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This isn't a Buddhist question per se, maybe better placed in a yoga or Taoist thread but anywhere here I go:

When I am in the lotus position (classic right leg over left leg as instructed in all Buddhist guides) for the past 10 years, my right knee has always floated a quarter of an inch off the ground, even if I try to adjust my position by sitting offset on my mat.

Anatomically speaking, I don't see how anyone can have both of their knees on the floor..

Although I feel energetically blissful whilst maintaining the posture, the posture feels uneven, imbalances my torso, and I feel uneven pressure on my right thigh and must end my lotus posture in about 10 to 20 minutes due to the pressure on my right thigh... Sometimes I switch reverse full lotus and that makes me feel more balanced.

Am I doing something wrong or is this something all advanced lotus meditators must deal with? How can I remedy, deal with, compensate (et cetera) my lotus posture?

Also, this is a separate question but are there any passages in the canon that speak about posture?

Any suggestions in any realm, physical, environmental, or even mental are welcome.

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    I tried lotus and half lotus for a while, and all I got was knee pain. I do sitting meditation with one leg in front of the other, and that's just fine.
    – Anthony
    Jan 10, 2015 at 6:17
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    Thanks i like that idea that leg in front of the other is painless and i can maintain and grow my flexibility instead of going to crosslegged and also focus on the more important feature of meditation instead.
    – Ahmed
    Jan 10, 2015 at 16:14

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The position is something that your should choose to help in meditation, i.e., being able to be in the position for a long time without issue. Dwelling too much on what is the right posture is leaving the main task at hand and concentrating on auxiliary tasks. The danger in this is that this can lead to trying rights or ritual like practices which has been case in some schools of Buddhism and in India.

Also any your posture can be taken into practice of the 4 frames of mindfulness. The posture it self (sense through the outline of sensations) and the pain that results from being in it for a long time.

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    Wrong view of holding to ritual ... Ok then! I understand it is missing the point but it isnt pure ritualism though because lotus posture is from my experience energetically totally different (you feel a great rush and clarity during and after high) and from infinite sources the best posture. I also know forcing it cant be good on the knees.. heard bad stories. Thank you for the reemphasis though.
    – Ahmed
    Jan 10, 2015 at 16:08
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The fact that you can meditate while sitting, walking, laying, running, sitting on the toilet, standing on one leg......i hope you can see my point. Meditation and being mindful isn't about any correct position, it is about increasing your focus and awareness of each and every moment, and investigating why the mind has an inclination to one thing, but an aversion to another.

Your question highlights the root problem with humanity, ignorance. You are more obsessed with the pointless details than you are of the important details.

Be more focused on what the mind is doing and reacting to, than whether or not you have the correct position.

Good luck my friend. Metta

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  • Yes you are correct this is a unimportant dwelling but.. Many teachers and masters have reccommended lotus if possible and from my experience it is a very pleasurable blissful pose to be in. The high and clarity enhancement i get lasts for like half an hour. The chi channels connect better in that position for samadhi apparently.. Please see my other comment.
    – Ahmed
    Jan 10, 2015 at 16:11
  • If you read your own comments, you are clearly becoming attached to the lotus position (pleasurable, high,enhancement) which in turn is the reason you will suffer. I would personally, if i was you, not use the lotus position, and see how your mind reacts, by the sound of things, you will not like a different position because of the pleasurable high you get from the lotus position. This is the whole point of the meditative practice. But without a doubt, you have become very attached and are clinging to the highs which the lotus brings, so when you're not in that position, you will suffer!!
    – user476
    Jan 11, 2015 at 7:54
  • Yes, my postural fascination must come to an end no matter what along with similar false thoughts. It is disruptive to the all-important 3 trainings. Nonetheless, you seem to think pleasureable and high states are bad? They are not. They are only bad if you have acquired them through intoxicants or similar dependencies. Jhana itself, the primary Buddhist training, would not be possible were it not for its extremely pleasureable feeling it brings on the mind--so much so that the mind immediately lets go of the afflictions! There is a similar ultimate development with lotus, the goal of yoga.
    – Ahmed
    Jan 11, 2015 at 8:13

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