Well it was fun putting the article up. So much fear and agression and yes, the technique of shamatha ( Tibetan: shine, pronounced “shinay”)predates Buddhism by a very long stretch of time indeed.
The resultant situational awareness ( vipasyana)is as you say, a very positive thing. I do not know why anyone would fear it.
Shibata Sensei, the greatest kyu no michi master alive today calls it, “polishing the mirror of one’s mind.”This from an ex-soldier of Japan who survived as a POW under the Russians in an Afghanistan coal mine where the survival rate was 1 in 68? He knows what he is talking about.
I can’t believe that one poster even said that such meditation was only for special human beings who had a natural predisposition for it.
Warriors for thousands of years have benefited from the practice of mindfulness, and only now after 200 years of institutional existence do U.S. warriors begin to encounter it institutionally? Well there is hope and possibly liberation and freedom also, the creation of enlightened society now being destroyed by the left and the Obama regime.
Thank you Tiger, maybe we took a few small steps today.
Some people aren't able to sit still for 15 or 20 minutes a day but I would put them in the minority. An extremely small minority. That's the only special ability required that I know of. lol