Meditation

[Dan]

(I am sure this is discussed in WUTYL but I did not see it and have not finished it yet)


I noticed that different styles of Buddhism suggest different things when you sit (the quiet non guided 25 minutes sitting)...so, in Unfettered Mind sitting....

[Dan]

Breathing - is it advised to count the breath? count to...? Or think in/out?

[Robert Adkins]

In my experience counting the breathe or thinking "breathing in...breathing out" can be a distraction. Just be aware of the natral breath as it comes in, as it comes out. No need to control respiration, just be aware...be aware. As soon as you realize that your mind has waundered, gently and smilingly, bring your mind back to the breathe. The goal is to retrain the habbit patterns of the mind, (which waunders from thought to thought and never being fully present in any given moment) Observing the breathe helps us to quiet the mind and bring it to rest allowing pure awareness to arise naturally. It takes time. Don't be discouraged.

Of course, there are many techniques for concentrating the mind. Some make concentratin relatively easy. But the breathe is something that is always present no matter where we are. It is the one thing that we all have in common. There isn't a Buddhist breath, a Hindu breath, a Christian breath, an Asian breath, and American breath. Breathe is breathe. The Buddha chose the breath as the object of concentration, because it is universal, non-sectarian and available to all in the process of awakening pure 'sati' (awareness).

[Dan]

Focus - on the breath in the nose? Or rising abdomen? Something else?

[Loren Enders]

Masters of Mahamudra, p167 talks about the nose

and I don't have a quote off hand but I remember reading somewhere that focusing on your abdomen will also naturally start bringing the winds into the central channel.

p.s. I am not a meditation master but I focus on my nose.

[Dan]

Thank you - an interesting read

[Dan]

Hold the body still? Or allow it to move? Or move with awareness if adjusting your sitting?

[Dan]

Thank you for answering

[Janet]

I found Ken's Monsters Under the Bed retreat (especially the first podcast) had excellent advise on meditation. It was extremely helpful for me. If you get a chance, you might enjoy listening to it, as it speaks to all of your questions, in a detailed ways.

I took notes from that podcast. These notes are not exactly verbatim, but here's a close rendering of what Ken had to say on meditation. These remarks start around 36 and a half minutes into the podcast. --

"Within what Claudia and George were both saying are two qualities that are extremely important. The first quality is resting. Claudia talked about resting in the experience of breathing. You start resting in the experience of breathing. And most of us get caught up in thoughts immediately. Every thought is a reaction to a physical sensation. It is a physical sensation with an emotional change and we don’t want to touch it -- so we start thinking. The most reliable way to cut through the thinking process is to bring attention to what you are experiencing in the body. You may say, I came here to meditate, to become quiet an peaceful, not to feel the aches and pains in the body. But it doesn’t work that way.

"George also gave us very useful pointers on sitting. He said there are two components to meditation -- the first is resting. The second one now comes in: listening. Claudia also implied this. You listen. Your body knows how to breath. Can you listen to your body and let it breath the way it knows how? Or do you have some half-assed idea of how it should be done and breath that way? Do you know who are the most difficult people to teach? Yoga teachers. Not all of them. But many have become so used to controlling the breath. And fair enough, because the Hindu practices are different. But they come to Buddhist practice, and they can’t rest and let the body breath. 'I feel everything is going out of control. What am I experiencing physically? I am feeling angry and upset. What am I experiencing physically?' You do this over and over again. You listen to your breath, and listen to your body. Your body will tell you how to sit. It will tell you when you are slumping too much, when you are straining too much. It will tell you what you can do and what you can’t do. When you sit with the body, you will find all of these different sensations, you listen to them very deeply, you will know how to sit. Listen to the breath, and your breath will tell when it is out of synch with the body. You will know -- or your body will know how to breath. Listen to all of that you will know how to rest.

"Resting in this way may feel very different. There isn’t a sense of control many of us are used to. The moment we start actually resting, our emotional reactions to the lack of control begin to arise. And we begin all over again: what do I feel in my body?

"Meditation practice in this way of resting and listening is a dynamic process of adjustments in our posture, in our breath and how we place attention. The net result of those adjustments is increasing sense of both rest and balance. That’s what we mean by shamatha. It’s not a case of just holding things still -- that just produces suppression -- and that generates other problems. Rather, in sitting this way, practicing this way, we listen to our whole experience and find a place of balance in our experience. As we rest there, the place of balance will naturally shift because of the movements that George was describing. We find ourselves resting in a constantly moving balance.

"As time goes on, it becomes more and more subtle. From the outside, it will look like we are doing nothing. But inside we will sense a constant movement out of balance and then the adjustment to move back toward balance. I’ve said before it’s a bit like riding a bicycle. It doesn’t matter how fast you are going on bicycle, the bike is always moving a bit from side to side. And you will find the same thing in meditation. If you try to hold it still, you stop the process. But if you rest in this what may seem like large movement in the beginning, you listening, resting -- you will find the adjustments become smaller and smaller and you will rest more and more completely. If you are like most people, you will want to rest on something. But I ask you to remember -- it’s turtles, all the way down."

[Dan]

Wow...I'd like to actually talk about this with someone, try to give the words some...life. I find the concepts above interesting but feel like I am not quiet getting it. Ah, well, waiting is.

[Loren Enders]

My first intro to meditation came from books and reading instructions like this: Shamatha Meditation. Then I went to a 10-day Vipassana course by SN Goenka and that was difficult [for myself] but neat. I would definitely go to a class or a teacher.

[Robert Adkins]

Hi Loren. Your experrience with meditation sounds very much like my own. I read a great deal "about" the dharma and meditation but never practiced. I was 55 years old when I did my first 10 day silent Vipassana meditation course, as taught by S. N. Goenka. As you say, it was difficult but hat experience changed my life. Since that first experiential introduction to meditation I have sat and served many 10 day courses at the California Vapassana Meditation Center in North Fork, California. I am so grateful for my teacher, S. N. Goenka and the great good fortune of finding the dharma and making Vipassana medation part of my life. I so agree with your advice about going to a course a class or a teacher.

[Loren Enders]

The California Vipassana Meditation Center is such a beautiful place. I was there in the winter and it was awe-inspiring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Snow capped peaks in the distance and clouds draped over the pines... coming outside after meditation was a Zen poem.