I want to say a little more about goals in practice. Actually, there are goals, and there are goals. Meditating every day is a goal, for example. Realizing enlightenment may be a goal, but if you are focused on "getting" anything while meditating, it won't happen.
Basically, goals are a problem when they reinforce self-reference, meaning the perspective that there's a "you" that needs to get something. Just about any goal might do that, but not necessarily.
I recently read an advice article by a Buddhist teacher who warned against setting the Big E as a goal, but thought it was fine to have the goal of being less cranky or more compassionate. I don't entirely agree. This may be a subtle distinction, but if your goal is to be a different or better person from whatever you think you are now, that's still a form of grasping. Genuine bodhicitta is about benefiting others, not about how saintly you are.
As most of you know I practice Soto Zen, which is all about "just sitting." There is no goal but practice itself. But this has created a misunderstanding, I think, that enlightenment is unimportant in Soto Zen. Nothing could be further from the truth; it's just that that enlightenment is not something that can be acquired, so striving for it is counter-productive.
Zen in the West got into trouble decades ago because of an over-emphasis on satori. Students had to be talked down from expecting a mind-blowing experience. After some decades of talking-down, however, it seems that realization and samadhi are now out of fashion in some Buddhist Web circles.
And now I see that mindfulness meditation is being touted as a means to achieve business success by becoming more productive. I'm predicting this is a fad that won't last long.
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