[Buddha-l] Withdrawal of the senses

[Joy Vriens]

Hi Dan,
  
>Plotinus is a pivotal neoplatonist. Reading Indian thought as an exotic 
>version of neoplatonism (or gnosticism) is a misleading -- though 
>entrenched -- distortion.

A distortion of what exactly? Of something which is not distorted?

> Controlling the senses in Buddhism and the Gita 
>means to remain detached within the sensorium, not to shut down sensation 
>itself. Detachment in this context means that pleasurable sensations don't 
>condition one to desire positively, and painful sensations don't condition 
>one to hate or avoid. 

In the town where I live, I regularly see posters for demonstration shows of all sorts of martial arts and I amuse myself sometimes by imagining similar shows for more spiritually/meditationally/yogically inlined disciplins. Sitting next to each other we would see two Pali Buddhists praticing the Jhanas, one according to Lance Cousins' approach and one to Bikkhu Bodhi's, a Neoplatonist philosopher in full action, a Quietist pratising l'oraison mentale, a follower of Chuang tzu in arrest (? arrêt in French), a bunch of Yogacaras, each practising the specific method that distinguishes him/her from his  other Yogacara brethren and sisters, a follower of Abhinavagupta turning the senses inwardly, we could perhaps even throw in some quakers in collective silence etc etc And then I would be curious to see how their various ways of "withdrawal of the senses" is different on the level of experiencing "withdrawal of the senses", if that is what is happening and not what is thought to!
  happen. And how anything said about that experience wouldn't be a distortion.    

Joy