe, unhealthy conditions at Amazon workplaces. Furthermore, an ascetic must possess what the Buddhists call viriya-bala, virile energy, so women—including the woman who designed the AmaZen program—are absolutely inadmissible, except perhaps as consorts in the sexual practices mentioned, though even there they are no more than assistants. If the ultra-condensed history of meditation has not made it clear, then this motivation should show how absolutely absurd it is to import "Zen" into a corporate workplace.
Anyway, in choosing objects of meditation for their "Zen" boxes, you'll certainly leave out gods (compassionate and wrathful alike). The workers' own vital currents or divine consciousness won't do either, so don't include prompts about one's inner light. Samurai weapons, martial arts, orgies, and alcohol will be hard to pitch to your boss, not to mention they'd more likely rile your workers up than shut them down. What would be objects proper to tamasic contemplation? Let us inspect the contents of an AmaZen box:
- A computer with preloaded videos about "mindfulness". A laughable inclusion, because a worker who enters has, presumably, lost his nerve. It would be like getting out a tire-pump for a car whose entire wheel has broken off and rolled away.
- Pamphlets with similar tips about mental wellness and so on. We should note here that so far reading and watching are the activities available in this box, which are entirely passive in nature, to say nothing of their actual contents.
- Miniature plants. Vegetable symbolism is common in esoteric traditions, particularly in images such as trees and lotuses. It does not seem, however, that these puny shrubs come with prompts about something like the Rose Cross, much less a proper Zen image like the lotus.
- A fan. Perhaps it is meant to produce a white noise (both heard and felt), which is a phenomenon that soothes and calms its listener. Obviously, soothing is not the intended goal of meditation (not even those orgies of Tantra and Taoism), since that, after all, is the passage from rajas down to tamas. Or, perhaps it is merely to alleviate the stagnation that might develop in such a cramped little box.
- Gray static-noise walls. As with the fan's sensations, visual noise is inherently tamasic, since there is nothing to focus on, and the choice of gray (the absence of color, contrary to what a Theravādin might contemplate) only augments the muted, depressed atmosphere that Amazon management requires.
- On the ceiling, a painting of the sky. This is the closest we might get to a traditional object of meditation. The Buddhist kasina include both the color blue and the sky. The ultimate end of such contemplations, however, is the realization of formlessness and emptiness—not, by the way, in the sense of nihilism (a nihilist lacks τέλος and thus would never meditate), but in the sense of freeing (emptying) oneself of profane, terrestrial thoughts and bonds. I do not foresee any of this described in a pamphlet meant to calm a distressed laborer. Also, given how cramped the box is, one would need to crane his neck up 90° to actually view this painting, which is certainly not a stable position. At best, this is probably just a peripheral visual effect to induce more soothing, not concentration.
To reiterate: Western efforts to import Eastern practices (not Eastern metaphysics, I note) to cultivate "mindfulness" or "mental health" are, on their face, totally alien to the original goals of such practices. The use of meditation will work precisely according to its object—after all, a successful meditation would be the union of the mind with the object. So it should not surprise us that Amazon, not to mention all sorts of other firms, YouTube channels, fitness instructors ("yoga"), etc. choose objects meant to dull the mind: insipid videos and pamphlets, petty decorations, and muted sensory noise.
As a lesson from all this to more honest practitioners: identify the guna inherent in whatever endeavors present themselves you. Always prefer sattva, approach rajas carefully (if at all), and avoid tamas. Today, in Hesiod's Age of Iron, you shall face opposite recommendations from friends, family, and elites alike—therefore, remain steadfast and discriminating.
(There are probably some intelligent recommendations, based in proper Eastern metaphysics and practice (karma yoga comes to mind), that could be made to today's serfs in Amazon's warehouses, which Amazon itself might even use to be a positive force in the world, beyond materialist considerations of workplace safety or pay-raises. That is a job for someone else, however.)
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