"I don't have the attention span to meditate"

Wisdom Quarterly (INTERVIEW with Fat Joe) no relation to Fat Mike

• Joe, do you or could you meditate?

"What? I have ADHD. At least I think I do. My mom's doctor gave me speed [the chemical pharmaceutical Ritalin], so I do now anyway."

[Still drinking soda, eating fast food (excitotoxins and cancer-forming carbs, adulterated fats, sugars), watching TV (commercials)...]

"There's no way I can meditate. I can't pay attention. I've been sitting here playing Call of Duty: Black Ops for like 12 hours.

"If I try to meditate, I'll fall asleep. So, like, forget it. My phone keeps going off, texts, uh... What was I saying?

"I'm so fat and losing my hair. I look like Da' Buddha, or who's that guy at the Chinese take-out, Hotei Budai? You know, you rub his belly. Anyway. What, like, you sit down, like, on the floor on a cushion? Dude. No way! Maybe after some primo bud..."

• But, Joe, how are you able to pay attention to those videogames for 12 hours?

"What d'ya mean?"

• If you have Attention DEFICIT and Hyperactive Disorder, where are you getting all this attention?

"Oh-oh, I see! Hmm, huh, yeah. Medication? This game's exciting! Isn't meditation, like, BORING? Just sitting there staring at your belly button. What is meditation? I can't do it! I don't have the attention span to meditate."

Fact Find Tour Inside Joe's Head


Short Attention Span Theatre "Leaving Jesusland" (NOFX)

• Beer and the Science of Partying
• Adventures in Hyperactive Meditation (borntoexplore.org)
• Zen Buddhism and ADHD: Meditation not medication
• VIDEO: Excitotoxins The Taste That Kills
• PDF: Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills
  
• TaoJoe.com: Path of Least Resistance

Meditation as treatment for ADHD (ABC News)

Real "magic" explained in Buddhism (video)

Wisdom Quarterly

Other than jhana mastery in this or a previous life, what could explain this mystery?

"Meditative absorptions" (jhanas) are one way to marvels and magical powers (that are dangerous due to hidden pitfalls). Buddhaghosa's Path of Purification describes the method. Once the absorptions are developed, the adept amy then choose to develop the five supernormal powers (abhinnas or siddhis) of Indian lore.

• Divine Eye (dibba cakkhu) - clairvoyance or the ability to see earthly and celestial at a distance and unseen by the physical eyes. Cutupapatanana is knowing and seeing the passing away and reappearing of beings. Anagatainsanana is seeing the [probable] future. Yathakammupagatanana is knowledge and vision of beings cycling in accordance with their karma.
• Divine Ear (dibba sotta) - clairaudience or the power to hear ordinary sounds at a distance as well as subtle (unearthly) sounds from beyond.
• Recollection of Past Lives (pubenivasanusattuna) - reviewing one's own and others' rebirths.
• Mind Reading (paracitta vijanana) - directly knowing one's heart/mind.
  
• Psychic Powers (iddhividha, iddhis, or siddhis) - such as flying through the air, walking on water like earth, plunging into earth like water...

These abilities may be used skillfully but are much more likely to seduce one and lead to utter ruin. Even the Buddha, seeing danger in them, was reluctant to use them. Arhats, who do not necessarily have them, do not make public displays of them. It is possible to attain enlightenment without mastering these powers. Some say it is possible to awaken without the aid of the absorptions (jhanas) through the very difficult "dry insight" method, which it is said makes use of vipassana-jhanas (most likely access or neighborhood concentration).

• PHOTOS: Guards at Emerald Buddha Temple
• Seven energy centers (chakras) meditation
• Lustfully crushing on Hollywood stars, starlets
• Sexual Anarchy or molestation? (sodahead.com)
  

Meditation Feng Shui; Concentration (video)

What is Feng Shui? Theory, Tools, Cures, and Tips

Google Talks: Shinzen on Deep Concentration in Meditation